Nesthkchen and the World War

Germans call a spoiled child or family pet a Nesthakchen. Else Ury's Nesthakchen is a Berlin doctor's daughter, Annemarie Braun, a slim, golden blond, quintessential German girl. The ten book series follows Annemarie from infancy ("Nesthakchen and Her Dolls") to old age and grandchildren ("Nesthakchen with White Hair").

"Nesthakchen and the World War," the fourth volume in the series, is the tale of a pre-adolescent girl growing up in Berlin at the outbreak of World War I. It presents a charming, skillful evocation of a long-vanished world, while Steven Lehrer's annotations put the story in historical context.

"Nesthakchen and the World War" conveys a timeless lesson, for children as well as adults, about the nature of war. Wars often begin with an outpouring of patriotic sentiment. World War I started this way, and Else Ury's description of German war-euphoria in 1914 is chilling. But when the narrative ends, in mid 1916, the war could no longer be mistaken for a noble, patriotic adventure."