Walter Kempowski (1929-2007) was one of Germany's most important post-war writers, known for his acclaimed collection of first-hand accounts of the second world war, including Swansong 1945. He is also the author of many novels, including Homeland and All for Nothing, which was a bestseller in both Germany and the UK.Michael Lipkin is a professor of German Studies at Hamilton College. His writing on German literature has appeared in many publications in Germany and America.

Kempowski has an eye for the strange, seemingly insignificant detail - a family in-joke, a disturbing line from the mouth of a minor character - that adds to a haunting, incantatory portrait of an epoch. An Ordinary Youth captures, if not quite the "banality of evil", then at least the everydayness of complicity and compromise. Today, it's more timely than ever

Walter Kempowski (1929-2007) was one of Germany's most important post-war writers, known for his acclaimed collection of first-hand accounts of the second world war, including Swansong 1945. He is also the author of many novels, including Homeland and All for Nothing, which was a bestseller in both Germany and the UK.Michael Lipkin is a professor of German Studies at Hamilton College. His writing on German literature has appeared in many publications in Germany and America.

Kempowski has an eye for the strange, seemingly insignificant detail - a family in-joke, a disturbing line from the mouth of a minor character - that adds to a haunting, incantatory portrait of an epoch. An Ordinary Youth captures, if not quite the "banality of evil", then at least the everydayness of complicity and compromise. Today, it's more timely than ever

Walter Kempowski (1929-2007) was one of Germany's most important post-war writers, known for his acclaimed collection of first-hand accounts of the second world war, including Swansong 1945. He is also the author of many novels, including Homeland and All for Nothing, which was a bestseller in both Germany and the UK.Michael Lipkin is a professor of German Studies at Hamilton College. His writing on German literature has appeared in many publications in Germany and America.

Kempowski has an eye for the strange, seemingly insignificant detail - a family in-joke, a disturbing line from the mouth of a minor character - that adds to a haunting, incantatory portrait of an epoch. An Ordinary Youth captures, if not quite the "banality of evil", then at least the everydayness of complicity and compromise. Today, it's more timely than ever