Ezra's Bookshelf

Troubled Memory

by Lawrence N. Powell · 614 pages · ~11 hrs

HistoryBiography & Memoir

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Lawrence Powell tells the story of Anne Skorecki Levy, who survived the Holocaust as a child in Poland and later became instrumental in defeating David Duke's 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial campaign. Levy endured the Lodz ghetto, witnessed her father's murder, and survived in hiding before emigrating to New Orleans. When Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, won a place in the runoff election for governor, Levy understood the danger in ways other Louisianans could not. She threw herself into the campaign against him, speaking publicly about her experiences and connecting Nazi ideology to Duke's message. Powell uses her story to explore questions about memory, trauma, and political action. How do survivors bear witness? How does historical knowledge shape contemporary politics? The book is both biography and political history, examining the dynamics of the 1991 race while centering Levy's particular perspective. For readers interested in Holocaust memory, Louisiana politics, or how individuals can affect history, Powell provides a compelling account.

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