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"Paul G. Schreiber's new book is an honest account of one man's pilgrimage to American ideals of personal freedom and constitutional guarantees, and how--paradoxically--those ideals are now under siege in his adopted land. It is moving in its narrative, but frightening in its implications. Paul G. Schreiber's book is more than a moving memoir of one man's change of national allegiance and of political ideology. It is not just an account of how a young boy, born and raised in the cauldron of Nazi Germany, came to an awareness and appreciation of constitutional democracy. It is also a necessary warning to all of us about the very disquieting parallels that are emerging between Hitler's Third Reich and a new politically correct America--an America that is gradually becoming a land of self-censorship, over-regulation, bureaucratic arrogance, and conformist thinking." -- Dr. Joseph S. Salemi, Department of Classical Languages, Hunter College, C.U.N.Y.
"I had the honor of helping
edit this exciting, expansive memoir, and I can tell you that
I've never read a first-hand account that moved me more
strongly. As a child in pre-World War II Germany, Paul Schreiber
takes you, the reader, by the hand and lets him experience how
normalcy can quickly decay into a hectic, head-long race for
survival. He allows you to play with the toys his father has
brought him, leads you calmly down the street to the shop where
his family bought bread for their table and to a lake where his
family spent sunny afternoons on a boat. And then hurriedly,
wide-eyed, he'll urge you into a bunker as the air-raid sirens
go off. As you huddle together with him in that bunker, you can
literally feel the air compress, see the walls bulge and taste
the dirt that filters from the ceiling as the Allies' bombs fall
from the sky. You'll look about you, stunned, at the powdered
clothing of the others in the bunker. Later, as the friend of
this young child you will run with him through the ruins of
Berlin, staying ahead of bombs on the one hand and Russian
soldiers on the other, stepping over and around fragments of
building, windows, tables, chairs, animals and human beings. You
will meet and befriend soldiers from a foreign land, and
eventually you will escape. You will accompany Paul for several
years and will never experience a dull moment through the pampas
of Argentina, through separation and reunion, and finally into
the only nation on Earth that deserves what Paul calls "a
celebration of principle." This memoir is a must read, not
only for its historical significance, but for the forbidding
parallels it draws between the lethargic political landscape of
pre-war Germany and that of modern-day America. I was fortunate
enough to be born in this country and fortunate enough to serve
with the Marine Corps for over two decades, but reading Paul's
book is what made me truly understand the pride of being an
American and, in Paul's case, an American by Choice."
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