Books by Shaun Whiteside

Winner of the prestigious International Prize and praised for its "gleefully bitter prose" (Los Angeles Times), All That Counts is a sardonic, fast-paced urban thriller whose hardcover publication marked the American debut of a scintillating young German writer. From the bland boardrooms of the bourgeoisie to the dark alleys of the criminal underworld, this searing contemporary satire brilliantly exposes the dangerous attraction of opportunism, loss of control, and the seedy side of life. Thirty-something and married to a public relations executive named Marianne, Thomas Schwarz is certain that he is soon to become department head of Liquidations and Foreclosures at the bank where he works. But after fumbling a particularly byzantine property case, his life begins to unravel: his female boss glibly fires him and his wife walks out. Suddenly acquainted with the giddy thrill of a life unmoored, he falls in with a cocaine-fueled crowd of money-launderers who set out to exploit him. But when the gang is busted, Thomas seizes his chance to escape with the profits and, in a final breathless move, exposes once and for all just how precarious the trappings of society really are. "Clever, informed, sarcastic, and streetwise" (Suddeutsche Zeitung), All That Counts is a provocative, glittering debut. "Savage and funny ... a very supple and clever satire ... full of small, cumulative pleasures." -- Geoff Nicholson, The New York Times Book Review "Reads like the gleeful evil twin of the self-help book." -- Richard Wallace, The Seattle Times

A history of the notorious Nazi concentration and extermination camp--and the nearby town that gave Auschwitz its name--traces the evolution of the camp in terms of the Nazi policy of the elimination of "undesirables," answering questions about the perception of mass murder by the German public, the inmates' situation, the behavior of the Allies, and more. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

Abandoned by her mother, loathed by her step-mother, cooped up in a cellar, starved, parched, lonely amidst the fetid crush of her neighbours, Helga Schneider endured the horrors of wartime Berlin. This book is an account of her survival. It aims to evoke the reality of life in a wartime city in all its brutality and deprivation.

Set against the mystical and bizarre backdrop of a remote Alpine village in the early nineteenth century, this astounding novel tells the story of Elias Johannes Alder, a musical genius with supernatural hearing who develops his talent in secret midnight sessions at the church organ. In the face of devastating fires and other strange occurrences, the villagers seethe with a concealed hostility toward God, who sends nothing but trouble; while Elias wages his own battle with a God who not only denies him Elizabeth, the woman he loves, but confers upon him a gift he can neither fulfill nor understand.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders' essays on rock and roll in the movies, avant-garde film, reflections on the American Dream, the American west, and the Western.

Sick of being pawed and stared at constantly, sexy, successful Carmen Leggs advertises for an "intelligent and impotent" man and begins interviewing candidates.

A magnificently ambitious and enthralling novel, part Dante part Joyce, that confirms Moring's place as one of the most significant European novelists now at work.

This travel book-cum-reader provides a journey through both Kafka's reality and his imagination, permitting the reader or the traveler to experience Kafka's milieu. Maps, text, and photographs (both vintage and contemporary) come together to recreate Kafka's Prague, with all the important landmarks of his life and writing highlighted in a number of walking tours. The book captures the social, cultural, economic, and architectural atmosphere of his time for all of those who yearn to take a Kafkaesque journey.

Struggling to survive in a postapocalyptic world after his village is destroyed, Yorsh, the earth's last elf, must embark on a perilous quest to decipher a powerful prophecy and find the last dragon, who holds the key to saving the world from the Dark Age that has begun.

Dr. Oskar Vogt, a Prussian hypnotist and neurologist, will stop at little in his pursuit of worldly success, and in his quest for the biological secret of genius. He is fortunate to be able to cultivate the patronage of the hugely wealthy Krupp family, including Friedrich Alfred Krupp, director of Germany's largest arms company and a less than discreet homosexual, until scandals and suicide force Vogt to search for other sources of support. His career takes an upturn with the advent of World War I, which provides him with a large supply of brains to work on - but no geniuses. Vogt's great chance comes when the Russian authorities invite him to dissect the brain of their dead leader - an opportunity at last to identify genius in its raw state! But how will he cope with the grave responsibility, and what pitfalls will await him as hostilities mount between Germany and Russia? The colorful cast of Lenin's Brain includes the delicious and witty Amanda von Alvensleben, whose wicked gossip peppers the plot; the would-be bohemian painter Max Landsberg; and a whole array of philistine industrialists, mad racial theorists, Russian conspirators, and bumbling storm troopers - not to mention the actresses, circus riders, and scientists with whom Dr. Vogt enjoys furtive affairs. A bestseller in Germany and acclaimed throughout Europe, Lenin's Brain offers a scathing portrait of German society from the turn of the century until the early years of the Third Reich. Most of the novel's characters are real people, but Tilman Spengler has reimagined their lives with a wit and irony that take the reader far beyond the historical facts.

To save their threatened utopian community of Iroquois, Irish, and Scots during the start of the American Revolution, Mohawk chief Joseph Brant and a group of warriors go on a restless journey that takes them from New York to Canada, to the salons of Georgian London and the heart of the British Empire, in the latest work by a critically acclaimed collective of Italian writers known as Wu Ming.

The daughter of one of the members of the July plot to assassinate Hitler tells the story of her life after her father was executed for treason, and discusses how her patriotic family succumbed to Nazi sympathies. Original.

With Europe convulsed in wars over religion, a young theology student finds himself siding with heretics and the disenfranchised while confronting an agent of the Vatican who is determined to hunt down and destroy enemies of the faith, in a meticulously rendered historical thriller set against the backdrop of the Reformation.

Claire, a successful doctor, embarks on a clandestine affair with Thomas, a married man, an adulterous relationship that leads to emotional manipulation and pathological obsession. Winner of the 1993 Prix Medicis.

In the continuation of her fictionalized memoir, the author of 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed follows the saga of a young woman, working as a successful writer in Rome and living with a new lover, Thomas, until she meets Viola, a young woman from Thomas's past, whose presence consumes her with feelings of jealousy, insecurity, and violent lust. Original. 50,000 first printing.

Tired of reality shows, the television audience wants blood. One day, while out taking a walk in the Jardin des Plantes, Pannonique is piled into a cattle-truck. It seems, anyone can be picked up and hauled off to the studio without a notice. This book tells the story of this reality TV death camp which has become the nation's obsession.

An award-winning Italian writer wanders the maze of tiny alleys, bridges, canals, and squares of Venice to explore the customs, history, lore, and secrets that only Venetians know, offering practical advice on everything from how to balance while standing on a gondola, to where lovers can find the best hiding places, to the finer points of Venetian etiquette. 17,500 first printing.