Albert Marrin is a professor of history who, in more than twenty juvenile nonfiction books, has attempted to make the past accessible to young readers. In award-winning books such as
1812: The War Nobody Won,
Cowboys, Indians, and Gunfighters: The Story of the Cattle Kingdom, and
"Unconditional Surrender": U. S. Grant and the Civil War, he has created a tapestry of United States history by focusing on dramatic moments and famous personalities. With biographies of leaders and tyrants from Napoleon to Hitler, Marrin has also interpreted the events of a larger world stage for juvenile readers. Additionally, his several books on the First and Second World Wars provide well-organized introductions to many aspects of those struggles.
Chairman of the history department at New York's Yeshiva University, Marrin's books for young readers complement his academic duties and writings. One of his earliest such books, Victory in the Pacific, is indicative of Marrin's thorough, no-nonsense approach to history. -Albert Marrin from Authors and Artists for Young Adults. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.
Dr. Albert Marrin is a master at weaving personal perspective and historical material smoothly to give readers an interesting and reliable account of the subject. He has written over two dozen award-winning nonfiction books for young people which have been called "addictive reading" by The Horn Book. This is a wonderful clue to the type of author Marrin is. We at BFB respect his work and are so pleased to be publishing several of his titles. Three of his books, including Hitler and Stalin: Russia's Man of Steel, were School Library Journal Best Books of the Year.
Grade 6-9 Hitler's life is inseparable from Hitler's Germany and Hitler's war, so it is not surprising that, after describing the dictator's childhood and youth in Austria, Marrin turns away from personal biography to describe life in Nazi Germany and then to recount the campaigns of World War II. Throughout the history of events, however, he points to the influence of the dictator, his increasingly irrational drive to consummate his racial policies, and his responsibility for major military decisions. Marrin brings to this biography a wealth of background information. The author is scrupulous in mentioning sources, and he makes liberal use of quotations, statistics, popular sayings, and other factual material. While not a complete biography, the book emphasizes facts that young readers should know about the impact of Hitler's policies on the lives of the German people, the controls exercised over a whole society, and the horrors of the Second World War. In comparison to available literature on this period of history, Marrin's book stands out for its lively writing, its emphasis on personal anecdote, its value as a reference source, and its insight into the nature of totalitarianism. It is an excellent addition to any library. Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, N.J.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.