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Nuremberg: The Reckoning
The aftermath of World War Two, 1945. A world awaits justice.
Yanked from routine army duty to serve as an interpreter at Nuremberg, Sebastian Reinhardt, a young German-American, seems fated to be intimately involved with the lives and deaths of others. In hearing the stories of the infamous Nazi killers and war makers, he encounters not only the towering figures of that dark history — among them Albert Speer, Hermann Goering, and the untried shadow of Adolf Hitler — but also those from his own dark history as the lives of his ancestors become vitally relevant.
Torn between his two identities, between past and present, Reinhardt must undergo his own personal journey to judge those guilty for himself.
But can one man find justice in the face of so much hate? And will the World ever be able to move on from the crimes committed by the Nazis?
A gripping account of actions and consequences, The Reckoning is a riveting novel of insight and deep understanding, of treachery and vengeance, and of the struggle for justice found in a hangman’s noose.
Yanked from routine army duty to serve as an interpreter at Nuremberg, Sebastian Reinhardt, a young German-American, seems fated to be intimately involved with the lives and deaths of others. In hearing the stories of the infamous Nazi killers and war makers, he encounters not only the towering figures of that dark history — among them Albert Speer, Hermann Goering, and the untried shadow of Adolf Hitler — but also those from his own dark history as the lives of his ancestors become vitally relevant.
Torn between his two identities, between past and present, Reinhardt must undergo his own personal journey to judge those guilty for himself.
But can one man find justice in the face of so much hate? And will the World ever be able to move on from the crimes committed by the Nazis?
A gripping account of actions and consequences, The Reckoning is a riveting novel of insight and deep understanding, of treachery and vengeance, and of the struggle for justice found in a hangman’s noose.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2002
99 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
About the author
William F. Buckley Jr.
183 books338 followersWilliam Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American author and conservative commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words.
Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.
Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.
Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.
Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 14, 2018
I've had Buckley's NUREMBERG on my TBR list for several years, and decided to get to it. Admittedly, I hadn't read the synopsis; I just wanted to read something by William F. Buckley Jr. and this subject was of interest to me. The author uses a fictional young man, Sebastian to introduce us to the Nuremberg trials held after WWII. Sebastian has a German heritage ( Born in Germany, American mother, German father) so he speaks fluent German and it sent to the trials as an interpreter. Through this technique we see how the trials were handled from the inside. I seen documentaries about the trials, but this brings it down to the personal level for Sebastian and the reader. Interesting for history lovers. I'm glad I read it.
May 25, 2011
By adding a fictional prisoner to the cadre of Nazis tried at Nuremberg and linking him to a young American Lieutenant of American/German/Jewish descent, Buckley manages to provide a fairly comprehensive overview of not only what took place at Nuremberg but an informative glimpse into some of the ethical and legal questions that surrounded the proceedings. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has even a slight interest in the immediate aftermath of World War II on Germany, its citizens and the Nazi war criminals.
April 11, 2025
3.3⭐️
This was an interesting read. Definitely for someone who really loves history. The writing was a little choppy & hard to follow at times. Overall it was an interesting read. There aren’t many WWII books that include the aftermath & Nuremberg trials, so I learned quite a bit & it was intriguing. I also enjoyed the aspect of the character being an interpreter.
This was an interesting read. Definitely for someone who really loves history. The writing was a little choppy & hard to follow at times. Overall it was an interesting read. There aren’t many WWII books that include the aftermath & Nuremberg trials, so I learned quite a bit & it was intriguing. I also enjoyed the aspect of the character being an interpreter.
November 9, 2022
I chose this audiobook because I knew next to nothing about Nuremberg, and I hoped to garner vocabulary words from Buckley.
What I did not expect was a fictionalized account. The narrative was compelling; my interest never flagged.
What I did not expect was a fictionalized account. The narrative was compelling; my interest never flagged.
January 14, 2011
It was ok, but why did the author have to invent a war criminal who never existed who was in charge of a death camp that never existed and then throw both into the Nuremgberg trial. I thought he could have used one of the real war criminals as a foil in the book.
