Remember Us
American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom, and A Forever Promise Forged in World War II
On Sale: 2025-04-29
Price: $31.99
Book Summary
Set during the horrors of World War II, Remember Us by Robert Edsel---#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men---opens in Limburg, a small, rural province at the southern tip of the Netherlands. In the pre-dawn hours of May 10, 1940, Hitler’s forces rolled through the city, shattering more than 100 years of peace in the Netherlands.
About the Book
What happens when you lose your freedom and the people who eventually get it back for you are no longer alive to thank?
Remember Us, by Robert Edsel—#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men—begins in the pre-dawn hours of Hitler’s invasion of Western Europe on May 10, 1940, when his forces rolled into the small rural province of Limburg in the Netherlands shattering more than 100 years of peace. Their freedom gone, the Dutch lived through four-and-a-half years of occupation until American forces reached Limburg in September 1944, the last portion of Western Europe liberated by the Allies before their advance on Nazi Germany slammed to a halt.
Like The Monuments Men, Remember Us is an ensemble piece that follows twelve main characters over a six-year span, zeroing in on ordinary people including Frieda van Schäik, a teenager who falls in love with an American soldier; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, the first member of the 101st Airborne to receive the Medal of Honor; and Sergeant Jeff Wiggins of the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, who escaped the poverty and racism of Alabama for yet another indignity—digging graves.
Drawing on never-before-seen letters, diaries, and other historical records, Edsel shows the painful price of freedom, on the battlefields and inside American homes. In this rich, dramatic, and suspenseful story, he captures both the horrors of war and the transcendent power of gratitude, showing the extraordinary measures the Dutch have taken to thank their liberators. Remember Us is exactly the book we need—a reminder that grief is universal, that humanity knows no national or racial boundaries, and that we all want to be remembered, somehow, someway, by somebody.
Reviews
'Master historian Robert Edsel, one of our finest storytellers, has given us yet another work of power and originality. The research is staggering, the story spellbinding, and the writing luminous, the work of an historian with the novelist's touch. Remember Us is one of the outstanding works of our time, a reminder of the power of both evil and transcendence. A truly great book.'
'Robert Edsel's evocative narrative reminds us that service to others takes many forms, often unseen yet immeasurably vital. This is more than a history--it is a tribute to the enduring power of courage, legacy, and the human spirit.'
'This is a beautiful, moving piece of work. It read like an excellent novel. This book has soul.'
'This is a story all-but-untold; it offers an unforgettable and important historic contribution. I am left transformed emotionally and fulfilled with the experience of towering humanity. This story leaves the reader better.'
'Remember Us is that rarest of books, a volume that transports the reader to a distant place and time and draws immense meaning from the past. By weaving together heroic personal stories of the Second World War with the pure devotion shown to thousands of fallen American soldiers in the Netherlands American Cemetery, Robert Edsel reminds us vividly of what Lincoln called the 'mystic chords of memory' that bind us together and lead us toward our better angels. This is a deeply moving work of art, and one you will indeed remember long after you put it down.'
Product Details
- ISBN: 9781400337811
- ISBN 10: 140033781X
- Imprint: Harper Horizon
- On Sale: 2025-04-29
- Pages: 528
- List Price: $31.99
- Publisher: Harper Horizon
- Publication Date: 2025-04-29
- Category 1 : HISTORY / Military / World War II
- Category 2 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military
- Category 3 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Survival