Defying hitler Custom Essay

Defying Hitler: how to write about the memoir?

The historical memoir sets the author in a particular social and political setting, shows him or her confronting certain issues of the time, and presents the events and figures of the period through the author?s

eyes. Historians are often suspicious of memoirs; they need to be aware of the author?s goals and biases. Your assignment is to discuss Sebastian Haffner?s memoir Defying Hitler and show how the author

perceives and understands his environment and what historians could learn from his work. You will need to do some outside research in articles and books on related themes to support your interpretation. Your

essay is due on June 10th.
Additional questions to ask yourself as you read a memoir:
What are the strengths and limitations of a first-person source? How are these reflected in the work you?re reading?
How do the author?s social status, gender, age, family situation and/or geographical place affect his impressions of German society?
Which of the author?s experiences seem typical or atypical of his era?
How does this memoir reinforce or differ with points made in your other sources?
?Of course, you will not be able to answer all these questions; they are here as examples of problems historians discuss when they study memoirs.
You should also find secondary sources for your essay. In addition to the primary source, you should read at least two scholarly articles (or a book and an article). Encyclopaedia articles and internet materials

should not be included. You can find scholarly articles by searching the following databases: Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, Historical Abstracts with Full Text, Humanities International Complete,

Project Muse.
Your bibliography should contain at least three sources including Haffner?s book. Sources should be listed alphabetically according to the author’s last name.
Look through the book and decide what the focus of your paper is going to be. For example, you can analyze Haffner?s book as a memoir or you can concentrate your attention on the image of German

society as it emerges from his book. Make notes. Think about the thesis of your paper.
?The next stage is writing a draft. It is a good idea to show your draft to your friends, especially to those with the superior command of the English language. If you are trying to understand your mistakes and to

learn the rules, this is not cheating. Do not rely on spell-checks; they are not omnipotent. For example, students frequently confuse ?there? with ?their,? and spell-check cannot tell if you are using the right one.

After the draft is finished, relax for a couple of days and then write the final version of your essay.
Sources must be clearly cited in the text. Quotations must be introduced. Do not assume that quotations speak for themselves. When a direct quote is included, it must have quotation marks around it and a

citation of the source in a footnote. Follow the Chicago Style.