November 28, 2025
It doesn’t matter whether he is writing fiction, political diatribes, or theological reflection (admittedly rare, but it’s there), the late William F. Buckley, Jr. taught me things I didn’t know. I didn’t always agree with him, but I was always stimulated by his writing. When he was alive, I asked my friends in the New York literary scene to try to arrange it so I could meet him. He was one of those larger than life figures that would always make my list of famous people (even from history) that I would love to informally dine with. Except for our fascination with language and tendency to go against the grain of popular consensus, we’re really not alike—very different academic experiences, social class, and political activism (with a few exceptions of which I have mixed feelings).
So, finding Nuremberg: The Reckoning in what is the 80th anniversary year of the start of the trials was a major discovery for me. I don’t remember the book when it came out in 2002 as I was trying to get a new business off the ground and my reading and research was very focused. Interestingly, I started reading this novel on November 20th, the very anniversary of the start of the trials. Because of my schedule, it took me five days to finish it. I enjoyed the book and learned a lot as Buckley weaves together the intriguing coincidences of his protagonist’s background and his post-war task with actual historical details. I particularly enjoyed a snide remark about John Maynard Keynes’ prophetic remarks on the Versailles Conference (p. 16).
Sebastian Reinhard is the German-born son of an architect named Axel Reinhard and his American wife. When his father and mother see the handwriting on the wall, they decide to cruise to the U.S. and allow mother and son to claim citizenship. The father is betrayed (and the inadvertent betrayer is revealed late in the book) and is unable to join his family. Compromised, the father is forced to build a P.O.W. camp known as Camp Joni which eventually becomes quite something else. There is a mystery about the father’s death and Buckley reveals it at just the right time. There is also a mystery about Sebastian’s background which is revealed from a most unlikely informant.
As one might expect, Sebastian ends up attached to the Nuremberg trials. He assists in translating sensitive documents and testimony, as well as assisting in the interrogation of a certain prisoner, General Kurt Amadeus (the fictional commander of an extermination camp). I couldn’t help but think that Buckley had his own inside pun in naming this character because there was a composer named Karl Amadeus Hartmann who wrote a piece called “Miserae” in either 1933 or 1934 to protest construction of the first Nazi concentration camp. General Amadeus couldn’t have been “loved by God” as the name’s Latin origin would suggest since gassing hundreds of thousands of Jews was nothing to him.
The interrogation of Amadeus before (and interestingly, after) the actual trial testimony provides an interesting counterpoint to Sebastian’s assumptions regarding law, justice, and morals. I do not mean to imply that Buckley was excusing Amadeus’ genocide. To the contrary, the conversations simply demonstrate that the trial served a moral purpose, even though the actual law was not very clear. Amadeus proves a nice composite of the Hitler-inspired fanatic.
Nuremberg: The Reckoning gives glimpses of the politics surrounding the trials and some of the mundane considerations (Ever wonder where all of those people were housed? How simultaneous translation was accomplished? What security arrangements were in place for prisoners and the trial itself?) surrounding the trials. Interesting, Buckley’s fictional account of how Amadeus cheated the hangman’s rope rather nicely matches the way a former guard later admitted to smuggling a glass ampule of cyanide to Hermann Goering. We cannot verify that account, but it makes more sense than Goering’s alleged note that he had smuggled the ampule in with his hair cream.
Although Nuremberg: The Reckoning is solid reading and has its stimulating moments, I didn’t feel like the fiction itself was as compelling as the Blackford Oakes novels. They also provided a wonderful mix of history and fiction, but it seemed like they were better paced. A Blackford Oakes novel is comparable to a film while Nuremberg: The Reckoning is paced more like a season of Downton Abbey, though a bombed out Nuremberg is certainly not a match for the posh venue of the UK soap opera set between WWI and WWII.
So, finding Nuremberg: The Reckoning in what is the 80th anniversary year of the start of the trials was a major discovery for me. I don’t remember the book when it came out in 2002 as I was trying to get a new business off the ground and my reading and research was very focused. Interestingly, I started reading this novel on November 20th, the very anniversary of the start of the trials. Because of my schedule, it took me five days to finish it. I enjoyed the book and learned a lot as Buckley weaves together the intriguing coincidences of his protagonist’s background and his post-war task with actual historical details. I particularly enjoyed a snide remark about John Maynard Keynes’ prophetic remarks on the Versailles Conference (p. 16).
