This report on the trial of German Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in The New Yorker in 1963. This edition contains further factual material that came to light after the trial; as well as Arendt's postscript commenting on the controversy that arose over her book.
#720178 in Books Penguin Books 1992-06-01 1992-06-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.30 x .67 x 5.50l; .64 #File Name: 0140169652271 pages
Review
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. A read for everyoneBy A CustomerEmilie Carles started out her life the same as many of her neighbors in her predominantly peasant town in France. Unlike her neighbors; she went on to receive an education and break out of generations of grinding poverty and ingnorance. The very fact that she is able to chronicle her most unusual life is a testament to the power of the human spirit. Everyone interested in issues of class and gender influencing biography should read this excellent memoir.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Fantanstic biographyBy SherylI am not a big biography reader but this book was very good. I found myself not wanting to put it down. Excellent read.24 of 25 people found the following review helpful. Interesting portrait of one 20th-century lifeBy Peter DurfeeThis was a quick read (I finished it during a plane ride across the Pacific). Carles was born in 1900 in a peasant hamlet in one of the poorest regions of Alpine France. Rare for her time and place; she gained literacy and was successful enough in her studies to gain a teacher's license. She wrote her stories into notebooks for decades and; when the time came; began fashioning their contents into an autobiography. As sickness overtook her; she opted to tell her tale to a publisher; who worked the tapes and her books into this story.It's worth reading. I've read bits and pieces of the history of isolated; medieval Alpine communities; mostly in books on mountain-climbing; this is a glimpse into the end days of such a community; with its harsh lifestyle; old traditions; and superstitions of its inhabitants. Carles was a woman who challenged many of those traditions and superstitions as she grew and learned.Toward its end the book bogs down into political statements. Carles married a remarkably free-thinking man for the late 1920s/early 1930s; and his views meshed nicely with hers--pacifism honed by the loss of her brothers to the trenches of World War I and a socialist bent that wants to see the state offer real aid to poor communities like hers. I could have done without her (unrealistic in my opinion) stirring proclamations on the need for a four-hour work day and a return to a simple rural lifestyle. But this doesn't take away from the value of the book on the whole. It's an entertaining look at a strong woman who saw the twentieth century pass in a place that rarely gets written about.
