Elisabeth Sifton Knihy

During Hitler's Third Reich, few Germans risked opposing his tyranny, especially in defense of law and faith. This work highlights two courageous figures: pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his brother-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi, shedding light on the immense challenges of resistance. Christine Bonhoeffer Dohnanyi, Hans's wife and Dietrich's sister, played an essential role in their efforts. Bonhoeffer consistently resisted Nazi attempts to control Germany's Protestant churches, while Dohnanyi, a lawyer in the Justice Ministry and Wehrmacht's counterintelligence, aided victims, documented Nazi crimes for future accountability, and participated in plots to assassinate Hitler. Their unwavering commitment to their cause and those they helped persisted even after their arrest in April 1943, culminating in their execution on Hitler's orders in April 1945, shortly before the regime's fall. Bonhoeffer's posthumous writings gained international recognition, yet Dohnanyi's significant contributions remain largely unknown, despite his pivotal role in the resistance and in involving Bonhoeffer in anti-Hitler conspiracies. The authors provide new insights and details about their extraordinary collaboration, honoring Bonhoeffer's moral integrity and theological legacy, along with Dohnanyi's commitment to civic virtue in a morally bankrupt state.

Forged during the tumultuous but triumphant postwar years when America came of age as a world power, The Irony of American History is more relevant now than ever before. Cited by politicians as diverse as Hillary Clinton and John McCain, Niebuhr's masterpiece on the incongruity between personal ideals and political reality is both an indictment of American moral complacency and a warning against the arrogance of virtue. Impassioned, eloquent, and deeply perceptive, Niebuhr's wisdom will cause readers to rethink their assumptions about right and wrong, war and peace.