{"product_id":"the-collaborators-three-stories-of-deception-and-survival-in-world-war-ii-hardcover-buruma-ian-hardcover","title":"The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II -- Ian Buruma, Hardcover","description":"\u003cb\u003eIan Buruma's spellbinding account of three near-mythic figures--a Dutch fixer, a Manchu princess, and Himmler's masseur--who may have been con artists and collaborators under Japanese and German rule, or true heroes, or something in between.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOn the face of it, the three characters in this book seem to have little in common--aside from the fact that each committed wartime acts that led some to see them as national heroes, and others as villains. All three were mythmakers, larger-than-life storytellers, for whom the truth was beside the point. Felix Kersten was a plump Finnish pleasure-seeker who became Heinrich Himmler's indispensable personal masseur--Himmler calling him his \"magic Buddha.\" Kersten presented himself after the war as a resistance hero who convinced Himmler to save countless people from mass murder. Kawashima Yoshiko, a gender-fluid Manchu princess, spied for the Japanese secret police in China, and was mythologized by the Japanese as a heroic combination of Mata Hari and Joan of Arc. Friedrich Weinreb was a Hasidic Jew in Holland who took large amounts of money from fellow Jews in an imaginary scheme to save them from deportation, while in fact betraying some of them to the German secret police. Sentenced after the war as a con artist, he was regarded regarded by supporters as the \"Dutch Dreyfus.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAll three figures have been vilified and mythologized, out of a never-ending need, Ian Buruma argues, to see history, and particularly war, and above all World War II, as a neat story of angels and devils. \u003ci\u003eThe Collaborators\u003c\/i\u003e is a fascinating reconstruction of what in fact we can know about these incredible figures and what will always remain out of reach. What emerges is all the more mesmerizing for being painted in chiaroscuro. In times of life-and-death stakes, the truth quickly gets buried under lies and self-deception. Now, when demagogues abroad and at home are assaulting the truth once more, the stories of the collaborators and their lessons are indispensable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ian Buruma\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/07\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.37h x 6.14w x 1.18d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593296646\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2022 pg. 15\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/23\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2023 pg. 8\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2023 pg. 84","brand":"Ian Buruma","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43952482255076,"sku":"9780593296646","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9780593296646.jpg?v=1719487890","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/the-collaborators-three-stories-of-deception-and-survival-in-world-war-ii-hardcover-buruma-ian-hardcover","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}