7:00 PM Program & Book Signing
"Concentration camp." A term that evokes horror. Names come to mind for those acquainted with 20th century history: Dachau. Auschwitz. Bergen-Belsen. Buchenwald.
These and dozens more were concentration camps set up by the Nazis in Germany and Europe from the early '30s until the end of the Third Reich in 1945.
But, these are not the only concentration camps that have held humans in the worst of times.
Andrea Pitzer, the journalist who "loves to unearth lost history," is the author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps. Kirkus Reviews describes it as "a potent, powerful history of cruelty and dehumanization."
While the "camps" in World War II Germany drew the most attention in the 20th century (and continue to do so in the 21st), there were others around the world. In Russia, China, North Korea and other places, she explains with detail.
Pitzer is also described as a writer who is fascinated by "humanity’s tendency not to learn from history."
Her previous book was an examination of a controversial author, The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov.
Pitzer's writing and reporting appears in such publications as Vox, Slate and USA Today. She's spoken to literary gatherings and journalism conferences in the U.S. and overseas.
Her official biography demonstrates her range of interests and accomplishments. It reads, "She received an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1994, and later studied at MIT and Harvard as an affiliate of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. In 2009, she founded Nieman Storyboard, the narrative nonfiction site for the foundation. Before that, she was a freelance journalist, a music critic, a portrait painter, a French translator, a record store manager and a karate instructor. She grew up in West Virginia and currently lives with her family near Washington, D.C."
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