The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich

A Son's Memoir

Nonfiction, History, Jewish, Holocaust, Americas, United States, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich by Howard Reich, PublicAffairs
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Howard Reich ISBN: 9780786736140
Publisher: PublicAffairs Publication: April 20, 2009
Imprint: PublicAffairs Language: English
Author: Howard Reich
ISBN: 9780786736140
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication: April 20, 2009
Imprint: PublicAffairs
Language: English

On the evening of February 15, 2001, Sonia Reich, Howard Reich's mother, packed some clothes into two brown shopping bags, put on her gray winter coat, locked the door to her home in Skokie, Illinois and fled. Someone was trying to kill her, "to put a bullet in my head," Sonia told anyone who would listen. Polish and Jewish, Sonia Reich had survived the Holocaust by staying always on the run. She and Howard's father, Robert, also a Holocaust survivor, had fled to America, moved to Chicago, and raised their young son to tell no one that they were Jewish. It was only after moving to Skokie, a town filled with Holocaust survivors, that his family would live as Jews. Still, his parents told Howard almost nothing about their past. The First and Final Nightmare… is Reich's moving and bittersweet memoir of growing up in Skokie, discovering an odd and personal American freedom in jazz, and his riveting, revealing investigation into his family's past and the nature of his mother's illness, called late-onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a poignant story of a mother and a son, a haunted past, and the irony of what may happen when that often repeated admonition to "never forget" becomes a curse.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

On the evening of February 15, 2001, Sonia Reich, Howard Reich's mother, packed some clothes into two brown shopping bags, put on her gray winter coat, locked the door to her home in Skokie, Illinois and fled. Someone was trying to kill her, "to put a bullet in my head," Sonia told anyone who would listen. Polish and Jewish, Sonia Reich had survived the Holocaust by staying always on the run. She and Howard's father, Robert, also a Holocaust survivor, had fled to America, moved to Chicago, and raised their young son to tell no one that they were Jewish. It was only after moving to Skokie, a town filled with Holocaust survivors, that his family would live as Jews. Still, his parents told Howard almost nothing about their past. The First and Final Nightmare… is Reich's moving and bittersweet memoir of growing up in Skokie, discovering an odd and personal American freedom in jazz, and his riveting, revealing investigation into his family's past and the nature of his mother's illness, called late-onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a poignant story of a mother and a son, a haunted past, and the irony of what may happen when that often repeated admonition to "never forget" becomes a curse.

More books from PublicAffairs

Cover of the book One Day, All Children... by Howard Reich
Cover of the book West of the West by Howard Reich
Cover of the book The Zoo on the Road to Nablus by Howard Reich
Cover of the book Great American Outpost by Howard Reich
Cover of the book Daniel Patrick Moynihan by Howard Reich
Cover of the book The Sword And The Olive by Howard Reich
Cover of the book Left Brain, Right Stuff by Howard Reich
Cover of the book The Violence of Peace by Howard Reich
Cover of the book A Crowd of One by Howard Reich
Cover of the book Goliath by Howard Reich
Cover of the book The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want by Howard Reich
Cover of the book Creating a World Without Poverty by Howard Reich
Cover of the book The Great Decision by Howard Reich
Cover of the book Go Figure by Howard Reich
Cover of the book Ms. Moffett's First Year by Howard Reich
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy