Book Summary and Reviews of Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

Address Unknown

A Novel

by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

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  • Published:
  • Jun 2021, 96 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A rediscovered classic and international bestseller that recounts the gripping tale of a friendship destroyed at the hands of Nazi Germany.

In this searing novel, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor brings vividly to life the insidious spread of Nazism through a series of letters between Max, a Jewish art dealer in San Francisco, and Martin, his friend and former business partner who has returned to Germany in 1932, just as Hitler is coming to power.

Originally published in Story magazine in 1938, Address Unknown became an international sensation. Credited with exposing the dangers of Nazism to American readers early on, it is also a scathing indictment of fascist movements around the world and a harrowing exposé of the power of the pen as a weapon.

A powerful and eloquent tale about the consequences of a friendship—and society—poisoned by extremism, Address Unknown remains hauntingly and painfully relevant today.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Address Unknown serves not only as a reminder of Nazi horrors but as a cautionary tale in light of current racial, ethnic, and nationalistic intolerance." —Publishers Weekly

"Simple, warm, human and tremendously touching. It will take hold of both head and heart." —Los Angeles Times

"What must be emphasized here is that this is no merely sound journalistic piece. It is a great story regardless of time or place or immediate circumstances. It is a great story because it contains all the elements of storytelling that have gone to make great stories from time immemorial." —New York Herald Tribune

This information about Address Unknown was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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More Information

Kathrinek Ressmannt Taylor was an American author best remembered for Address Unknown, originally published in Story magazine in 1938. She was also the author of Day of No Return, and a professor of creative writing and journalism at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania for nineteen years. Kressmann Taylor died in Minnesota in 1996.

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