Out of the Sky - by Matti Friedman (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"Gripping . . . Out of the Sky is at once an eloquent inquiry into heroism, a wrenching chronicle of bravery and betrayal, and a poignant evocation of a generation hurled from innocence into the maw of history."--Ben Balint, author of Kafka's Last Trial

The harrowing true story of Hannah Szenes and a group of idealistic young Jews who parachuted behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Europe in 1944.

In 1944, a group of young Jewish refugees agreed to parachute back into Europe as British agents. Their names were legendary in the early years of the State of Israel, especially that of twenty-three-year-old Hannah Szenes, best known as the author of "Eli, Eli," one of the most famous songs ever written in Hebrew. And yet what exactly was the mission, and what had the parachutists actually accomplished? What made them heroes?

Using thousands of original documents from once-secret files, manuscripts, memoirs, and unpublished letters, Out of the Sky follows four of the parachutists from the spring of 1944 to the operation's dramatic end that winter. The British needed multilingual agents behind enemy lines, while their refugee counterparts were desperate to fight back against the murderous Nazi regime. By the end of the mission, not a single Nazi was harmed and not a single Jew was saved--and yet the story of these brave young men and women became one of Israel's founding myths.

In Out of the Sky, Matti Friedman tells the gripping tale of a forgotten moment, showing us how storytelling itself can have a power even greater than warfare. And in exploring the line between myth and reality, heroism and futility, he creates an argument that has deep resonance in our own time.

Review Quotes

"Gripping . . . Out of the Sky is at once an eloquent inquiry into heroism, a wrenching chronicle of bravery and betrayal, and a poignant evocation of a generation hurled from innocence into the maw of history."--Ben Balint, author of Kafka's Last Trial

"Thrilling, terrifying, and awe-inspiring."--Simon Sebag Montefiore

About the Author

Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. His four previous nonfiction books have been awarded the Sami Rohr Prize, the Natan Prize, and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal, and have been translated into a dozen languages. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, he has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Smithsonian and is a columnist for the Free Press.