Rebecca Donner

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award. It was selected as a New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2021, a New York Times Notable Book, a New York Times Editors’ choice, and was named one of the best books of 2021 by the Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, and The Economist.

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird calls All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days “A stunning literary achievement.” According to New Yorker literary critic James Wood, “Donner’s story reads with the speed of a thriller, the depth of a novel, and the urgency of an essay, like some deeply compelling blend of Alan Furst and W.G. Sebald.”

In her acceptance speech for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Rebecca observed, “The men and women Mildred Harnack recruited into her underground resistance group were factory workers and office workers, artists and journalists, students and professors. While so many in Germany supported Hitler’s regime, or chose inaction, they chose to risk their lives – and resist. The story of their audacious courage serves as an inspiration to us all during this fraught time in the world.”

In 2022, Rebecca Donner was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship for her work. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days is her third book; she is also the author of two critically acclaimed works of fiction. She has taught at Wesleyan University, Columbia University, and Barnard College.