Sebastian Reinhard is the German-born son of an architect named Axel Reinhard and his American wife. When his father and mother see the handwriting on the wall, they decide to cruise to the U.S. and allow mother and son to claim citizenship. The father is betrayed (and the inadvertent betrayer is revealed late in the book) and is unable to join his family. Compromised, the father is forced to build a P.O.W. camp known as Camp Joni which eventually becomes quite something else. There is a mystery about the father’s death and Buckley reveals it at just the right time. There is also a mystery about Sebastian’s background which is revealed from a most unlikely informant.
As one might expect, Sebastian ends up attached to the Nuremberg trials. He assists in translating sensitive documents and testimony, as well as assisting in the interrogation of a certain prisoner, General Kurt Amadeus (the fictional commander of an extermination camp). I couldn’t help but think that Buckley had his own inside pun in naming this character because there was a composer named Karl Amadeus Hartmann who wrote a piece called “Miserae” in either 1933 or 1934 to protest construction of the first Nazi concentration camp. General Amadeus couldn’t have been “loved by God” as the name’s Latin origin would suggest since gassing hundreds of thousands of Jews was nothing to him.
The interrogation of Amadeus before (and interestingly, after) the actual trial testimony provides an interesting counterpoint to Sebastian’s assumptions regarding law, justice, and morals. I do not mean to imply that Buckley was excusing Amadeus’ genocide. To the contrary, the conversations simply demonstrate that the trial served a moral purpose, even though the actual law was not very clear. Amadeus proves a nice composite of the Hitler-inspired fanatic.
Nuremberg: The Reckoning gives glimpses of the politics surrounding the trials and some of the mundane considerations (Ever wonder where all of those people were housed? How simultaneous translation was accomplished? What security arrangements were in place for prisoners and the trial itself?) surrounding the trials. Interesting, Buckley’s fictional account of how Amadeus cheated the hangman’s rope rather nicely matches the way a former guard later admitted to smuggling a glass ampule of cyanide to Hermann Goering. We cannot verify that account, but it makes more sense than Goering’s alleged note that he had smuggled the ampule in with his hair cream.
Although Nuremberg: The Reckoning is solid reading and has its stimulating moments, I didn’t feel like the fiction itself was as compelling as the Blackford Oakes novels. They also provided a wonderful mix of history and fiction, but it seemed like they were better paced. A Blackford Oakes novel is comparable to a film while Nuremberg: The Reckoning is paced more like a season of Downton Abbey, though a bombed out Nuremberg is certainly not a match for the posh venue of the UK soap opera set between WWI and WWII.
September 24, 2017
A bit of a departure from some of his novels, which posit an account of what might have been the case "behind the scenes" of espionage and diplomacy, this book tells the story of one family (part Jewish) caught up in Germany's political turmoil leading up to WWII. And of one family member's involvement in the Nuremberg trials.
Well-written, it does not have as many obscure words as Buckley is reknowned for using. Its insight into the trials and descriptions of post-war Germany are interesting, as is the dilemmas he presents for Germans who have to make very difficult decisions regarding their actions.
Thought-provoking, insightful, entertaining, and instructive.
A very good read.
Well-written, it does not have as many obscure words as Buckley is reknowned for using. Its insight into the trials and descriptions of post-war Germany are interesting, as is the dilemmas he presents for Germans who have to make very difficult decisions regarding their actions.
Thought-provoking, insightful, entertaining, and instructive.
A very good read.
October 28, 2021
Well done
From the beginning it wraps you up in the story. It’s not completely chronological, which threw me at first. The fluctuating dates at the beginning of the chapters become a welcome addition to putting the pieces together though. I enjoyed the book, but then again I’m a sucker for the WW2 genre.
From the beginning it wraps you up in the story. It’s not completely chronological, which threw me at first. The fluctuating dates at the beginning of the chapters become a welcome addition to putting the pieces together though. I enjoyed the book, but then again I’m a sucker for the WW2 genre.
