Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Six Million Accusers - A Review




Six Million Accusers:

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A very readable book telling the story of the discovery, capture, and trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1960-1962.  Written as a novel with bits of fiction, the book attempts to be faithful to the history of the events surrounding the historic capture of who has been called “the father of The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.”  

The author includes a bibliography that the reader can reference to discover further details and a summary of the lives of those who were involved in very secret operation of capturing Eichmann in Argentina and bringing him to Israel for trial.  My biggest concern is that, as I read, it was impossible to tell where the boundary existed between fact and fiction.  It would have been helpful for the author to have included a running commentary, borrowing from primary and secondary sources, as footnotes which might have helped make that distinction for the reader unfamiliar with the topic.  

The book is written in the first person - primarily from the perspective of Haim (pronounced like “climb”), a member of the team assigned the responsibility of capturing Eichmann.  Occasionally the author assumes another member of the team’s voice or even that of a third person observer, though these times are few and far between and are used to fill in gaps in the story that could not be explained by Haim.  The book reads with the excitement of a Tom Clancy or Dan Brown novel except, unlike their work, it is based as much as possible on the historical events upon which it is based.  And as such, it held this reader’s attention from beginning to end.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

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