Many books have enriched our understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust through tragic personal testimony and probing historical analysis. Anisman’s book adds to this important body of writing but does so in a uniquely powerful way. This is because as well as being the son of a Holocaust survivor whose family died at the hands of the Nazis, Anisman is also a world-leading neuroscientist. He draws on both identities to drill deeply into questions not only about the worst of human nature but also about the human capacity for resilience. This gives the book an unparalleled breadth of relevance that enriches our understanding of the past and, in the process, provides answers to some of the most pressing issues of our time. So while the reader will read and weep they will also read and grow.

Professor Anisman has given voice to a panoply of survivor narratives, each more vivid than the next. The Shoah shadows and colors the lives woven together through fiction, memoir and genuine historical context. The reader is invited into disparate worlds ranging from Canada to Israel and the USSR, each vivified by the author’s empathy and careful research. Among works written by second generation authors, this book excels with fulsome characters who do not shy away from the difficulties of starting afresh after the Holocaust.

This is not a comfortable read — but it is a compelling one, refocusing on historical and personal events of the Holocaust through the lens of survival – who, how, and most elusively (and critically) why. Anisman selects the events told here bravely, wisely, and compassionately --from the legacy with which he has been so painfully gifted. The book presents the events not just in their terrifying immediacy but also through the reflections of those affected, as they try to make some sense and to find some meaning. The later chapters focus on the dance between the memory, or even imprint of the events and the critical, then scientific reflection on them, in the lives of the players – and outside analysts.

If you read only one memoir addressing the Holocaust and victim resilience in the face of unspeakable horror, this should be the one. Hymie Anisman’s account of the Holocaust experience from its victims’ point of view, post-war displacement including governmental obstacles preventing the admittance of refugees, and the development of Israel as a safe haven for Jewish people is absolutely riveting. These historical events come alive with descriptions of the ordeal as experienced by individual family members who did not survive the Nazi regime, as well as those who did miraculously survive, some of whom dedicated themselves to ensuring we never forget how authoritarianism can take hold and ultimately destroy millions. This compelling memoir builds on Anisman’s own research in neuroscience that has sought to improve understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder and illuminate how intergenerational transmission of vulnerability in descendants of survivors may occur. This is a unique mixture of science and history, delivered using a first-person narrative. It is hard not to see how the lessons of the past reverberate today. By guiding us through the Holocaust and its aftermath, Anisman tackles the big existential questions, without supplying easy or trite answers. Lurking in this timely memoir are warnings of growing fascist movements around the world, including the ‘big lies’ they disseminate, putting democracy and the future of us all at risk.