Life Before Letters

For 25 years, Weidhaas (A History of the Frankfurt Book Fair) ran the Frankfurt Book Fair, becoming an international cultural figure in the process. In this biography, the author and literary ambassador writes about growing up in the midst of WWII Berlin, his identity as a German causing grand internal conflict and a compulsion to dissect the meaning of his heritage through extensive travel through Europe and Latin America. Weidhaas spends much of this personal memoir wrestling with ideas of cultural identity in the wake of mass trauma , but his tale has the feel of an autobiography unanchored by a unifying arc or endpoint; unfortunately for this volume, he's saved the details of his professional life for another memoir, See You In Frankfurt, to be released simultaneously. As a standalone volume, readers might feel they've been led in circles, with no particular destination in mind. (Apr.)