Peeling the Onion [Hardback, First Edition], Gunter Grass

Memoirs by Nobel Prize-winning authors possess intrinsic allure, but Günter Grass's Peeling the Onion grasps our attention in an entirely new way. Even before its original German-language release, the book gained front-page notice when Grass revealed that it exposed a grave secret he concealed for six decades: as a teenager during World War II, he had served in Hitler's Waffen-SS. This revelation, which contradicted his previous assertions, sparked volleys of attack and defense. At long last, English-language readers will be able to place that controversy within the context of Grass's own account of his life, from his childhood to the publication of The Tin Drum, which brought him worldwide fame.