A Boy in That Situation: An Autobiography

Perhaps the best thing about this book is how truly believable it is. Not that anyone would think the author was lying about his experiences, but Hannam's descriptions of people are so true to life it is hard to believe anyone could make them up. He tells about his life as a jewish boy in Nazi Germany, and how he escaped to England before the outbreak of war. But unlike many other such books, Hannam makes no attempt to portray himself as a great hero, nor the Germans as wholly evil. Everyone's virtues and faults are laid out in the open. The result is in many ways even more chilling. We see how a great nation can descend into hell. I only wish the author had covered more of his life after 1940, when he was in Britain. As it is, the book ends somewhat abruptly.