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  <title><![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]></description>
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    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[During the latter years of WWII, 131 German cities and towns were the victims of Allied air raids, and many of those towns were literally decimated. It was the same sort of fire bombing we saw in Japan leading up to Hiroshima. The destruction truly was amazing. From the fire bombing of Hamburg, Seba...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47472719">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Mar 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Mar 24 08:20:27 -0700 2008</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[What a relief to return to Sebald after a couple of years and find my awe for his writing amplified, deepened, and qualified with distance and circumspection. (I feared my fellow academics had succeeded in gutting his corpus of work, producing the usual proliferation of papers, chapters, and books, ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18502260">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Andrew]]></name>
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  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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  <date_added>Tue Dec 16 15:04:32 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 16 15:12:12 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The long title essay in this book focuses on what Sebald sees as the cultural amnesia of the German people with regard to WWII--not so much for crimes they committed or complicit with, but for the crimes afflicted against them by the Allies' huge bombing campaigns--the annihilation of numerous Germa...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40252463">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40252463]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>20111883</id>
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    <id>62656</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Bryant]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[London, The United Kingdom]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Apr 14 01:37:33 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri May 30 08:05:04 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This series of essays marks Sebald's attempt to understand post-war German literature, particularly as it comments on (or, in his contention, fails properly to describe) the Allied destruction of German cities.  Sebald's Zürich lectures, titled &quot;Air War and Literature,&quot; occupy the bulk of...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20111883">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20111883]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Nat]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chicago, IL]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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  <average_rating>4.11</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Oct 23 05:58:24 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 27 19:11:55 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Sebald investigates what he sees as a remarkable absence in German literature of any account of the devastating Allied bombing of German cities. He thinks the absence must be attributible to a collective repression of a traumatic experience. He investigates the few examples of postwar literature tha...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8121183">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8121183]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8121183]]></link>
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      <review>
  <id>6335627</id>
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    <id>387514</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Matthew]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Salt Lake City, UT]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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    <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at>Tue Dec 04 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Sep 17 12:08:12 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Sep 17 12:08:12 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count>2</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I read it once before and it stuck in my mind the way that Sebald's work always does.  And like his nominal fiction books, returning to it is almost more gratifying than picking it up for the first time.  That said, it's a brutal piece of writing, and there are many passages in it that are profoundl...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6335627">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6335627]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6335627]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>3308228</id>
    <user>
    <id>205134</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Adam]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Somerville, MA]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jul 20 05:37:20 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jul 20 05:47:12 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Many people misread this book as a lamentation of unacknowledged German suffering in the Second World War.  It is that, of course, but it is also much more.  Sebald himself laments the ways that Germans themselves--independent of outside interference--have come to commemorate their own victimization...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3308228">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3308228]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3308228]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Liz]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183922.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 03 20:04:36 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Nov 03 20:04:36 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Great read so far, sucks you right into the harsh reality of life in Germany for regular citizens during WWII. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76655132]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76655132]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>67553811</id>
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    <id>2631432</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Grace]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
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  <read_at>Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Aug 15 19:21:23 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Aug 15 19:21:57 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Series of edited lectures given a few years before his death.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67553811]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67553811]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>1962452</id>
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    <id>131337</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Madelyn]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
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  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521260s/183922.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183922.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jun 14 09:15:53 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 21:32:49 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Everyone ought to be taught about what the Allies uselessly did to the Germans at the conclusion of the Second World War, with absolutely no justification beyond some disgusting demonstration of power on the part of Great Britain or a needlessly violent punishment for the German people as a whole. I...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1962452">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1962452]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1962452]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>4889276</id>
    <user>
    <id>77046</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Pete]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
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  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177628193s/721833.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/721833.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>41</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[During World War Two, 131 German cities and towns were targeted by Allied bombs, a good number almost entirely flattened. Six hundred thousand German civilians died&#8212;a figure twice that of all American war casualties. Seven and a half million Germans were left homeless. Given the astonishing scope of the devastation, W. G. Sebald asks, why does the subject occupy so little space in Germany&#8217;s cultural memory? <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong>  probes deeply into this ominous silence.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Aug 21 14:00:20 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Sep 12 07:58:59 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Every word this man wrote was so perfectly, so carefully selected. His evocation of the horror of WWII firebombing, of the millions of psychologically devastated victims in Germany raise in all its starkness the complexity of acknowledging the German costs of the Nazi regime. The essay on Jean Amery...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4889276">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4889276]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4889276]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>14758642</id>
