I’ve been reading Diary of a Man in Despair, Friedrich Reck’s remarkable diary of life under Nazi rule. I’ve read a lot of WWII-era diaries and testimonies, but nothing has quite the texture of this one. Viktor Klemperer’s remarkable diaries come close–and probably have a bit more detail–but this one is richer, moodier and somehow more chilling in its account of the daily thuggishness of Nazi rule. It’s also another instance of an excellent book recovered from obscurity by The New York Review of Books Classics series.
Other books on my bedside table at the moment: Frank Dikotter’s meticulous and moving history of Mao’s Great Famine (by the way, I saw Dikotter speak at a couple recent festivals: he’s an excellent public speaker); Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya on Why Growth Matters; and Per Petterson’s eloquent I Curse the River of Time (I actually liked this one more than his better-known Out Stealing Horses).
I’ve also read a few remarkable articles recently. Hisham Matar’s account of his return to Libya, published in The New Yorker, was moving and just a beautiful piece of writing. It’s part of a longer work that I’m very much looking forward to reading. I also enjoyed these two shorter pieces: Gabrielle Giffords on the American gun lobby (from the NYT), and Ram Guha on India’s environmental movement (from The Hindu).
