Book Summary and Reviews of Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

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Bonniemg

Dramatic and unsettling
Finding out your family has kept secrets from you is startling. Finding out those secrets involve your family having been Nazis is frightening. Finding out that the real secret is that those Nazis were also spies responsible for massive losses of American lives in WW2 is frankly unimaginable. So kudos to Christine Kuehn for not only uncovering and reckoning with her father’s past but for also presenting it in such a clear eyed and forthright manner. There is no equivocation. There is no apology. An epilogue tells us - at least in part - why Kuehn felt compelled to share the story and that relates to Kuehn witnessing the rising scourge of antisemitism overtaking North America. So thank you Christine Kuehn for sharing this difficult story.

labmom55

Exactly what I want in nonfiction
A Family of Spies is a great family memoir/nonfiction that tracks one family’s involvement as German spies that helped the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. This fulfilled all my expectations for nonfiction. The story begins when Christine Kuehn is contacted by a film screenwriter who is seeking information on her grandfather’s involvement in Pearl Harbor. She quickly realized there’s a reason her father never spoke of his family except in monosyllabic answers that didn’t always line up. Over the next thirty years, she researched her grandparents’ and aunt’s time as spies. An uncle who remained in Germany was a fairly high ranking member of the Nazi party.

I appreciated that Kuehn took the time to walk us through the Nazi’s rise to power in the 1930s. I was unaware of how it all came together. (It reads like Stephen Miller’s how-to book.) In fact, so much of this story was new information to me. Her writing throughout is fluid and easy to follow. It’s a fast paced book with no down periods. It was crazy to realize how much the FBI knew about what was going on but seemed unable to stop it. I was horrified to learn that J. Edgar Hoover blew off intelligence concerning the upcoming attack.

Kuehn does a great job of expressing the shock to her system. I couldn’t begin to imagine discovering your grandfather had a key role in helping the Japanese. And it all came down to greed. Their own daughter was half Jewish, yet not only did the parents continue to work on behalf of the Axis, so did she. What moved me the most was Kuehn’s reason for finally writing the book and not just burying the past. It was finding anti-Semitic literature and swastikas in her Everytown, USA community of Kensington, MD.

I highly recommend this to fans of historical nonfiction, even those that think there’s nothing new to learn about WWII.

My thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for an advance copy of this book.

Janine_S

Captivating family story
What an a compelling and captivating personal story of a woman learning of her family's connection to WWIl and the bombing of Pearl Harbor via its roots in Nazi Germany. I simply found it hard to stop listening to this book (gratefully shared with me via Netgalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio).

A chance letter from a Hollywood screenwriter researching for a script asked for help in finding her father, Eberhard Kuehn sent the author on a search only to find references to her grandfather, Otto, as a Nazi spy for Japan sent to Hawaii in 1935. Paid generously, the Kuehns spent lavishly and lived large all the while obtaining information for Japan as they prepared for their attack on America. Otto was convicted of espionage by a military tribunal in. 1942 and sentenced to death but it was commuted and he was deported. Eberhard disassociated himself from family and remained in America after his family left, hiding the secret of his family's past.

With heart-wrenching honesty, the author reveals a story deserving of a place in niche history for all its wealth of historical relevance to Pearl Harbor and WWIl. It also is a heart-filled story as the author writes in her ending sentence: "Secrets eat love like acid but love regenerates."

Highly recommend this extraordinary book!

jillg

The Secrets We Inherit
Narrated by Erin Bennett

An incredibly fascinating, never-before-told story of the Kuehn family’s shocking involvement as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII—and their connection to the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

It all began with a call from a screenwriter to Christine Kuehn, asking about her father’s family and their wartime espionage. That call set off a thirty-year journey into the Kuehn family’s hidden past. Her father, Eberhard, had carried the burden of his family’s secret for years, dreading the day his daughter and the rest of the family would discover the truth.

Christine’s research and storytelling are astounding. She could have hidden this part of her family’s history, but instead chose to share it, weaving together facts, emotion, and history in a way that feels more like a gripping narrative than a textbook. The details about the Nazis, the Japanese, and the wartime spy network are remarkable.

If you’re interested in WWII history, Pearl Harbor, or espionage, this book is a must-read. It absolutely blew me away.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the eARC, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. I read along with the audiobook, and Erin Bennett’s narration was excellent.