Lucky Child - Softcover

Thomas Buergenthal

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1781254001 ISBN 13: 9781781254004

Publisher: Profile Books Limited, 2015

Synopsis

Lucky Child

About this title

About the Author:

Thomas Buergenthal served for more than ten years as the American judge on the International Court of Justice in The Hague before returning to the United States in September 2010. He is a former President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and former member of the UN Human Rights Committee. Recipient of the Gruber Foundation International Justice Prize and member of the Ethics Commission of the International Olympic Committee, Buergenthal has been re-appointed professor of international law and human rights at the George Washington University Law School, where he had taught before his election to the ICJ.

Review:

"In the plainest words and the steadiest tones, Thomas Buergenthal delivers to us the child he once was. History and memory fail to ebb; rather, they accelerate and proliferate, and Buergenthal's voice is now more thunderous than ever. A work of visionary compassion." (Cynthia Ozick, author of Heir to the Glimmering World )

"An extraordinary story, simply and beautifully told. Heartbreaking and thrilling, it examines what it means to be human, in every good and awful sense. Thomas Buergenthal remembers and renders the small mysteries and grand passions of childhood, even a childhood lived under the most horrific circumstances." (Elizabeth McCracken, author of An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination )

"The unsentimental tone of Buergenthal's writing magnifies his deliberate decision not to make melodrama out of a story that is plenty dramatic enough. Like Primo Levi and Anne Frank, Buergenthal can only tell the story of one life, but through that life we are led to consider and honor all the lives of those who weren't so lucky." (Kate Braestrup, author of Here If You Need Me )

"Reminiscent of Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel...Buergenthal [speaks] most eloquently for the millions of Holocaust victims who cannot." (The Oklahoman )

"An incredible tale." (The Free Lance-Star )

"Buergenthal's authentic, moving tale reveals that his lifelong commitment to human rights sprang from the ashes of Auschwitz." (Publishers Weekly )

"Powerful....The author's story is astonishing and moving, and his capacity for forgiveness is remarkably heartening. An important new voice joins the chorus of survivors." (Kirkus Reviews )

"A remarkable, sometimes astonishing story of finding protection and kindness from unlikely sources, uncanny narrow escapes and a powerfully strong will to live." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution )

"You think you've heard it all....But this one is different. The clear, nonhectoring prose makes Buergenthal's personal story-and the enduring ethical questions it prompts-the stuff of a fast, gripping read." (Booklist )

"A Lucky Child does not wallow in the horrors nor does it shirk the darkest events. It is a clear-headed account of Buergenthal's experiences and how they determined his life." (The Sydney Morning Herald )

About this edition

• Publisher: Profile Books Limited
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1781254001
• ISBN 13: 9781781254004
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 262