-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
by Terese Svoboda
Hitler and My Mother-in-Law is a riveting memoir that explores the intersection of truth—both familial and political—through the colorful and complex life of the author's mother-in-law.
In a time like our own of intense propaganda and manipulation, the only WWII female correspondent who covered both theaters of war, Pat Hartwell identified Hitler from a pile of ashes for the US military, and the troops awarded her with a million-dollar painting from Hitler's study. Really?
She was the only woman in the CBS news room, assistant to the head of the Office of War Information, VP of one of the largest public relations companies in the world, third in command of UNICEF where she convinced Matisse to provide artwork for free, editor of her own Arizona newspaper where she hustled naïve art on the side, and eventually head of the Hawai'ian arts council, a state of extremely complex political and social stakeholders, where she left a legacy of preventing art fraud. Her story is a fascinating journey through history, art, and deception.
The memoir delves into the art of invention and the shapeshifting of memory and truth, interwoven with humorous yet profound moments. It examines the comical Soviet efforts to conceal Hitler's death, McCarthy's investigations, and the author's own struggle to compete with both her mother and her mother-in-law. Threaded throughout are insights into organizations that malign the word "mother" and, of course, plenty of mother-in-law jokes.
With meticulous research and a unique perspective, Hitler and My Mother-in-Law challenges the boundaries of narrative honesty, offering a powerful exploration of propaganda, identity, and the personal reckoning that defines the art of memoir. It's a gripping mix of history, family, humor, and a biting reflection on the politics of truth—past and present.
"Canny, meandering, and revelatory, it's a remarkable family memoir that stretches across major developments of the 20th century while questioning how the truth gets produced. Readers will be riveted." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A poetic reimagining of a pathbreaking female reporter in a man's world of war." —Kirkus Reviews
"What a bold, vibrant, and intensely original book this is." —Joan Silber, author of Mercy
"Wit, imagination, and marked acumen about our on-going preoccupation with censorship, witch hunts, and truth-telling vs. fakery makes this provocative memoir a highly engaging read." —Carolyn Burke, author of Lee Miller
This information about Hitler and My Mother-in-Law 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.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
A Guggenheim fellow, Terese Svoboda is the author of 20 books. She has won the Bobst Prize in fiction, the Iowa Prize for poetry, an NEH grant for translation, the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, a Jerome Foundation prize for video, the O. Henry award for the short story, and a Pushcart Prize for the essay. She is a three time winner of the New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and has been awarded Headlands, James Merrill, Hawthornden, Hermitage, Yaddo, MacDowell, Rowland, VCCA, Bogliasco, and Bellagio residencies. Her opera WET premiered at L.A.'s Disney Hall.
If you liked Hitler and My Mother-in-Law, try these:
by Judith Mackrell
Published 2023
The riveting, untold history of a group of heroic women reporters who revolutionized the narrative of World War II - from Martha Gellhorn, who out-scooped her husband, Ernest Hemingway, to Lee Miller, a Vogue cover model turned war correspondent.
by Natasha Trethewey
Published 2021
A chillingly personal and exquisitely wrought memoir of a daughter reckoning with the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of her former stepfather, and the moving, intimate story of a poet coming into her own in the wake of a tragedy.
by Kristin Harmel
Published 2021
Inspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this unforgettable historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the "epic and heart-wrenching World War II tale" (Alyson Noel, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Winemaker's ...
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
