NEWS RELEASE

 

ONE STEP AHEAD MOVES FOREWORD

“Riveting Memoir” Wins Silver Medal 

in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Competition

 

One Step Ahead: A Jewish Fugitive in Hitler's Europe, written by Alfred Feldman and published by Southern Illinois University Press, was awarded second place in the biography catagory of ForeWord magazine’s Book of the Year Competition. The first, second, and third place winners for the Biography Book of the Year, along with 41 other catagories of awards, were announced to publishers on Saturday, May 4, in a ceremony held in New York during BookExpo America, an annual publishing trade show attended by over 25,500 members of the publishings community. The ForeWord award ceremony itself drew a sizable crowd of approximately 250 publisher representatives. The awards were presented by ForeWord’s publisher, Victoria Sutherland, and editor, Alex Moore.

 

ForeWord’s Book of the Year Awards were established to bring increased attention to the literary achievements of independent presses and their authors. Finalists and winners are chosen by a jury of  booksellers and librarians based on entries received from publishers. In its four-year history, ForeWord has quickly established itself as a leading trade publication devoted to the work of small and independent publishers, and has been a powerful advocate for university press publications. The annual awards are considered high honors by publishers, authors, booksellers, and librarians. 

 

One Step Ahead: A Jewish Fugitive in Hitler’s Europe (320 pages, 27 illus., $24.95 cloth) is Alfred Feldman’s compelling tale of his life on the run as a teenage fugitive during World War II. Through personal accounts, surviving family correspondence, and twenty-seven photos and maps, One Step Ahead provides the kind of details no holocaust survivor can ever forget as Feldman recalls his daily life and flight into exile. 

 

As Library Journal states, “Feldman spent close to five years on the run from the Nazis, traveling with his family from their home in Germany to Belgium, France, and finally—after his mother and three sisters were taken to Auschwitz—the Italian Alps, where he and his father hid for a year and a half. Not only does he offer a suspenseful account of his harrowing experience escaping Nazi roundups but he also affectionately describes the little things that make this story so real to the reader. . . . Aided by maps, photographs, a time line, a notes section, and Feldman’s personal correspondence, the reader can get a feeling for this teenage boy’s life before, during, and after the war.”

 

“In this straightforward, often riveting memoir, Feldman recounts the harrowing years of his youth and young adulthood, which he spent eluding the Nazis,” describes Publisher’s Weekly. Through strength, courage, and remarkable good luck, Feldman and his father managed to escape the horrific fate that awaited his mother and sisters as well as millions of others. . . . Escape is the memoir’s leitmotif, and Feldman, as both survivor and refugee from the holocaust, gives that theme a quiet power.”

               

Alfred Feldman’s One Step Ahead: A Jewish Fugitive in Hitler’s Europe is available through bookstores or from the publisher, Southern Illinois University Press.

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