If Not Now, When?

Name: If Not Now, When?
Rating: 4.666666666666667 (3 reviews)
Author: Primo Levi
ISBN: 9780140188936

by Primo Levi

4.7

(3 ratings)

352 pages1995PenguinISBN 9780140188936

Fiction History Classics

About this book

“In Levi’s writing, nothing is superfluous and everything is essential.” —Saul Bellow A Penguin Classic In the final days of World War II, a courageous band of Jewish partisans makes its way from Russia to Italy, moving toward the ultimate goal of Palestine. Based on a true story, If Not Now, When? chronicles their adventures as they wage a personal war of revenge against the Nazis: blowing up trains, rescuing the last victims of concentration camps, scoring victories in the face of unspeakable devastation. Primo Levi captures the landscape and the people of Eastern Europe in vivid detail, depicting as well the terrible bleakness of war-ridden Europe. But finally, what he gives us is a tribute to the strength and ingenuity of the human spirit.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Publication Details

Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1995
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9780140188936
Language: en

About Primo Levi

Primo Michele Levi (Turin, 31 July 1919- 11 April 1987) was an Italian Jewish chemist, writer, and Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, novels, collections of short stories, essays, and poems. He graduated in Chemistry from the University of Turin in 1941 and two years later joined the anti-fascist resistance. He was captured and deported to Auschwitz, where he worked as a slave in an industrial plant. After the camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945 and after an odyssey through several Eastern European countries, he returned to Turin and published his first account of the extermination camps, *Se questo è un uomo* (*If This Is a Man* / US: *The Reawakening*). His later biographical writings *La tregua* (*The Truce*, 1963) and *I sommersi e i salvati* (*The Drowned and the Saved*, 1986) are reflections on the experience of horror. His other works include *Il sistema periodico* (*The Periodic Table*), *Se non ora, quando?* (*If Not Now, When?*), *Storie naturali* (as Damiano Malabaila), *La chiave a stella* (*The Wrench*, 1978), *Lilit e altri racconti* (1978), *La ricerca delle radici* (*The Search for Roots*, 1981), and *L' ultimo Natale di guerra* (1984).