Address Unknown [Hardcover]

Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1995

Original published in 1938, Address Unknown created an immediate sensation. Written as a series of letters between an American and his former business partner who returned to Germany, the story was one of the first to expose the poison of Nazism. As anti-Semitism is resurging in Europe, Address Unknown is a sobering reminder that history can repeat itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First published in 1938 in Story magazine as a wake-up call warning Americans of the true nature of the Nazi menace, this punchy epistolary tale enacts a stunning drama of friendship, betrayal and vengeance. In 1932, San Francisco art-gallery owner Max Eisenstein, a Jew who grew up in pre-Nazi Germany, bids farewell to his longtime friend and business partner Martin Schulse, who returns with his family to Munich, where he becomes a Nazi. Through their letters to one another, which quickly move from warmth to a chilling disregard, we watch as the once-liberal Martin, seduced by grandiose visions of German destiny and by the rantings of "our Glorious Leader," vents an anti-Semitism that he tortuously rationalizes. Max, alarmed by reports of anti-Jewish persecution in Germany, asks Martin to look after his actress sister, Griselle, who is performing in Berlin. When she is murdered by Nazi storm troopers after being refused refuge at the Schulse house, Max takes revenge through a clever epistolary ploy that provides a satisfying surprise ending. Nearly 60 years after its initial publication, Kressman's story serves not only as a reminder of Nazi horrors but as a cautionary tale in light of current racial, ethnic and nationalist intolerance.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Published to acclaim and impressive sales?50,000 copies?in 1938, this is one of the earliest pieces of Holocaust fiction. The epistolary novel reveals the rising tide of evil in Germany through the correspondence between two friends, one of whom is living in San Francisco, the other in Berlin.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Story Pr (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884910173
• ISBN-13: 978-1884910173
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #736,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting little gem, November 27, 2002

By 

Lesley West (St James, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Address Unknown (Paperback)

I read this book (novella really - almost a short story) in one sitting, and found it to be both profoundly disturbing and very clever. There is a marvellous twist in the tale which I have to confess that I didn't see coming, and despite the real horrors of the story, left me satisfied and smiling at the end.

But this is not a perfect book - some of the other reviewers have mentioned the inaccuracies of the time and the geography, and how parts of some of the characters' adventures and activities are a little too pat. All of this is true. But we forgive all of that as we read the letters which demonstrate so well the dissolving of a lifetime's ties of friendship, and the infinitely clever revenge that is eventually had.

So, not a perfect book, but a very, very good one (4 and a half stars really), and one that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in history, clever writing, and who loves a story with a twist in the tale!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching and Timeless Book, November 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Address Unknown (Hardcover)

I can see why this book caused a sensation when it was first printed. It took me less than a half hour to read it but it will stay with me for years. I was left was many complex points to think about. Was Max completely in the right? Is what he did justified? I am amazed at the deep story that this little book contains and how it hits home as much today as it must have in 1938.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This should be required reading, April 6, 2007

By 

C. Ebeling "ctlpareader" (PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Address Unknown (Paperback)

Sixty years later, apologists for the slow American response to the holocaust say that, gee, we just had no idea until the camps were liberated at the end of the war. Not so. In 1938, Katherine Kressman Taylor published the short story ADDRESS UNKNOWN in Story Magazine. Its popularity inspired a stand alone hardcover release the following year. The critics could not say enough. They and those who made it a bestseller knew.

It is a perfectly crafted, creatively conceived story and it is a story that delivered an unmistakable message about the Nazi menace. Taylor was inspired by what became of a couple she knew who moved to Germany in the 30's and from a newspaper article. This edition includes an introduction by the author's son who reveals some biographical detail and how the story came to be written. Even with this information and what we know of history, the story packs an unexpected punch. It takes fiction to the living edge of what it can do for society and culture.

This is a nicely produced edition, with a sturdy, flapped soft cover and rich vellum pages,worthy of the classic it is.