Linda Kinstler is the author of the book Come to this Court and Cry, which was named a Wall Street Journal 2022 Book of the Year and won the 2023 Whiting Award for Nonfiction. In the words of The Guardian, the book is a “tremendous feat of storytelling, propelled by numerous twists and revelations, yet anchored by a deep moral seriousness.” The book traces the post-World War Two journey of Herbert Cukurs - celebrated Latvian aviator turned mass murderer known as the “Butcher of Riga" - who was abducted and assassinated by the Mossad in 1965. Simultaneously, Linda weaves in her own fraught family history - including her grandfather’s ties to Cukurs' Nazi-affiliated unit and Soviet intelligence - while exploring how Holocaust memory, justice, and truth can be contested, distorted, and erased.
Books referenced in the episode include:
Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin
Oresteia by Aeschylus
Earlylands in Conversation