Max Egremont — Forgotten Land

Picador 2012 Paperback, 354pp. Following his highly successful Life of Sassoon, Max Egremont turns his attention to a world that has vanished into history.East Prussia is no longer on any map, though it was once a thriving land, famously military, deeply forested, artistically fertile, and the birthplace of Immanuel Kant.As the scene of Stalin's 'terrible revenge' it came to embody the turbulence of the twentieth century, was carved up between Poland and the USSR after World War II - and passed abruptly into history. Embarking on a remarkable journey through landscape and memory, Max Egremont has woven the stories of ghosts and survivors into an evocative and deeply moving meditation on identity and the passing of time.PRAISE FOR FORGOTTEN LAND'East Prussia's successful evocation demands both the mind of a poet who can delineate the scale of human loss, and the imagination of an historian who knows how to count the cost. Forgotten Land, a work of consummate artistry, blends both capacities to rare effect' Spectator. (ISBN: 9780330456609). Good.