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The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler

The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix

I just wanted to record some quick thoughts on this book... 

I've been meaning to read it for a while now! The Faithful Spy won the Cybils award in the high school non-fiction category in 2018, and got loads of good buzz before and after. 

I started to read the massive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas that came out a decade ago, but had to return it to the library and never finished. I figured The Faithful Spy would fill me in on what I had missed. 

I enjoyed reading The Faithful Spy, but I do wish I had time to read that huuuuuge biography that I had to return too soon. I liked the beginning of that one a lot -- it was full of quotes from primary sources. This one at least gave me a sketch of Bonhoeffer's life. It's very well done, with a lot of text, a lot of illustrations. It's not quite a graphic novel and not quite NOT a graphic novel. I like the way the Cybils team described the art as a mix of political cartoons and Mad Magazine. Their review is here.

Overall, The Faithful Spy left me feeling somber, and took me a little more than an evening to read. It gave me some interesting philosophy and religion concepts to think about. Recommended to those who are interested. 



2 comments:

  1. Hi Alysa! :) I feel like it's been forever since I've actually talked to you. I see your cute kids in the pictures you post on Instagram, but I don't really ever say much.

    Anyway, this book looks like it would be an interesting read. Do you know if this had anything to do with Valkyrie? That's the movie about Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. I really enjoyed that movie and would love to read more about it. I'm sure there were a lot of plots to kill Hitler, though.

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    1. Hey Jenni!! I see your posts on Instagram, too. Yes! I saw Valkyrie, and this book does cover it! But I would say the movie goes into much more detail about Operation Valkyrie. This book does a great job providing the context for the rise of Hitler, and covers a couple of the plots to kill him.

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