Praise for Young Heroes of the Soviet Union:
➽ A New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2020.
➽ A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
“A loving and mournful account that’s also skeptical, surprising and often very funny… There’s plenty of writing like this in the book—confident, precisely drawn imagery that will make you remember what Halberstadt describes in his own unforgettable terms… [It’s] the unexpected specificity of Halberstadt’s observations that ultimately make this memoir as lush and moving as it is.“ —The New York Times
“An act of literary archaeology, Young Heroes of the Soviet Union digs through Halberstadt’s childhood memories, surviving photographs and the reminiscences of his parents and grandparents to unearth the dark bedrock of Soviet history. Its finely wrought prose ranges from Moscow in the 1930s to Vilnius in the 50s and New York in the 80s, melding the genres of biography, history and memoir. The book is more than just an account of one family’s ordeals: it is an engrossing account of dictatorship, war and genocide, and how the toxic legacy they left behind has etched itself into successive generations of Soviet citizens. Consumed by Halberstadt’s own longing for meaning, it meditates on the power of storytelling to bind our unstable and episodic memories into a coherent narrative – and on the gaps and enigmas that make this impossible.” —The Guardian (UK)
“A deeply personal book, an engaging and subtle piece of nonfiction that’s full of history and wit.” —The Paris Review
“Alex Halberstadt’s Young Heroes of the Soviet Union is a rich bone broth of flavors ... Part memoir, part journalistic foray, part historical investigation, part sociopolitical analysis, Young Heroes plumbs all-too-relevant modern Russian history through the lens of Halberstadt’s family history, written in Halberstadt’s trademark compelling style.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
“[A] remarkable family memoir… [an] elegant testimony to the subordination of human life to the will of an overmighty state.” —The Daily Telegraph (UK)
“A striking portrayal… Besides being a compact history lesson it is an astonishing story…. These are the words of a generation of executioners who have never spoken about their deeds. It is this fact that makes Vasily’s confession so extraordinary.” —NRC Handelsblad (The Netherlands)
“This terrific, gripping book is, first, the story of sons haunted by their fathers and the terrible times they lived through.” —The Jewish Chronicle (UK)
“An illuminating, dramatic, and wistful family memoir.” —The Spectator (UK)
“Halberstadt has a surprising lightness of touch (given the weighty subject matter), allowing him to deftly explore the impact of his family’s past on the present. It is a very good way of chronicling the individual alongside the behemoth of twentieth-century history: a fascinating and impactful read.” —The Arts Desk (UK)
“[This] personal history stands apart from other titles because, although the journey is framed as a family narrative, historically detailed episodes are impressively illuminated… An impeccably executed and unique genealogy that encourages us to examine the history that informs us of who we are.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Illuminating… [An] insightful and moving narrative.” —Publisher’s Weekly
“A point of intersection between autobiography and history… a wonderful, fascinating, and very subtle read.” —Michael Silverblatt, NPR’s Bookworm
“Alex Halberstadt is a magnificent writer. Young Heroes of the Soviet Union is a beautiful book about trauma and its impact on one extraordinary family, and an incisive, radiant look at the long legacy of suffering and war.” —Olivia Laing, author of The Lonely City and Crudo
“I remember being in a bar with Alex Halberstadt almost 20 years ago, talking about our families, when he said, ‘Did I ever tell you my grandfather was Stalin's bodyguard?’ He hadn’t. I suggested he write a book about it. Not in my most hopeful imaginings did that book turn out to be as surprising, sad, funny, understated, and engrossing as the one he wrote. This is history as memoir, and vice versa. Describing Russia in the 20th century as a place where ‘the buffer between history and biography became nearly imperceptible,’ he made me feel how this is true of all places, for all of us.” —John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead
“Reading Young Heroes of the Soviet Union is an immersion in waters of profound depth and bracing lambency. The light glows in the quiet acuity of the prose. And it shines on vast and dire patterns that transcend the merely personal—the unfathomable hardships that nations and families inflict on people, and how we endure. This truly excellent book will transform your understanding of what memoir can do.” —Wells Tower, author of Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
“In this urgent and enthralling reckoning with family and history, Alex Halberstadt describes the disjunction between his Soviet childhood and his American adolescence with incandescent wit, a sometimes bitter but always compelling nostalgia, and great literary flair. This book is a triumph over the shame he experienced as he was growing up, and a narrative of his struggle against steep odds to become a whole person.”—Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree and The Noonday Demon
“As a boy, the author of this haunting book immigrated to the United States, changed his name, and turned his back on his Soviet past. As a man, he reclaimed it, wrestled with it, and ultimately faced it head-on. The result is an exploration of family and memory that stayed with me long after I turned the last beautifully written page.”—Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and The Wine Lover’s Daughter
“Alex Halberstadt writes honestly and movingly about what is inescapable in a family, the toll that pain inflicts on the ones we love and how it echoes across generations. Young Heroes of the Soviet Union is many things, a history of 20th century Russia and an immigrant story, but at heart it’s a coming-of-age story where maturity and wisdom are attained through forgiveness and compassion.” —David Bezmozgis, author of Natasha and Other Stories and The Betrayers
Praise for Lonely Avenue: the Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus:
➽ A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
➽ A London Times Best Book of the Year
➽ An Association of Recorded Music Collections Best Popular Music Book of the Year
“A taut and affecting biography… The shadow story of Lonely Avenue is the high-speed transfiguration of popular music in the 20th century…[Halberstadt] vividly links the melancholy and yearning in these songs with Pomus’s own personal and professional frustrations while never overplaying his hand.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Pomus story was one of spectacular self-overcoming… Halberstadt takes us through it with sensitivity and style, always alert to the undertow of sadness that dragged at Pomus and thrillingly precise when describing his music… Well played, sir.” —The Boston Globe
“Halberstadt paints a vivid portrait… Lonely Avenue not only offers this brave tale of a soul man’s lifelong battle for independence, but it also provides a rare glimpse inside the Guys and Dolls world of the midtown music scene in the early 60s. Halberstadt packs the account with unknown stories and startling details…in a rich tale one of the forgotten geniuses of the Brill Building Era of pop music.” —The San Francisco Chronicle
“This riveting biography…is also a rich portrait of a bygone era of popular music… Halberstadt does a masterful job of portraying Pomus as the intriguing, talented, sometimes outrageous, and always unforgettable man he was. Enthusiastically recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Alex Halberstadt never met Doc Pomus, but you wouldn’t know it from this book. By dint of conscientious research and exhaustive interviewing of friends, family and colleagues alike, plus access to his subject’s archives and journals, the author immaculately fulfills both the “life” and “times” aspects of his brief. Pomus’s music will live on through his beautiful and memorable songs, and his life is admirably evoked in this rich and generous book.” —The Independent (UK)
“A concise, evocative biography… with material for a film noir on every page… a splendid book.” —The Daily Telegraph (UK)
“Possibly the best rock biography ever… I wish I’d written it.” —Dave Marsh, founder of Creem and author of Born to Run: the Bruce Springsteen Story.