May 23, 2023
Important trial to have a good sense of, although not a great reading
Not the greatest work on an important thinker, this is a good story based on an important bit of history, although not exactly a smooth read.
A bit too wordy at times, the disjointed chronology makes the story confusing at times.
Not the greatest work on an important thinker, this is a good story based on an important bit of history, although not exactly a smooth read.
A bit too wordy at times, the disjointed chronology makes the story confusing at times.
March 31, 2020
This book wasn't quite what I expected, but I did like it. It is well-written and tells a good story. It doesn't go into too much grisly detail about the atrocities committed by those accused of war crimes, which I was happy about.
September 8, 2020
A very interesting book as it takes fictional characters intertwined with actual people involved in the trial. A young man leaves Germany in 1939 with his mother whose father was Jewish, his father is an engineer who is forced to remain in Germany by the gestapo or his wife and son will be forced to stay in Germany. He grows up in Phoenix, in a home where German is spoken. After high school,he is drafted, but is accepted into OCS. Once his language skills come to light, he is sent to Nuremberg as an interpreter. Toward the end of the book, he learns of his Jewish heritage. It would be a spoiler to tell more. The only downside is the abrupt ending.
May 23, 2023
I enjoyed this novel and it’s examination of the trials. It was a good balance of narrative and historical exploration. It wasn’t overly technical but was still satisfying in presenting the landscape of the legal proceedings. Some of the dialogue was a bit off for me. But otherwise a good read.
December 10, 2024
By adding a few fictional characters to this massive historic event, Buckley has succeeded in creating a page turner.
I was a child when this trial happened. I remember hearing brief updates on the radio and at the movie matinee on MovieTone News.
This creative non-fiction book made me think of how that historic trial affected traditional jurisprudence and influenced future war endings. Was it revenge or justice?
An excellent read.
I was a child when this trial happened. I remember hearing brief updates on the radio and at the movie matinee on MovieTone News.
This creative non-fiction book made me think of how that historic trial affected traditional jurisprudence and influenced future war endings. Was it revenge or justice?
An excellent read.
August 5, 2019
Very good book
I had seen the movies of course and had knowledge of this first trial, but your book made it a lot more personable, it was very well researched. I will recommend.
I had seen the movies of course and had knowledge of this first trial, but your book made it a lot more personable, it was very well researched. I will recommend.
May 13, 2021
I loved the book....loved the details..
Loved how it described the bunkers and the gas chambers and everything...
Loved how it described the bunkers and the gas chambers and everything...
Want to read
November 28, 2022MyNextRead
December 15, 2024
Powerful story, intermittently well-written. A stimulating exposition of moral ambiguity and some of the greatest moments of the 20th century.
November 19, 2017
Abysmal editing!
I am just 10 % into this book and already I am really irritated by the abysmal editing and proof reading - there is at least one typographical error per page and often several on the same page. It is too soon to tell if the story is as good as the claims made for it but, frankly, it needs to be a great read to overcome the hugely distracting errors. Deeply frustrated reader!
After finishing the whole book my frustrations with the proof reading are just as strong and really distracted me from enjoying the story. However, I agree with other reviewers, this is an interesting approach to a momentous historical event but sadly fails to deliver on its initial promise. Do I really care about the main characters? No. What was the point of some of the things they did? Who knows? Will I rush to read any of his other books? Probably not.
I am just 10 % into this book and already I am really irritated by the abysmal editing and proof reading - there is at least one typographical error per page and often several on the same page. It is too soon to tell if the story is as good as the claims made for it but, frankly, it needs to be a great read to overcome the hugely distracting errors. Deeply frustrated reader!
After finishing the whole book my frustrations with the proof reading are just as strong and really distracted me from enjoying the story. However, I agree with other reviewers, this is an interesting approach to a momentous historical event but sadly fails to deliver on its initial promise. Do I really care about the main characters? No. What was the point of some of the things they did? Who knows? Will I rush to read any of his other books? Probably not.
