Audiobook9 hours
Bearing Witness: How Writers Brought the Brutality of World War II to Light
Written by John R. Carpenter
Narrated by Joel Richards
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
It has been said that during times of war, the Muses fall silent. However, anyone who has read the major figures of mid-twentieth-century literature-Samuel Beckett, Richard Hillary, Norman Mailer, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others-can attest that it was through writing that people first tried to communicate and process the horrors that they saw during one of the darkest times in human history even as it broke out and raged on around them.
In Bearing Witness, John Carpenter explores how across the world those who experienced the war tried to make sense of it both during and in its immediate aftermath. Writers such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Theodore Plievier questioned the ruling parties of the time based on what they saw. Correspondents and writer-soldiers like John Hersey and James Jones revealed the chaotic and bloody reality of the front lines to the public. And civilians, many of who remain anonymous, lent voice to occupation and imprisonment so that those who didn't survive would not be forgotten.
The digestion of a cataclysmic event can take generations. But in this fascinating book, Carpenter brings together all those who did their best to communicate what they saw in the moment so that it could never be lost.
In Bearing Witness, John Carpenter explores how across the world those who experienced the war tried to make sense of it both during and in its immediate aftermath. Writers such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Theodore Plievier questioned the ruling parties of the time based on what they saw. Correspondents and writer-soldiers like John Hersey and James Jones revealed the chaotic and bloody reality of the front lines to the public. And civilians, many of who remain anonymous, lent voice to occupation and imprisonment so that those who didn't survive would not be forgotten.
The digestion of a cataclysmic event can take generations. But in this fascinating book, Carpenter brings together all those who did their best to communicate what they saw in the moment so that it could never be lost.
Author
John R. Carpenter
John R. Carpenter is a writer, editor, and leading translator of books and poetry. He has achieved the National Endowment for the Arts three times and won a series of awards honoring his translations.
Related to Bearing Witness
Related audiobooks
The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Coming of the Third Reich Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Naval War in the Baltic, 1939-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Through The Wheat Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Old Régime in Canada Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Resistance: My Four Years in the French Underground: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sudden Courage: Youth in France Confront the Germans, 1940-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life Of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCultures of War: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 / Iraq Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Montcalm and Wolfe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsD-Day Through French Eyes: Normandy 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sergeant Salinger Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Harry Met Pablo: Truman, Picasso, and the Cold War Politics of Modern Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5World War II: A New History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Short Stories of C.E. Montague: Talented wrtier who was an Oxford graduate and WW1 veteran Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal Highness Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Searching for Augusta: The Forgotten Angel of Bastogne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVietnam: A War Lost and Won Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Time in the Barrel: A Marine's Account of the Battle for Con Thien Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSevastopol Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLilly and Her Slave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Years in the Federal Cavalry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Best War Ever: America and World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's First Victims: The Quest for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWe're Taking Fire: A Reporter's View of the Vietnam War, Tet, and the Fall of LBJ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Criticism For You
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51984 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Common Sense Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow": A Macat Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5C. S. Lewis: Encountering God's Truth through Fiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Catcher in the Rye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fahrenheit 451 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Conspiracy against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lord of the Flies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meet Me in the Margins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds Through Others' Eyes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thalia Book Club: Amor Towles A Gentleman in Moscow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Feminist: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mugglenet.Com's Harry Potter Should Have Died: Controversial Views from the #1 Fan Site Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thalia Book Club: Neil Gaiman: The Ocean at the End of the Lane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Bearing Witness
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
4 ratings0 reviews