If this is a Man + The Truce (Auschwitz Trilogy #1-2) [B1961]

1987 PB, clen and fully legible with wear (see photo). Primo Levi was born in Turin, Italy in 1919 and trained as a chemist. Arrested as a member of the anti-fascist resistance during the war, he was deported to Auschwitz. His experiences there are described in these two classic autobiographical works: If This is a Man and The Truce.

From the back of the book: With the moral stamina and intellectual pose of a twentieth-century Titan, this slightly built, dutiful, unassuming chemist set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose. He was profoundly in touch with the minutest workings of the most endearing human events and with the most contemptible. What has survived in Levi's writing isn't just his memory of the unbearable, but also, in The Periodic Table and The Wrench, his delight in what made the world exquisite to him. He was himself a "magically endearing man, the most delicately forceful enchanter I've ever known" -Philip Wroth. "The death of Primo Levi robs Italy of one of its finest writers . . . One of the few survivors of the Holocaust to speak of his experiences with a gentle voice."-The Guardian.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "I don't know what to say about this book...it's not one you enjoy in the truest sense of enjoyment. You labor through each beautiful words telling of horrendous things. Things you know are true but still don't want to believe are so. The history of auschwitz on such a plain and personal level. It's hard to understand that this is not fiction. I am glad I read this book, it is an important book... but now I need a break from the realism."; "What's most noticeable about Primo Levi's account of the holocaust horrors is the restraint and care he takes in documenting the events. This serves to make the barbarity even more shameful while highlighting the humanity of the narrator."; "This book took me a while to read because every few pages I had to put it down and grieve."; "I finished this book on the same day I visited Auschwitz Birkenau and it made everything feel much more real. Primo Levi writes in a very simple and direct way but it still hits hard without being dramatic. Walking through the camp right after reading it made everything connect in a really unsettling way. What stayed with me most was the humanity he still shows despite the conditions. I highly recommend reading this if you are planning to visit as it adds a completely different layer to the experience."