Silence on Monte Sole

A genuine classic. Not to be missed. By one of the masters of nonfiction. Monte Sole - Mountain of the Sun - had the bad luck to lie on the main route of withdrawal of the retreating German armies in autumn 1944. As the allied advance stormed up Italy to the very shadow of Monte Sole, Axis frustration over their retreat and the harassing Italian partisans reached its peak. With full authorization of Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, and with an infusion of dread SS reinforcements, the Germans determined to neutralize Monte Sole. The result was, in Kesselring's chilling words, "a war operation". Jack Olsen re-creates the unspeakable three-day butchery of innocent Italian civilians that ranked among the blackest atrocities in the history of man's inhumanities to man. Kirkus Reviews: The story of the Italian mountain villagers who lived on Monte Sole trying to survive the war and the horror that overtook them on September 29, 30 and October 1, 1944, when the retreating German army massacred 1800 of the citizens of Monte Sole. Olsen, a writer with a penchant for mountains (The Climb to Hell), tells the story well. The mountain--a 2000-foot peak in central Italy, some fifteen miles south of Bologna--had been a haven for Partisans. For this reason the Germans mistrusted the villagers, but the ugly rastrellamento (purge) occurred more by chance than vengeance: Monte Sole happened to be located on the main route of the retreating army, and the SS deemed it necessary to ""neutralize"" the mountain. In operational terms, this meant mass-murder. The book is based on the accounts of survivors, the few official records, courtroom testimony, and visible scars. It begins with the postman on his rounds, and by this device visits with most of the contadini (tenant farmers) of the region, the priests, the storekeeper, the elders. They are simple people, family-oriented rather than nationalistic, and often likably eccentric. It is their very individuality that makes the ensuing chapters on the mass-murder so effective. Compelling, compassionate--rarely sentimental--a stirring book. The award-winning author of thirty-three books, Jack Olsen's books have been published in fifteen countries and eleven languages. Olsen's journalism earned the National Headliners Award, Chicago Newspaper Guild's Page One Award, commendations from Columbia and Indiana Universities, the Washington State Governor's Award, the Scripps-Howard Award and other honors. He was listed in Who's Who in America since 1968 and in Who's Who in the World since 1987. The Philadelphia Inquirer described him as "an American treasure."Olsen was described as "the dean of true crime authors" by the Washington Post and the New York Daily News and "the master of true crime" by the Detroit Free Press and Newsday. Publishers Weekly called him "the best true crime writer around." His studies of crime are required reading in university criminology courses and have been cited in the New York Times Notable Books of the Year. In a page-one review, the Times described his work as "a genuine contribution to criminology and journalism alike."Olsen is a two-time winner in the Best Fact Crime category of the Mystery Writer's of America, Edgar award.