book hunting

I had to get a book today. My $10 kino book voucher was going to expire tommorow. And so, I went to Kinokuniya after work. I told myself a couple of times that I am not going to buy a book on nazi history. Having already finished one book,'The trial of major war criminals in Nuremberg' and currently finishing up another biography upon this nazi period, 'Triumph of Hope, From Theresienstadt and Auschwitz to Israel' and having three more nazi history books waiting in the wings(thank you Joan for the 3 books), I was pretty sure that I would be enticed by some other subject matter/genre. Maybe American foreign policy? Maybe Singapore's foreign policy? Maybe a novel?

Upon reaching Kino, I tried my best to steer clear of the nazi history section(my favorite section over the years) and with purpose, I was looking for the heading named Political Science, yet it proved to be quite elusive and the shelves labelled Current Affairs caught my eye. There lies the wide array of famous American political scientists, Joseph Nye, Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukayama and many many books written by Noam Chomsky regarding American foreign policy. Currently reading his latest book,'Failed States, The abuse of power and the assault on democracy' , I hesitated to get another book by him. 'That guy's deep and I am still in the midst of trying to figure about his ideological orientation, maybe another time', was what came up in my mind at that moment.. I scanned through the titles of the books available upon the few shelves displaying the books under the label 'Current Affairs' and something struck me. All the books was on America and by American writers....yes, I am a fan of America, but I was expecting a wider array of books by different writers. Kino isn't even an American bookshop, for goodness sake, they should have just renamed the few shelves, American Affairs and not Current Affairs. That quote that refused to go away, came to my mind again,

‘Knowledge is power, but power is knowledge. Power decides what is knowledge and what is not knowledge.’ Claude Alvares

American hegemony, soft power, the allure of American ideas,hard power, such is the pull of American influence and its insidious impact upon this ordinary Singaporean

However, I was disgusted enough by such inappropriate and insensitive displays that I decided to take a break from American writers. Next, I move to books regarding the region. While looking at the singapore studies collection, I noticed that three japanese tourists took Lee's memoirs and wanted to buy it. At that moment, I felt proud. Proud that Lee Kwan Yew, the de facto father of independent Singapore has left an indelible mark on history and respected internationally. Probably more people has heard of Lee Kwan Yew than Singapore. Hong's words while introducing the military museum in Beijing flooded back, ' Lee Kwan Yew was the only overseas Chinese leader who has a statue in this museum '......need I say more...?

Nothing really caught my eye though, Southeast Asia was a tad boring, the only book that caught my eye was the latest Aung San Suu kyi biography. I was tempted but not tempted enough. Then the brief walk through the political science shelves, upon reaching there, I yawned. This feel like school again, I'm seriously not in the mood to study about stuff like state making in my holidays. Moving on to the shelves upon Europe, I saw something that caught my attention, a picture showing Hitler's back and him giving a speech to the hundreds of thousands of Germans. What a majestic picture! I browse through the book and saw that it covered the perversion/subordination of religion from the past to the present(holocaust, nazi period to the london bombings). Intriguing, I must admit, but by then, I could not resist that desire anymore. That desire to just go to the shelves displaying the books on nazi history.

I had to and boy, oh boy, the sensation that hit me when I finally reached that shelf. I was overwhelmed with excitement, feeling like a boy in a candy shop again and have a tough time picking the title I want. Is it going to be another holocaust biography? Or do I want to read about the love life of Hitler? Art and Hitler? The propaganda machine? The Nuremberg Trials? Allies espionage in NAZI Germany? Or the struggle for power within the inner circle of the nazi elites? Until the picture of Anne Frank caught my eye... Anne Frank, the famous jewish girl, the so-called symbol of the holocaust...someone I had missed out so far in my interest in nazi history. I was actually a bit irritated when Lailin mentioned Anne Frank that time and I didn't know who and what she represented. There were books on poems written in the dedication of her, biographies upon her and of course, her own diary. Browsing through the diary, I knew this was the book that I was going to buy. So what if I will have 5 nazi history books to finish, I'm really enjoying this journey back to this period. The goosebumps, that ride into social history, the authentic stories, the tears, the joys, the pains, all those emotions evoked are just darn enjoyable.

'Anne Frank, the diary of a young girl' was my purchase in the end.



Yes, I know. I have a fetish for nazi history.