The Son and Heir
A Memoir
Published on 24. March 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
292 pages
978-1-5420-0454-1 (ISBN)
Description
A prize-winning Dutch journalist's unsparing memoir of growing up amid the excesses, triumphs, and devastation of post-World War II Europe.
What can a son say upon discovering that his father wore a Nazi uniform? Reporter Alexander Muenninghoff was only four when he found this mortifying relic from his father's recent past in his attic. This shameful memento came to symbolize not only his father's tragically misguided allegiance but also a shattered marriage and ultimately the unconscionable separation of a mother and son.
In this revelatory memoir, the author confronts his parents' complex past as he reconstructs the fortunes and disillusions of an entire family upheaved during the changes of twentieth-century Europe. The Muenninghoffs were driven by greed, rebellion, and rage. An embattled dynasty, they were torn between the right and the wrong side of history. Their saga haunted Alexander's life for the next seventy years.
Only in reconciling with them can this man find the courage to move forward as son and heir to the startling legacy of a flawed yet grand tradition.
What can a son say upon discovering that his father wore a Nazi uniform? Reporter Alexander Muenninghoff was only four when he found this mortifying relic from his father's recent past in his attic. This shameful memento came to symbolize not only his father's tragically misguided allegiance but also a shattered marriage and ultimately the unconscionable separation of a mother and son.
In this revelatory memoir, the author confronts his parents' complex past as he reconstructs the fortunes and disillusions of an entire family upheaved during the changes of twentieth-century Europe. The Muenninghoffs were driven by greed, rebellion, and rage. An embattled dynasty, they were torn between the right and the wrong side of history. Their saga haunted Alexander's life for the next seventy years.
Only in reconciling with them can this man find the courage to move forward as son and heir to the startling legacy of a flawed yet grand tradition.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Publishing group
Amazon Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
ISBN-13
978-1-5420-0454-1 (9781542004541)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Alexander Muenninghoff was born in Posen, Poland, in 1944. A journalist and expert on Russia, he won the prize for newspaper journalism (a Dutch Pulitzer), and is the author of Tropical Years in Moscow, about his time as a correspondent in the Soviet Union. A passionate chess player, Muenninghoff wrote the biographies of Dutch chess grand master Jan Hein Donner, and the chess master he dethroned, former world champion Max Euwe. In the anti-German postwar years and throughout his career, Muenninghoff never told his friends or colleagues about his family, the complex chronology of which he reveals in his memoir, The Son and Heir. The book went on to win the prestigious Libris History Prize in 2015 and the Litteraire Witte Award in 2016.
Kristen Gehrman earned a master's in language science and communication with a specialization in literary translation from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Originally from the United States, she now lives in The Hague, where she works as a freelance translator, editor, and teacher. In addition to Alexander Muenninghoff's The Son and Heir, her many translation credits include the Dutch-to-English translation of Annejet van der Zijl's bestselling novel, The Boy Between Worlds. For more information, visit www.kristengehrman.com.
Kristen Gehrman earned a master's in language science and communication with a specialization in literary translation from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Originally from the United States, she now lives in The Hague, where she works as a freelance translator, editor, and teacher. In addition to Alexander Muenninghoff's The Son and Heir, her many translation credits include the Dutch-to-English translation of Annejet van der Zijl's bestselling novel, The Boy Between Worlds. For more information, visit www.kristengehrman.com.