Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjager on the Eastern Front, 1941-43 ($1.99), by Hans Roth, Christine Alexander (editor) and Mason Kunze (editor).Book Description
This book presents the remarkable personal journals of a German soldier who participated in Operation Barbarossa and subsequent battles on the Eastern Front, revealing the combat experience of the German-Russian War as seldom seen before.
Hans Roth was a member of the anti-tank (Panzerjager) battalion, 299th Infantry Division, attached to Sixth Army, as the invasion of Russia began. Writing as events transpired, he recorded the mystery and tension as the Germans deployed on the Soviet frontier in June 1941. Then a firestorm broke loose as the Wehrmacht tore across the front, forging into the primitive vastness of the East.
During the Kiev encirclement, Roth's unit was under constant attack as the Soviets desperately tried to break through the German ring. At one point, after the enemy had finally been beaten, a friend serving with the SS led him to a site where he witnessed civilians being massacred en masse (which may well have been Babi Yar). After suffering through a horrible winter against apparently endless Russian reserves, his division went on the offensive again, this time on the northern wing of "Case Gelb," the German drive toward Stalingrad.
In these journals, attacks and counterattacks are described in "you are there" detail, as Roth wrote privately, as if to keep himself sane, knowing that his honest accounts of the horrors in the East could never pass through Wehrmacht censors. When the Soviet counteroffensive of winter 1942 begins, his unit is stationed alongside the Italian 8th Army, and his observations of its collapse, as opposed to the reaction of the German troops sent to stiffen its front, are of special fascination.
Roth’s three journals were discovered many years after his disappearance, tucked away in the home of his brother, with whom he was known to have had a deep bond. After his brother’s death, his family discovered them and quickly sent them to Rosel, Roth’s wife. In time, Rosel handed down the journals to Erika, Roth’s only daughter, who had meantime immigrated to America.
Hans Roth was doubtlessly working on a fourth journal before he was reported missing in action in July 1944 during the battle known as the Destruction of Army Group Center. Although Roth’s ultimate fate remains unknown, what he did leave behind, now finally revealed, is an incredible firsthand account of the horrific war the Germans waged in Russia.
The Choiring Of The Trees ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Donald Harington, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $4.99/KLL Eligible). However, Amazon hasn't yet dropped the price on the deal book (and it's long after midnight in the UK), so if you want this one in the UK, you'll need to keep checking back. In the meantime, though, they have lowered the price of six other Harington titles to £0.99, all of which are eligible for the UK Kindle Reading Marathon.Book Description
A rape and a wrongful condemnation--a novel based on a true story. In Arkansas, 1914, a 13-year-old girl is raped in the backwoods of the Ozarks. On her testimony, a young mountaineer is convicted and sentenced to the electric chair. With his celebrated storyteller's art, Donald Harington has created a work rich in drama, passion, and texture, unforgettably bringing to life his characters, place, and era.
The Dime Museum Murders ($1.59 Kindle, B&N), the first title in Daniel Stashower's The Harry Houdini Mysteries series, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.Book Description
New York City in 1897 and young escapologist Harry Houdini is struggling to get the recognition he craves from the ruthless entertainment industry. When toy tycoon Branford Wintour is found murdered in his Fifth Avenue mansion, detectives call upon Houdini to help solve this mysterious crime. When Harry and his brother Dash reach the scene of the murder, they discover that Wintour was killed seemingly by a magic trick...
The Wednesday Wars ($4.99 Kindle, $2.49 B&N), by Gary D. Schmidt, is the Nook Daily Find for Families.Book Description
Gary D. Schmidt was awarded a Newbery Honor in 2008 for The Wednesday Wars, the story of seventh grader Holling Hoodhood from suburban Long Island in 1967 who is stuck spending his Wednesday afternoons with his teacher Mrs. Baker… who is clearly trying to kill him with Shakespeare. As time rolls on, Shakespeare starts to grow on Holling, and even when he’s not playing the yellow-tighted role of the fairy Ariel, he can’t help but hurl the occasional Elizabethan insult. Laugh-out-loud scenes involving overfed escaped classroom rats and chalk-dusted cream puffs mix seamlessly with more poignant moments, some related to the Vietnam War. Holling is courageous, funny, and unique… and readers will love seeing him evolve beyond the expectations of others to become his own fabulous self.
Grade Level: 5 and up
