"Great books never occur out of a desire for greatness, but often out of a possessed persistence in the face of a chosen and immensely difficult task. This is such a book. In it, through it, a century speaks to us – not with the thunderous voice of History, but in the intimate voice of a sequence of confessions." (John Berger)

 

"A book of extraordinary importance and urgency – we need this book now. For its determined, passionate, and vulnerable seeking; for its insistence on what matters. Climate catastrophe tells us the reach of the desk killer has never been greater. We must take the hope and political will in this book as our own: forged in darkness and therefore – inextinguishable."

 

"Not since Gitta Sereny’s vast script of Into That Darkness arrived on my desk have I read anything so disturbing as the early draft of Dan Gretton’s book. I was shaken to the core by his brilliant treatment of the Wannsee meeting… The book seemed to be humming with life... much more alive than anything I’ve read for ages... I’m certainly grateful for having been given the chance to read this amazing work."

 

"A complex and exceptional book. Gretton's determination to bear witness so long after the events themselves does not diminish the power of his story. On the contrary his decision to make it personal intensifies the impact... The book highlights how society in general is susceptible to a form of collective amnesia, a wish not to confront the troubling details in its past. John Berger observed that "the role of capitalism is to destroy history... to orientate all effort and imagination to that which is about to occur". Dan Gretton's profound moral effort in this book is a massive bulwark against that possibility and a guarantee that the truth will be heard." (New Statesman)

 

"Gretton raises profoundly unsettling questions about the capacity for doing evil that exists within all of us, and the ways in which the distancing effect of technology allows perpetrators to avoid thinking about the consequences of their actions." (Irish Times)

 

"Remarkably powerful . . . [a] compelling and modern investigation of the collective amnesia which so often operates in the telling of national histories, including our own." --Marck Cocker, The Spectator (UK)

 

"A complex and exceptional book. Gretton's determination to bear witness so long after the events themselves does not diminish the power of his story. On the contrary his decision to make it personal intensifies the impact... The book highlights how society in general is susceptible to a form of collective amnesia, a wish not to confront the troubling details in its past. John Berger observed that "the role of capitalism is to destroy history... to orientate all effort and imagination to that which is about to occur". Dan Gretton's profound moral effort in this book is a massive bulwark against that possibility and a guarantee that the truth will be heard." -- The New Statesman (UK)

 

"Gretton raises profoundly unsettling questions about the capacity for doing evil that exists within all of us, and the ways in which the distancing effect of technology allows perpetrators to avoid thinking about the consequences of their actions." --Hugh Linehan, The Irish Times

"[I You We Them] is worth persevering, though, as the writing has the power at times to mesmerise . . . Gretton is a brave man to have stared so long and intently at the subject." --Ian Thomson, Evening Standard (UK)

'Meticulous, clinical and sobering, a shockingly important and incisive book. It is a timely reminder that crimes against humanity are not committed by monsters but by ordinary men.'
– David Olusoga

 

‘Not since Gitta Sereny’s vast script of Into That Darkness arrived on my desk have I read anything so disturbing as the draft of Dan Gretton’s book. I was shaken to the core by his brilliant treatment of the Wannsee meeting… The book seemed to be humming with life... much more alive than anything I’ve read for ages... I’m certainly grateful for having been given the chance to read this amazing work.’
– Diana Athill

 

'A book of extraordinary importance and urgency - we need this book now. For its determined, passionate, and vulnerable seeking; for its insistence on what matters. Climate catastrophe tells us the reach of the desk killer has never been greater. We must take the hope and political will in this book as our own: forged in darkness and therefore inextinguishable.'
– Anne Michaels, author of Fugitive Pieces