The Kindly Ones

Harper Perennial, 2010. First Harper Perennial Edition. Trade Paperback. Very Good. Heavy paperback, 1.8 pounds; 975 p. A former Nazi officer, Dr. Maximilien Aue has reinvented himself, many years after the war, as a middle-class family man and factory owner in France. An intellectual steeped in philosophy, literature, and classical music, he is also a cold-blooded assassin and the consummate bureaucrat. Through the eyes of this cultivated yet monstrous man we experience in disturbingly precise detail the horrors of the Second World War and the Nazi genocide of the Jews. Eichmann, Himmler, GÖring, Speer, Heydrich, HÖss—even Hitler himself—play a role in Max's story. An intense and hallucinatory historical epic, The Kindly Ones is also a morally challenging read. It holds a mirror up to humanity—and the reader cannot look away. Please Note - This is considered a Highly Controversial book. The Guardian's review warned readers of the novel's "copious scatological and sexual references," and for some readers, that warning didn't go far enough. Book is in very good condition. There is the usual edge wear, corners bumped and worn, more wear on spine ends and a crease at the front lower corner. Several pages on that corner are curled. The interior is clean and the binding tight.