SIMON WIESENTHAL: THE LIFE AND LEGEND
Nonfiction, 2010
Named one of the Top 10 Books of 2010 by Dwight Garner, the New York Times
Award-winning journalist and historian Tom Segev has written the definitive biography of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal. Based on new archival research in Vienna, Washington and Jerusalem and on Segev’s personal interviews with Wiesenthal and others, this gripping biography vividly depicts Wiesenthal’s survival in concentrations camps, his efforts to track down Adolf Eichman and other Nazi war criminals, and his pivotal role in shaping Holocaust memory and consciousness.
Rights Sold to:
USA, Doubleday; UK, Jonathan Cape, Pb Pimlico; Germany, Siedler Verlag; Holland, Balans; France, Liana Levi; Poland, Swiat Ksiazki; Czech Republic, Paseka; Portugal, Materia Prima; Slovakia, Alpha Publishers; Hungary, Zman Publishing; Russia, Text Publishers; Israel, Keter
Reviews:
“A brilliant and gripping account of an extraordinary life, which draws upon extensive research to offer new insights into the complex personality as well as the notable achievements of Simon Wiesenthal.” – Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler: A Biography
“Segev is one of the world’s great investigative reporters — in a class with bloodhounds like Seymour Hersh and the late David Halberstam….The real achievement of this warts-and-all biography [is] that truth, justice, and memory are the province not of saints, but of flawed human beings.” – Susan Jacoby, The Washington Post
"Mr. Segev, justly celebrated for his accounts of formative moments in the history of the State of Israel, is as careful a biographer as he is a historian....Gripping yet sober, this meticulous portrait of a complicated man is unlikely to be surpassed." – The Economist
“[A] meticulous yet forceful new biography...[Segev's] book delivers not merely an
intimate account of Wiesenthal's life and times, but also judicious examinations of the many controversial and little-known aspects of that life....It is a serious pleasure to imagine a new generation of readers discovering his life in this careful telling.” – The New York Times
“Tom Segev has produced a biography that is a model of fascinating description and measured analysis.” – The Sunday Times (UK)
“Tom Segev is one of those historians who are neither afraid of myths nor of taboos.” – France Inter Radio