Guilt about the Past - by Bernhard Schlink (Paperback)

About the Book

The six essays that make up this compelling book explore the phenomenon of guilt and how it attaches to a whole society, not just to individual perpetrators. Essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how events of the past can affect a nation's future.

Book Synopsis

The six essays that make up this compelling book view the long shadow of past guilt as a German experience as well as a global one. International bestselling author Bernhard Schlink explores the phenomenon of guilt and how it attaches to a whole society, not just to individual perpetrators. He considers how to use the lessons of history to motivate individual moral behaviour, how to reconcile a guilt-laden past, the role of law in this process, and how the theme of guilt influences his own fiction.

Based on the Weidenfeld Lectures Schlink delivered at Oxford University, Guilt about the Past is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how events of the past can affect a nation's future, tapping into worldwide interest in the aftermath of war and how to forgive and reconcile the various legacies of the past.

Review Quotes

Schlink's essays provide a thankfully atypical view of the burden left by the years that included "the Third Reich and the Holocaust." A specific German view comes clear, a writerly philosophy is offered and the era's influence on contemporary life comes into focus.--Norman Ravvin "The Canadian Jewish News"