    <user>
    <id>158374</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Anne]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Provincetown, MA]]></location>
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  <isbn>0140298002</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780140298000</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">13</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521260m/183922.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521260s/183922.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183922.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Feb 06 14:43:17 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Feb 06 14:46:02 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is <em>amazing</em>.  Sebald manages to present a meditation on the German experience of WWII that is direct, sympathetic, questioning, implicating, complicated, and very, very personal.  Often he takes a sharp turn from the philosophical to the personal that you almost can't believe he pulls off, but d...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14758642">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14758642]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14758642]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>5961662</id>
    <user>
    <id>363264</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Luxagraf]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Athens, GA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/363264-luxagraf]]></link>
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  <id type="integer">1804983</id>
  <isbn>0676975305</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780676975307</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">3</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
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  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1188590553s/1804983.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1804983.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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        <shelf name="war" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[those interested in WWII history]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Sep 09 17:32:51 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 09:47:59 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[All of Sebald's books read like non-fiction, though they're all listed as fiction, but this one actually is non-fiction and compiled mainly from a series of lectures he gave over the years about post war Germany and the German psyche. A good read, though markedly different than his other books.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5961662]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5961662]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>13247838</id>
    <user>
    <id>39193</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Markus]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Maspeth, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/39193-markus]]></link>
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  <isbn>0140298002</isbn>
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  <text_reviews_count type="integer">13</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521260m/183922.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521260s/183922.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183922.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[krauts]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Jan 23 05:22:57 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jan 23 05:26:39 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[You just need to read the first 3 essays. Its strange how German nationalism has been shunned post WWII. Nobody wants to be called a nazi. Of course this may only be interesting to germans and us German Americans.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13247838]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13247838]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>5204503</id>
    <user>
    <id>250231</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Richard]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/250231-richard]]></link>
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  <isbn>0140298002</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780140298000</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">13</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521260m/183922.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521260s/183922.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183922.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 27 21:30:06 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 07:21:49 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Title is misleading. It's really a meditation on the collective psyche of 1950s Germany...which, as you can imagine, was pretty fucked up.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5204503]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5204503]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>15120330</id>
    <user>
    <id>895268</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Josh]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/895268-josh]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
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  <id type="integer">721833</id>
  <isbn>0375756574</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780375756573</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">3</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177628193m/721833.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177628193s/721833.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/721833.On_the_Natural_History_of_Destruction</link>
  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>234</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[During World War Two, 131 German cities and towns were targeted by Allied bombs, a good number almost entirely flattened. Six hundred thousand German civilians died&#8212;a figure twice that of all American war casualties. Seven and a half million Germans were left homeless. Given the astonishing scope of the devastation, W. G. Sebald asks, why does the subject occupy so little space in Germany&#8217;s cultural memory? <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong>  probes deeply into this ominous silence.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
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            <shelf name="essays" />
        <shelf name="history" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Feb 11 00:30:35 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Feb 11 00:31:15 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Fantastic historical theory, stuff on historical memory and forgetting.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15120330]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15120330]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>7274702</id>
    <user>
    <id>263326</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Chess via Email]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brockton, MA]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[Some very interesting stuff.  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7274702]]></url>
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    <name><![CDATA[Leonard Houx]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[During World War Two, 131 German cities and towns were targeted by Allied bombs, a good number almost entirely flattened. Six hundred thousand German civilians died&#8212;a figure twice that of all American war casualties. Seven and a half million Germans were left homeless. Given the astonishing scope of the devastation, W. G. Sebald asks, why does the subject occupy so little space in Germany&#8217;s cultural memory? <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong>  probes deeply into this ominous silence.]]>
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  <date_added>Tue Jun 26 14:31:09 -0700 2007</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[everybody likes a critic.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2416402]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2416402]]></link>
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    <name><![CDATA[Kris]]></name>
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  <isbn>0140298002</isbn>
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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  <average_rating>4.05</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 16:40:04 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Again: downer. ]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[On the Natural History of Destruction]]>
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    <![CDATA[W. G. Sebald completed this extraordinary, important and controversial book before his untimely death in December 2001. It is a harrowing study of the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment in World War II, and an examination of the silence in German literature and culture about this unprecedented trauma. <strong>On the Natural History of Destruction</strong> is an essential and deeply relevant study of war and society, suffering and amnesia. Like Sebald&#8217;s novels, it is studded with meticulous observation, moments of black humour, and throughout, the author&#8217;s unmatched intelligence and humanity.]]>
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  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81731662]]></url>
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