Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A guided group tour to concentration camps in Poland and Germany allows Stahl to confront personal and historical demons with both despair and humor.
"Nein, Nein, Nein is the unbelievable true story of a guided bus tour to Nazi concentration camps, told as only Jerry Stahl can tell it, with an acid wit as deadly serious as it is hilarious, insane, and weirdly life-affirming. The destinations he describes are real, but who else would dare to take us there? Stahl is fearless, gripping, and most unsparing about his own damned soul. I read everything he writes."
--Eric Bogosian
"There's dark humor, and then there is Nein, Nein, Nein Jerry Stahl manages a balancing act here that would put all the trapeze artists of the world to shame."
--Luc Sante, author of Low Life
"Few have such an eye for life's perverse absurdity as Jerry Stahl, and his disturbing, hilarious, self-deprecating, and honest voice jumps off the page in Nein, Nein, Nein There is nobody I'd rather take this gnarly journey with than Stahl, whose gonzo literary madness belies a steady, tender core."
--Michelle Tea, author of Against Memoir
"Jerry Stahl, whose manic self-annihilating riffs dance on the volcano-lip of the abyss, is a writer I've been quoting compulsively for twenty-five years. His voice is a hell-broth of fascinating contradictions: the king of mordant cool who writhes with anxious terrors, the professed nihilist with a scalding moral vision, the gifted ironist who really bleeds."
--Christopher Goffard, writer/host of the podcasts Dirty John and Detective Trapp
In September 2016, Jerry Stahl was feeling nervous on the eve of a two-week trip across Poland and Germany. But it was not just the stops at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau that gave him anxiety. It was the fact that he would he would be traveling with two dozen strangers, by bus. In a tour group. And he was not a tour-group kind of guy.
The decision to visit Holocaust-world did not come easy. Stahl's lifelong depression at an all-time high, his career and personal life at an all-time low, he had the idea to go on a trip where the despair he was feeling--out-of-control sadness, regret, and fear, not just for himself, but for our entire country--would be appropriate. And where was despair more appropriate than the land of the Six Million?
Seamlessly weaving global and personal history, through the lens of Stahl's own bent perspective, Nein, Nein, Nein stands out as a triumph of strange-o reporting, a tale that takes us from gang polkas to tour-rash to the truly disturbing snack bar at Auschwitz. Strap in for a raw, surreal, and redemptively hilarious trip. Get on the bus.
Synopsis
A guided group tour to concentration camps in Poland and Germany allows Stahl to confront personal and historical demons with both deep despair and savage humor
"Mordantly funny . . . Fusing provocative insights with razor-edged wit, this offers a captivating take on a haunting chapter of history."
--Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
"Gonzo meets the Shoah in this wildly irreverent--and brilliant--tour of Holocaust tourism . . . A vivid, potent, decidedly idiosyncratic addition to the literature of genocide."
--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review
In September 2016, Jerry Stahl was feeling nervous on the eve of a two-week trip across Poland and Germany. But it was not just the stops at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau that gave him anxiety. It was the fact that he would be traveling with two dozen strangers, by bus. In a tour group. And he was not a tour-group kind of guy.
The decision to visit Holocaust-world did not come easy. Stahl's lifelong depression at an all-time high, his career and personal life at an all-time low, he had the idea to go on a trip where the despair he was feeling--out-of- control sadness, regret, and fear, not just for himself, but for the entire United States--would be appropriate. And where was despair more appropriate than the land of the Six Million?
Seamlessly weaving global and personal history, through the lens of Stahl's own bent perspective, Nein, Nein, Nein stands out as a triumph of strange-o reporting, a tale that takes us from gang polkas to tour-rash to the truly disturbing snack bar at Auschwitz. Strap in for a raw, surreal, and redemptively hilarious trip. Get on the bus.
Synopsis
A guided group tour to concentration camps in Poland and Germany allows Stahl to confront personal and historical demons with both deep despair and savage humor
" Stahl's] razor-sharp gallows humor will have you howling one moment, breathless the next in the presence of wrenching generational pain, of humanity at its very worst, and goodness at its camouflaged best."
--Brooklyn Rail
"Mordantly funny . . . Fusing provocative insights with razor-edged wit, this offers a captivating take on a haunting chapter of history."
--Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
"Gonzo meets the Shoah in this wildly irreverent--and brilliant--tour of Holocaust tourism . . . A vivid, potent, decidedly idiosyncratic addition to the literature of genocide."
