In The Price for Glory, author M.N. Snitz delivers a compelling multi-generational epic tale of warfare and passion with roots in ancient lore.
Abraham Steinnermann grows up in a family dwelling in the same German Black Forest where the great Teutonic warrior, Arminius, held off the incursion of Roman soldiers in the first century. This legacy of war and triumph infuse his destiny, sending him down paths that even he, a somewhat narcissistic young man, could never imagine – until forced to live it.
Bright and handsome, Steinnermann makes up only a few Jews who are accepted at the notably antisemitic Heidelberg University.
As he studies high finance, his talent for numbers becomes evident, landing him a job in Germany’s banking community as Hitler rises to power. Steinnermann admires Hitler’s determination to recoup his nation’s esteem. For several years, even as the war heats up and Jews become the obvious target, the intelligent young banker continues to excel without harm.
Steinnermann’s luck, however, cannot hold in Hitler’s Germany.
One day, two Nazi soldiers come for him. Soon, he struggles to stay alive in the hell of a concentration camp. But Fortune or Fate smiles once again on the young man when a camp guard notices his talent. Steinnermann is offered a job that will lead to his being one of the few survivors.
As the Allies move in, so does the Red Cross.
Steinnermann meets the beautiful Merriam, a Red Cross volunteer, and falls in love. The attraction is mutual. The two maintain a long-distance correspondence when Steinnermann relocates to America. Once there, his perspicacity in finance will land him in a selected, fated role. He sends for and marries the woman he adores. His memories of the war and the many times he dodged death are transmuted to the next generation, within the mind of his son Jack, who must serve in Vietnam.
Snitz, who served in the US Military in Vietnam and was an observer of the Israeli Yom Kippur War, draws together many threads to create his vast tapestry of a multi-generational tale in The Price for Glory.
He successfully creates in his central character a man the reader may “love to hate” – someone whose skills and intelligence are admirable but whose arrogance and boastfulness seem a colossal deficit. As the story progresses though, Snitz’s protagonist wins the reader over by surviving the deep sorrows and immense perils he faces along the way.
Wordsmith Snitz seems at home within his story.
A student of classical literature, who avows writing his first novel in fifth grade, Snitz aptly portrays the feelings of women like Merriam embroiled in a long-distance romance. He depicts the emotions of men like Steinnermann, who are tortured by an insane enemy, and showcases the young Jack who is enmeshed in the terrible duties of warfare.
The Price for Glory is a lengthy saga taking place on three continents and within the minds of those – young and brash, and old and wise – who carry the understanding of that price all too heavily. This novel is highly recommended.
Facing the Dragon by Philip Derrick explores the Vietnam War era through the eyes of an extraordinary high school student named Jim Peterson, who at fifteen made the varsity football team as a freshman. He’s intelligent as well as physically fit as he begins his journey in the backseat of a station wagon with his sister on their way to a family vacation, seemingly a typical teenager.
