A recent survey of German women revealed that 55% had read Else Ury''s
Nesth-hen books. Even more had heard them read over the radio or had seen the television serialization.
Germans call a spoiled child or family pet a Nesth-hen. Else Ury''s Nesth-hen is a Berlin doctor''s daughter, Annemarie Braun, a slim, golden blond, quintessential German girl. The ten book series follows Annemarie from infancy (Nesth-hen and Her Dolls) to old age and grandchildren (Nesth-hen with White Hair).
Nesth-hen 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.
Nesth-hen 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 sentim