--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review
In September 2016, Jerry Stahl was feeling nervous on the eve of a two-week trip across Poland and Germany. But it was not just the stops at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau that gave him anxiety. It was the fact that he would be traveling with two dozen strangers, by bus. In a tour group. And he was not a tour-group kind of guy.
The decision to visit Holocaust-world did not come easy. Stahl's lifelong depression at an all-time high, his career and personal life at an all-time low, he had the idea to go on a trip where the despair he was feeling--out-of- control sadness, regret, and fear, not just for himself, but for the entire United States--would be appropriate. And where was despair more appropriate than the land of the Six Million?
Seamlessly weaving global and personal history, through the lens of Stahl's own bent perspective, Nein, Nein, Nein stands out as a triumph of strange-o reporting, a tale that takes us from gang polkas to tour-rash to the truly disturbing snack bar at Auschwitz. Strap in for a raw, surreal, and redemptively hilarious trip. Get on the bus.
Synopsis
A guided group tour to concentration camps in Poland and Germany allows Stahl to confront personal and historical demons with both deep despair and savage humor
"Stahl embarks on Holocaust tourism in this meditative yet humorous account, weaving personal narrative with reflections on current and past global events."
--New York Times Book Review
" Stahl's] razor-sharp gallows humor will have you howling one moment, breathless the next in the presence of wrenching generational pain, of humanity at its very worst, and goodness at its camouflaged best."
--Brooklyn Rail
"An audacious, emotional journey."
--The Village Voice
"Mordantly funny . . . Fusing provocative insights with razor-edged wit, this offers a captivating take on a haunting chapter of history."
--Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
"Gonzo meets the Shoah in this wildly irreverent--and brilliant--tour of Holocaust tourism . . . A vivid, potent, decidedly idiosyncratic addition to the literature of genocide."
--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review
In September 2016, Jerry Stahl was feeling nervous on the eve of a two-week trip across Poland and Germany. But it was not just the stops at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau that gave him anxiety. It was the fact that he would be traveling with two dozen strangers, by bus. In a tour group. And he was not a tour-group kind of guy.
The decision to visit Holocaust-world did not come easy. Stahl's lifelong depression at an all-time high, his career and personal life at an all-time low, he had the idea to go on a trip where the despair he was feeling--out-of- control sadness, regret, and fear, not just for himself, but for the entire United States--would be appropriate. And where was despair more appropriate than the land of the Six Million?
Seamlessly weaving global and personal history, through the lens of Stahl's own bent perspective, Nein, Nein, Nein stands out as a triumph of strange-o reporting, a tale that takes us from gang polkas to tour-rash to the truly disturbing snack bar at Auschwitz. Strap in for a raw, surreal, and redemptively hilarious trip. Get on the bus.
Synopsis
"Gonzo meets the Shoah in this wildly irreverent--and brilliant--tour of Holocaust tourism . . . Stahl knows his Holocaust history . . . but he was also prepared to be surprised . . . A vivid, potent, decidedly idiosyncratic addition to the literature of genocide."
--Kirkus Reviews, a Best Nonfiction Book of 2022
"Stahl embarks on Holocaust tourism in this meditative yet humorous account, weaving personal narrative with reflections on current and past global events."
--New York Times Book Review
" Stahl's] razor-sharp gallows humor will have you howling one moment, breathless the next in the presence of wrenching generational pain, of humanity at its very worst, and goodness at its camouflaged best."
--Brooklyn Rail
"An audacious, emotional journey."
--The Village Voice
In September 2016, Jerry Stahl was feeling nervous on the eve of a two-week trip across Poland and Germany. But it was not just the stops at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau that gave him anxiety. It was the fact that he would be traveling with two dozen strangers, by bus. In a tour group. And he was not a tour-group kind of guy.
The decision to visit Holocaust-world did not come easy. Stahl's lifelong depression at an all-time high, his career and personal life at an all-time low, he had the idea to go on a trip where the despair he was feeling--out-of- control sadness, regret, and fear, not just for himself, but for the entire United States--would be appropriate. And where was despair more appropriate than the land of the Six Million?
Seamlessly weaving global and personal history, through the lens of Stahl's own bent perspective, Nein, Nein, Nein stands out as a triumph of strange-o reporting, a tale that takes us from gang polkas to tour-rash to the truly disturbing snack bar at Auschwitz. Strap in for a raw, surreal, and redemptively hilarious trip. Get on the bus.