Featured series 
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Recommended by Imani Perry, Henry A. Morss Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies; Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
Walter Benjamin’s memoir chronicles the philosopher’s experiences growing up Jewish in Berlin’s West End. The book remained unpublished during Benjamin’s life, and Perry describes it as “beautiful, yet filled with deep melancholia.” Throughout the book, Benjamin shares his sense of loss when looking to the past. “You feel his tense anxiety, anticipating the coming catastrophe of the Holocaust,” Perry said.
