One Long Night

A Global History of Concentration Camps

De: Andrea Pitzer

Narrado por: Andrea Pitzer

A groundbreaking, haunting, and profoundly moving history of modernity's greatest tragedy: concentration camps.

For over 100 years, at least one concentration camp has existed somewhere on Earth. First used as battlefield strategy, camps have evolved with each passing decade, in the scope of their effects and the savage practicality with which governments have employed them. Even in the twenty-first century, as we continue to reckon with the magnitude and horror of the Holocaust, history tells us we have broken our own solemn promise of "never again."

In this harrowing work based on archival records and interviews during travel to four continents, Andrea Pitzer reveals for the first time the chronological and geopolitical history of concentration camps. Beginning with 1890s Cuba, she pinpoints concentration camps around the world and across decades. From the Philippines and Southern Africa in the early twentieth century to the Soviet Gulag and detention camps in China and North Korea during the Cold War, camp systems have been used as tools for civilian relocation and political repression. Often justified as a measure to protect a nation, or even the interned groups themselves, camps have instead served as brutal and dehumanizing sites that have claimed the lives of millions.

Drawing from exclusive testimony, landmark historical scholarship, and stunning research, Andrea Pitzer unearths the roots of this appalling phenomenon, exploring and exposing the staggering toll of the camps: our greatest atrocities, the extraordinary survivors, and even the intimate, quiet moments that have also been part of camp life during the past century.

"Masterly"-The New Yorker

A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of the Year

Reseñas de la Crítica

As discussed on "All In with Chris Hayes"

"A disturbing yet important work on a universal calamity of the modern era...consistently fascinating."—Star Tribune

"Drawing on memoirs, histories, and archival sources, [Pitzer] offers a chilling, well-documented history of the camps' development.... A potent, powerful history of cruelty and dehumanization."—Kirkus (starred review)

"One Long Night is a don't-look-away narrative of concentration camps, a fearless and elegant tale of human cruelty but also of human courage. And it's told with such undaunted moral clarity, that the story serves to remind all of us that it is never too late to stand up for what is right."—Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The Poisoner's Handbook

"Andrea Pitzer has a poet's grace and a documentarian's breadth, along with the curiosity of a reporter whose shoe leather has long ago frayed. In One Long Night, she also proves her rare ability to translate a century of suffering into a groundbreaking narrative that is fluid, lucid, and throbbing with humanity's ache. It will make you see the past - and the present - anew."
—Beth Macy, author of Truevine and Factory Man

"A clear-eyed and powerful exposure of the horrors of concentration camps, not just the ones we know about but the ones we've overlooked or ignored. The lengths Andrea Pitzer went to research and report this book prove revelatory."—Annie Jacobsen, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Pentagon's Brain

"Andrea Pitzer's searing One Long Night proceeds like an epic poem charged with the horror of concentration camps on six continents. It is a tale full of sound and fury, unfortunately signifying plenty. 'Old camps reopen, new ones are born,' Pitzer tells us in her clean prose that is cogent, passionate, profound, and profoundly disturbing."—Peter Davis, Academy Award winner for Hearts and Minds, and author of the novel Girl of My Dreams

"In this engrossing history, Pitzer traces the origins of concentration camps and follows their development over more than a century.... Pitzer excels at focusing this sprawling history on the personal level."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov

"A penetrating analysis certain to compel a major reassessment of the Nabokov canon."—Booklist (starred review)

"A brilliant examination that adds to the understanding of an inspiring & enigmatic life."—Kirkus (starred review)

"[Pitzer] has done much exemplary primary research, and this book forces one to consider several fascinating quandaries presented by Lolita and Pale Fire."—The New York Review of Books

"Pitzer, like Nabokov, is a beautiful writer and gimlet-eyed observer, especially about her subject."—The Boston Globe

A fantastic history lesson.

This work, both written and soken, is superbly done. Some of the greatest acts of love are the most painful to perform. I hope that the telling if this history prevents further atrocities.

Striking, Personal and Impressive

With an excellent narration this book leads you to an understanding of the origins of concentration camps, extra-lawful mass detention, while weaving together the personal stories within them and national narratives that bring them about time after time.

My personal take away was that the uninformed on this issue cannot be expected to imagine the human suffering that continued ignorance of concentration camps and their modern incarnations cause. A problem that perennially allows for the human cost of supporting these institutions to be underestimated.

Gripping Personal Narrative Style

If you found yourself questioning (or not) the mainstream narrative that "only the German camps during WWII qualify as concentration camps," please read this book!
I enjoyed how the author weaved the narrative by using the personal story and experiences of different individuals for each nations' use of concentration camps. It was effective at illustrating the similarities and differences. Needless to say, this book is heavy, but we owe it to detainees around the world and throughout history to educate ourselves on these practices, to own our complicity, and to hopefully stand up against future use.

Important Book!

Note: One reviewer recommended avoiding the audio version because of terrible narration. I've certainly heard better, but also many worse. She does a serviceable self-narration.

Andrea Pitzer provides a necessary history of the world’s concentration camps. These recent inventions (she argues beginning during in Cuba prior to the Spanish-American War) are camps where civilians are separated from the rest of society without due process and where those held lack most freedoms. It is important to read about acts of dehumanization in both our past and present in order to right errors now and hopefully prevent/limit future atrocities. This book is paced well and its mostly chronological order helps in keeping things straight. Guantanamo Bay’s current camp is the book’s nexus, serving as both the introduction and final chapter.

I was unaware that the term “concentration camp” pre-dated the Holocaust. It was fascinating (and angering and depressing) to learn about the various camps employed during the two World Wars and other more regional conflicts. The chapter on Chile and Argentina provided mostly new (to me) information. I’d known about concerns related to communism, but not about a camp in a large soccer stadium (Santiago). Chapters on Cuba, Kenya and Myanmar are also impactful.

Pitzer quotes journalists who during various wars risked their lives and/or societal standing to visit camps and report on their abuses. Emily Hobhouse’s work during the Boer War was especially notable. A great reminder to get involved.

Pitzer certainly made choices as to what to include. Some have argued for greater inclusion of war camps or refugee camps. She certainly alludes to both and also notes that various camps encompass a variety of definitions. Ultimately, I applaud her choices.

Wish i could get my money back

i was looking forward to this historic piece, but was quickly disappointed. The author clearly lays out her political views above the thesis of this book. Guantanamo Bay is not a concentration camp... funny how just bc you can oppose something, you can relabel it to fuel your agenda. Stopped reading half way through book, though I tried....