Ill Literacy, Episode 140: The Collaborators (Guest: Ian Buruma)
Download MP3The Heartland Institute's Tim Benson is joined by Ian Buruma, Paul W. Williams Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College, to discuss his new book, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II. They chat about the backstory behind the three subjects of the book—Felix Kersten, Yoshiko Kawashima, and Friedrich Weinreb—and why all three have been vilified and mythologized. They also discuss the three subjects’ varying levels of culpability for the crimes committed by the people and regimes they served.
Show Notes:
The Guardian: Matthew Reisz – “The Collaborators by Ian Buruma review – intriguing study of the frenemy within”
New York Times: Lesley M.M. Blume – “Amoral Traitors? War Heroes? Survivors? Depends Whom You Ask.”
The Times: Ben McIntyre – “The Collaborators by Ian Buruma review — three stories of deception and survival in the Second World War”
Times Literary Supplement: Josh Ireland – “Unholy compromises”
Wall Street Journal: Diane Cole – “‘The Collaborators’ Review: They Dealt With the Devil”
Washington Post: Scott Martelle – “For three liars during WWII, deception proves to be both good and evil”
Creators and Guests
Host
Tim Benson
Ill Literacy, the newest podcast from The Heartland Institute, is helmed by Tim Benson, Senior Policy Analyst for Heartland’s Government Relations team. Benson brings on authors of new book releases on topics including politics, culture, and history on the Ill Literacy podcast. Every episode offers listeners the author’s unique analysis of their own book release. Discussions often shift into debate between authors and Benson when ideological differences arise, creating unique commentary that can’t be found anywhere else.
