PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Robert Harris is the author of Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium and The Ghost, all of which were international bestsellers. His latest novel, Lustrum, has just been published. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. After graduating with a degree in English from Cambridge University, he worked as a reporter for the BBC's Panorama and Newsnight programmes, before becoming political editor of the Observer and subsequently a columnist on the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph. The film of The Ghost - for which he co-wrote the screenplay - directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan is due to be released at the beginning of 2010. He is married to Gill Hornby and they live with their four children in a village near Hungerford.
First time tragedy, second time farce: the Hitler diaries affair recounted by Harris in just the right tragicomic tone becomes more than media critique: it becomes a parable for the trivialization of history by the tabloid mentality. Celebrity - no matter for what - counts for everything, fame and infamy become indistinguishable, and even some of the most sober and scrupulous of historians become caught up in the frenzy. Review by Ron Rosenbaum, whose works include 'Explaining Hitler' (Kirkus UK)
