War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944
by Iris Origo
List Price:
Our Price: $10.05
You Save: $4.90 (33%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Iris OrigoEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1984-02-01
ISBN: 0879234768
Number of pages: 239
Publisher: David R Godine
Book Reviews of War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944
Book Review: a fabulous read
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an exceptional book which bears precious witness to the way WWII brought out both the good and bad--but mostly good--in people living or passing through a region of Tuscany. The author's factual, restrained account of the extraordinary events of the time and her part in them is beautiful and effective. Highly recommended. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
"The rounding-up of the Jews appears now to be completed--though no doubt many unfortunate women and children are still hidden. The Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal della Costa, has taken a courageous stand. When some of his nuns were arrested in consequence of having given shelter to some Jewish women in their convent, the Cardinal, putting on his full panoply, went straight to the German Command. 'I have come to you,' he said, 'because I believe you, as soldiers, to be people who recognize authority and hierarchy--and who do not make subordinates responsible for merely carrying out orders. The order to give shelter to those unfortunate Jewish women was given by me: therefore I request you to free the nuns, who have merely carried out orders, and to arrest me in their stead.'
The German immediately gave orders for the nuns to be freed, but permitted himself to state his surprise that a man like the Cardinal should take under his protection such people as the Jews, the scum of Europe, responsible for all the evils of the present day. The Cardinal did not enter upon the controversy. 'I look upon them,' he said, 'merely as persecuted human beings; as such it is my Christian duty to help and defend them. One day,' he gave himself the pleasure of adding, 'perhaps not far off, *you* will be persecuted: and then I shall defend you!'"
Summary of War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944
A classic of World War II, here in its first American edition. War in Val d'Orcia is Iris Origo's elegantly simple chronicle of daily life at La Foce, a manor in a Tuscan no-man's land bracketed by foreign invasion and civil war.With the immediacy only a diary can have, the book tells how the Marchesa Origo, an Anglo-American married to an Italian landowner, kept La Foce and its farms functioning while war threatened to overrun it and its people. She and her husband managed to protect their peasants, succor refugee children from Genoa and Turrin, hide escaped Allied prisoners of war-and somehow stand up to the Germans, who in dread due course occupied La Foce in 1944 and forced the Marchesa to retreat under a hot June sun.
Fleeing eight impossible miles on foot, along a mined road under shell fire, with sixty children in tow, she sheltered her flock in the dubious safety of a nearby village. A few days later, official Fascism disappeared, and La Foce was ransacked by the retreating Wehrmacht. Here, as the restoration of La Foce begins, her book ends.
Beyond praise and above mere documentary value, War in Val d'Orcia belongs to the literature of humanity.
Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Memoirs Books
Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Centuryby Hunter S. Thompson
Penguin Books, Limited (UK); Published: 2008-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.11
Price in other shops:
Never Have Your Dog Stuffedby Alan Alda
Arrow Books; Published: 2007-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
The Hunger: A Story of Food, Desire, and Ambitionby John DeLucie, Graydon Carter
Ecco; Published: 2009-05-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.77
Price in other shops:
Brotherhood of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a Commando in One of the World's Most Elite Counterterrorism Unitsby Aaron Cohen, Douglas Century
Ecco; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.80
Price in other shops:
Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survivalby Carmina Salcido, Steve Jackson
William Morrow; Published: 2009-10-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Unlocked: The Life and Crimes of a Mafia Insiderby Louis Ferrante
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-02-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops:
Writing Places: The Life Journey of a Writer and Teacherby William Zinsser
Harper; Published: 2009-05-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.08
Price in other shops:
Got the Life: My Journey of Addiction, Faith, Recovery, and Kornby Fieldy
William Morrow; Published: 2009-03-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.10
Price in other shops:
The Ride of My Lifeby Mat Hoffman
It Books; Published: 2003-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.95
Similar Books and other products
My Name Is Mary Sutter: A Novelby Robin Oliveira
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2011-03-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.54
Price in other shops:
Iris Origo: Marchesa Of Val D'orcia.by Caroline Moorehead
David R Godine; Published: 2004-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.63
Price in other shops:
The Private World of Georgette Heyerby Jane Hodge
Sourcebooks; Published: 2011-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.96
Price in other shops:
The Soldiers' Tale: Bearing Witness to a Modern Warby Samuel Hynes
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1998-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.62
Price in other shops:
97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenementby Jane Ziegelman
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2011-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops:
Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japanby J. Samuel Walker
The University of North Carolina Press; Published: 2005-02-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleansby John Bailey
Grove Press; Published: 2005-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.73
Price in other shops:
Images & Shadows: Part of a Life (Nonpareil Book, 82)by Iris Origo
David R Godine; Published: 2010-07-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.04
Price in other shops:
La Foce: A Garden and Landscape in Tuscany (Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture)by Benedetta Origo, Laurie Olin, John Dixon Hunt, Morna Livingston
University of Pennsylvania Press; Published: 2001-09-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $39.65
Price in other shops:
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir (P.S.)by Neil White
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.03
Price in other shops: