Terrence Petty's Blog
November 17, 2024
Nazis At The Watercooler
Well, I'm back after a long hiatus. And I've got a new book that blows holes in perceptions about the first decades of postwar Germany. The book is titled "Nazis At The Watercooler: War Criminals In Postwar German Agencies." Published by Potomac Books, a trade imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, it tells how thousands of ex-Nazis -- mass murderers and other perps among them -- were easily able to land government jobs in West Germany. It describes networks of ex-Nazis who got jobs because of their connections, and how they were able to bring on board more comrades they had served with under Hitler. They swapped swastikas for suits, and Hitler salutes for handshakes. They wrote letters of recommendations for each other that were called "Persilscheine," named after Persil, a popular laundry detergent, obfuscating job applicants' misdeeds. These "Persil Certificates" made many a resume as clean as fresh laundry. The US government was complicit in what became a Nazi infestation of the West German civil service, even helping war criminals land government position. More on this to come!
June 22, 2019
The pleasures of rereading books
My wife and I the other day joked about an actual benefit from fading memories as we get older: reading a book we've read before is almost like reading something new! We've got about 2,000 books in the house, tomes we've collected together over four decades, so when I want something to read, I just go pull a book off the shelf. One of my most recent rereads was "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. I remember liking the book a lot when I read it in the early 1980s, but many details had faded in my mind. I was very curious what the reading experience would be like all these years later. As a younger man, I think I breezed through it, appreciating the writing but treating the book more as an entertainment. This time I found myself savoring each and every word, even going back to passages again and again because of the way they would make me laugh out loud, or ponder more deeply what Toole was trying to say.
My decision to read Toole's book sprang from a resolution I made on the occasion of my retirement two years ago: to reread as many of the books in my collection as I can during the remainder of my lifetime. My logic (if you can call it that) is this: many of these 2,000 books have stayed with me and my wife since our university days in the 1970s. They are like family. Sometimes I feel like they chose us, instead of we choosing them. When I think about these books, I think about the people in them. They speak to me. And so I listen.
I am very slowly making my way through the 2,000 books. Here's a small sampling of what I've reread: "Berlin, Alexanderplatz" by Alfred Doeblin; "How German Is It" by Walter Abish; "Deus Lo Volt!" by Evan S. Connell; "Auto da Fe" by Elias Canetti. For nonfiction: "Wittgenstein's Poker" by David Edmonds and John Eidenow; "Goedel, Escher and Bach" by Douglas Hofstader; "Other Minds" by John Wisdom.
I realize I am not expanding my horizons by rereading books, especially since my collection is heavily slanted toward history and philosophy. But so far I am discovering that going back to books that have been with me so many years, getting reacquainted with them, is richly rewarding, usually even more so than the first time around.
What's next?
Well, when I walked past a bookcase in my study about half an hour ago, a tartan plaid book jacket caught my attention: John McPhee's "The Crofter & The Laird." It is beckoning to be reread. And I will heed the call.
My decision to read Toole's book sprang from a resolution I made on the occasion of my retirement two years ago: to reread as many of the books in my collection as I can during the remainder of my lifetime. My logic (if you can call it that) is this: many of these 2,000 books have stayed with me and my wife since our university days in the 1970s. They are like family. Sometimes I feel like they chose us, instead of we choosing them. When I think about these books, I think about the people in them. They speak to me. And so I listen.
I am very slowly making my way through the 2,000 books. Here's a small sampling of what I've reread: "Berlin, Alexanderplatz" by Alfred Doeblin; "How German Is It" by Walter Abish; "Deus Lo Volt!" by Evan S. Connell; "Auto da Fe" by Elias Canetti. For nonfiction: "Wittgenstein's Poker" by David Edmonds and John Eidenow; "Goedel, Escher and Bach" by Douglas Hofstader; "Other Minds" by John Wisdom.
I realize I am not expanding my horizons by rereading books, especially since my collection is heavily slanted toward history and philosophy. But so far I am discovering that going back to books that have been with me so many years, getting reacquainted with them, is richly rewarding, usually even more so than the first time around.
What's next?
Well, when I walked past a bookcase in my study about half an hour ago, a tartan plaid book jacket caught my attention: John McPhee's "The Crofter & The Laird." It is beckoning to be reread. And I will heed the call.
June 17, 2019
Is America Weimar?
During my talk at the Strand, an audience member asked if I saw any parallels between today's U.S. and the Weimar Republic. American democracy is facing many challenges, for sure. But is our democracy in peril? What do you think?
Discussion of my book in NYC
I was pleased and honored to be invited by the Strand Book Store in Manhattan last month to discuss Enemy of the People: The Munich Post and the Journalists Who Opposed Hitler
The owner of the Strand, Nancy Wyden Bass, introduced me and said of my book: "I stayed up all night reading this. It was captivating and such a timely book. I love your writing. In today’s world, filled with autocratic leaders, the truth is never more essential."
A video of my Strand talk is on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2Xivx2A
The owner of the Strand, Nancy Wyden Bass, introduced me and said of my book: "I stayed up all night reading this. It was captivating and such a timely book. I love your writing. In today’s world, filled with autocratic leaders, the truth is never more essential."
A video of my Strand talk is on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2Xivx2A
