All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler

8vo, hardcover in dj, 560pp. ìExtraordinarily intimateÖ Wilder and more expansive than a standard-issue biographyÖ a real-life thriller with a cruel endingónot to mention an account of Hitlerís ascent from attention-seeking buffoon to genocidal F¸hrer.î-Jennifer Szalai, New York Times ìA powerful bookÖ Ms. Donnerís use of the present tense increases the feeling of inevitability as she unfolds her story to its horrific conclusion. A nonfiction narrative with the pace of a political thriller, itís imbued with suspense and dreadÖ a deeply affecting biography, meticulously researched and illustratedÖ Ms. Donner evocatively brings to life the giddy feeling of freedom under the Weimar regime in Berlin and how swiftly it eroded. Her account of the decline of liberties is harrowing.î-Moira Hodgson, Wall Street Journal ìA deeply moving act of recoveryÖ In a photo of those pages reproduced in the book, Mildred Harnackís cramped yet careful handwriting crystallizes Donnerís goal: to write her heroic forebear back into history, to bring her back to life.î-Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times ìA tour de force of investigationÖ The story unfolds in fragmentsÖ but as the pieces cohere, the coupleís story becomes grippingÖ The abiding impression is of virtuous, extraordinarily brave people caught up in tragic horror.î-The Economist ìDonner quotes passages from her sources at length, letting the reader dwell on facts rather than galloping through them. She does this stylishlyÖ The archival quality of the book, its enumeration and cataloging of sources, is both surprising for a biography ó too rarely the site of literary innovation ó and affecting. It gives a sense of the warped timeline of crisis, how life can shift overnight without moving at all, the way in which change can ricochet from the political sphere to the smallest and most mundane details of a personís life.î-Madeleine Schwartz, New York Times Book Review ì[A] compelling book, which reads like a tragic novel where we wish we didn't know the endingÖ Yet knowing her terrible fate from the onset shouldn't dissuade you from reading this page-turner about Harnack's perilous journeyÖ Donner's descriptive style takes us inside Nazi Germany and makes the book hard to put down.î-Laura McCallum, Minneapolis Star Tribune ìRemarkableÖ [a] gripping, inventive biographyÖ Donnerís book is a breathtaking account of how individuals can find the strength to defy the darkness enveloping them.î-Time ìA gorgeous collage of history and family lore, a revelatory window onto a Gˆtterd‰mmerung that transformed the world forever.î-Oprah Daily ìGrippingÖ Donner brings her ancestor to life through artful use of documents and interviewsÖ and she tells Harnack's story with dramatic pace and vision. As the story unfolds in time, Harnack and her resistance comrades become like a small cluster of white blood cells targeting the seemingly overwhelming infection that was Nazism.î-Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ì[Donner is] a meticulous researcher and master of narrative suspenseÖ Here is a historical biography that reads like a literary thriller.î-Wall Street Journal (Best Books of the Year) ìHighly evocative, deeply moving, a stunning literary achievement. Rebecca Donner forges a new kind of biographyóalmost novelistic in style and tone, this scholarly work resurrects the courageous life Mildred Harnack, an unsung American hero who led part of the German resistance to the Nazi regime. A relentless sleuth in the archives, Donner has written a page-turner story of espionage, love, and betrayal.î-Kai Bird, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography ìRebecca Donner has written a beautifully rich portrait of a very brave woman. While never less than scrupulously researched, this biography explodes the genre of 'biography': experimental but achieved, Donner's story reads with the speed of a thriller, the depth of a novel, and the urgency of an essay, like some deeply compelling blend of Alan Furst and W.G. Sebald.î-James Wood ìMovingÖ From helping Jews escape, to spreading anti-Hitler leaflets, to becoming a spy, to her eventual capture and execution, [Harnackís] little-known story is finally brought to light by her great-great niece through newly discovered documents, diary entries, survivor stories and more.î-Lesley Kennedy, CNN "A stunning biography. Donnerís research is impeccable, and her fluid prose and vivid character sketches keep the pages turningÖThis standout history isnít to be missed.î-Publishers Weekly (starred review) ìHow can it happen that a constitution, a free press, and a democracy be demolishedóall within six months? This powerfully written story of Mildred Harnack, resistance fighter against Hitler, tells step by step the way the German republic fell to the Nazis. Read All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, and be warned.î-Maxine Hong Kingston, winner of the National Book Award, author of The Woman Warrior ìAt once boldly imagined and lovingly researched, All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days sets the remarkable story of resistance fighter Mildred Harnack against the backdrop of daily life in Germany as Hitler tightened his grip on the nation. Epic in sweep, written with a novelistís attention to detail and a historianís perspective on social and political forces, this book opens up new possibilities for biography.î-Ruth Franklin, winner of the NBCC Award for Biography, author of Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life ìCombining meticulous scholarship and sparkling narrative brio, Rebecca Donnerís All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days brings to life for the first time the central role played by underground activist Mildred Harnack in Germanyís homegrown opposition to Nazi rule. That Harnack was an American woman from Wisconsin only adds to the complexity of this stirring and tragic story, which culminates in the Harnack groupís ill-fated clandestine campaign to undermine Hitlerís regime. More broadly, Donnerís portrait of the cruelly oppressive system against which Harnack and her circle fought can serve to remind us of what can happen when, amidst economic insecurity and anguish over dislocating socio-cultural change, a highly civilized nation embraces demagoguery over democracy.î-David Clay Large, author of Berlin ìDonnerís meticulous research and novelistís sensibility make for a riveting biography of a remarkable and brave womanÖ Readers of Erik Larsonís biography In the Garden of Beasts will appreciate Donnerís different perspective on the same historical events and figures. Recommended to all who enjoy engaging narrative nonfiction.î-Laurie Unger Skinner, Library Journal "An impressive story. a welcome contribution to the history of the anti-Nazi underground."-Kirkus Reviews ìMildred Harnack lived an extraordinary lifeÖ DonneróHarnackís great-great nieceódraws on notes, diaries, letters and declassified intelligence materials to offer this window into 1930s Germany and Harnackís remarkable actions.î-Joumana Khatib, New York Times Book Review (New Books Coming in August) L'autore Rebecca Donner's essays, reportage and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Bookforum, Guernica, and The Believer. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days is her third book; she is also the author of a novel, Sunset Terrace, and Burnout, a graphic novel about ecoterrorism. She was a 2018-2019 fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography, and has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Ucross Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Vermont Studio Center. Born in Vancouver, Donner is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University, and has taught writing at Wesleyan University, Columbia University, and Barnard College.