March 9, 2017
A phenomenal book that challenged me. Intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, the incredibly well crafted story taught me so much history and in such intimate detailed fashion that I felt I understood so many of the dilemmas every human being faced and that good and evil are not so easily distinguished. Since we (my husband and I) were just there in Nuremberg last October, the story came alive for us even more intensely.
July 18, 2025
As you might expect, this is one of Buckley's worst novels. 25 years after "Saving the Queen" he was clearly out of gas, and was reduced to writing about Nazis. I wonder if his deep friendship with the Neo-Cons also had something to do with the choice of subject.
Anyway, unlike many of his other novels, WFB clearly only had 2nd hand knowledge of subject. Buckley was America First before Pearl Harbor, and never left the USA during WW II. His CIA service was in Mexico. Starting in the 50s, he went to Switzerland every year to ski - but didn't live in Germany.
And his other writings (and I've read most of them) before this, show no real interest in Nazi Germany. In fact, his attack Gore Vidal for calling him a "Nazi" in 1968, is the only instance of him talking about that ideology.
This was an obvious jump the shark book.
Anyway, unlike many of his other novels, WFB clearly only had 2nd hand knowledge of subject. Buckley was America First before Pearl Harbor, and never left the USA during WW II. His CIA service was in Mexico. Starting in the 50s, he went to Switzerland every year to ski - but didn't live in Germany.
And his other writings (and I've read most of them) before this, show no real interest in Nazi Germany. In fact, his attack Gore Vidal for calling him a "Nazi" in 1968, is the only instance of him talking about that ideology.
This was an obvious jump the shark book.
October 24, 2015
Nuremberg-lite, for those who don't want all the gruesome details and tedious legal arguments that dominate most non-fiction accounts of the trial. It focuses on one American soldier, Sebastian Reinhart, born of a German father, who is called upon to serve as translator for counsel assigned to one particular Nazi prisoner. This novelized account deals more with Sebastian's personal struggle to learn of the fate of his father, who was not allowed to leave Germany with his wife and Sebastian just before the war began. The Nuremberg trial happened to be the setting for this novel, but it wasn't about the trial in any great detail. Don't expect to come away with a great deal of understanding of the issues or drama involved in the trial.
July 13, 2007
I picked this up at a library book sale for 50 cents because I enjoyed the nonfiction _Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial_ so much. It was an interesting combination of nonfiction references to the trial & people involved, and the fictional story of Sebastian, a young German-American translator who discovers more about his family history while in Nuremberg. I enjoyed reading it, although there was at least one subplot that wasn't tied in well at all to the main narrative.
August 2, 2016
Nuremberg: The Reckoning was more aptly titled - Nuremberg: The Near Reckoning. It showed promises of being really good but never delivered. Every time you thought there was going to be some dramatic revelation, it sputtered out or arrived at a dead-end. It was well-written and could have been so much more, but never developed into a gripping plot. With some creative leaps, the storyline could have been so much more intriguing. All in all, a solid "B" but didn't live up to it's potential.
January 28, 2016
It is an enthralling story, especially when it gets to the trials. But I was disappointed to find that the main defendant followed in the story, and the death camp he oversaw, were fictional creations of the author rather than true-to-history characters. I would have liked to learn more about the actual historical characters of the trial.
November 29, 2014
I wasnt as impressed with this book by Buckley as I have with other books written by him. Dont get me wrong it was a good story line but it seemed to lack in past enthusiasm as his other books I've read.
December 6, 2016
Historically fascinating. It makes me proud the way countries came together after the war to form an international tribunal and created international laws regarding war crimes. As a novel it was a bit of a slow read to me.
May 5, 2010
Simple but interesting historical novel about the famed Nazi trials at Nuremberg. Buckley, as usual, is verbose and sometimes vague.
January 25, 2011
Fascinating era..but poor writng by Buckley. should have been better
April 24, 2013
Part history, part historical fiction. A good introduction to the post-war Nazi trials, but I'm not sure why Buckley added the fictional characters.
August 15, 2016
A well-written tale of how personalities contributed to the atmosphere surrounding the "War Crimes" trials after WWII
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews