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Primo Levi was born on July 31, 1919 in Turin, Italy. He pursued a career in chemistry, and spent the early years World War II as a research chemist in Milan. Upon the German invasion of northern Italy, Levi, an Italian Jew, joined an anti-fascist group and was captured and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. He was able to survive the camp, due in part to his value to the Nazis as a chemist. After the war ended, Levi did chemistry work in a Turin paint factory while beginning his writing career. His first book, If This Is a Man (title later was changed to Survival in Auschwitz) was published in 1947 and its sequel, The Truce (later retitled The Reawakening) came out in 1958. These two books recount Levi's story of surviving concentration camp life. Levi also published poetry, short stories, and novels, some under the pen name Damianos Malabaila. His 1985, largely autobiographical work, The Periodic Table, cemented his world fame. Awards in tribute to his writing included the Kenneth B. Smilen fiction award, presented by the Jewish Museum in New York. Ironically, despite his surviving Auschwitz, Primo Levi appears to have died by suicide, in Turin on April 11, 1987. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from If This Is a Man… (more)
If This Is a Man 5,789 copies, 96 reviews
The Periodic Table 3,806 copies, 66 reviews
If This Is a Man / The Truce 2,186 copies, 29 reviews
The Drowned and the Saved 1,984 copies, 17 reviews
If Not Now, When? 1,373 copies, 18 reviews
The Reawakening 1,214 copies, 27 reviews
The Wrench 833 copies, 13 reviews
Moments of Reprieve 558 copies, 7 reviews
Other People's Trades 424 copies, 1 review
The Mirror Maker 281 copies, 1 review
The Sixth Day and Other Tales 264 copies, 2 reviews
A Tranquil Star 255 copies, 9 reviews
The Complete Works of Primo Levi 190 copies, 2 reviews
De getuigenissen 155 copies
Collected Poems 144 copies, 2 reviews
Auschwitz Report (Author) 136 copies, 4 reviews
Dialogo 85 copies, 2 reviews
Lilith, et autres nouvelles 79 copies, 3 reviews
Iron, Potassium, Nickel 78 copies, 1 review
Tutti I Racconti 61 copies, 1 review
L'ultimo Natale di guerra 58 copies, 3 reviews
The Magic Paint 54 copies
Le devoir de mémoire 46 copies, 1 review
The Black Hole of Auschwitz 44 copies, 1 review
The Survivor (Penguin Modern) 43 copies, 1 review
Ad ora incerta 37 copies
Opere 2: Primo Levi 32 copies, 1 review
Storie naturali 29 copies
Vizio di forma 26 copies, 1 review
Poeti 7 copies
Tåbrud 1 copy
Segantini 1 copy
The Sunflower (Contributor) 1,073 copies, 19 reviews
The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (Contributor) 776 copies, 6 reviews
Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz (Introduction, some editions) 601 copies, 18 reviews
The Night of the Girondists (Afterword, some editions; Translator, some editions) 210 copies, 1 review
Primo Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist (Associated Name) 197 copies, 5 reviews
Granta 21: The Story-Teller (Contributor) 148 copies, 1 review
The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories (Contributor) 125 copies, 2 reviews
Smoke over Birkenau (Foreword, some editions) 119 copies, 2 reviews
The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories (Contributor) 107 copies, 2 reviews
Granta 18: The Snap Revolution (Contributor) 89 copies, 1 review
Granta 16: Science (Contributor) 80 copies
Granta 19: More Dirt (Contributor) 76 copies

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