The Plateau Audiobook By Maggie Paxson cover art

The Plateau

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Plateau

By: Maggie Paxson
Narrated by: Maggie Paxson
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.25

Buy for $20.25

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

During World War II, French villagers offered safe harbor to countless strangers - mostly children - as they fled for their lives. The same place offers refuge to migrants today. Why?

In a remote pocket of Nazi-held France, ordinary people risked their lives to rescue many hundreds of strangers, mostly Jewish children. Was this a fluke of history, or something more? Anthropologist Maggie Paxson, certainties shaken by years of studying strife, arrives on the Plateau to explore this phenomenon: What are the traits that make a group choose selflessness?

In this beautiful, wind-blown place, Paxson discovers a tradition of offering refuge that dates back centuries. But it is the story of a distant relative that provides the beacon for which she has been searching. Restless and idealistic, Daniel Trocmé had found a life of meaning and purpose - or it found him - sheltering a group of children on the Plateau, until the Holocaust came for him, too. Paxson's journey into past and present turns up new answers, new questions, and a renewed faith in the possibilities for us all, in an age when global conflict has set millions adrift. Riveting, multilayered, and intensely personal, The Plateau is a deeply inspiring journey into the central conundrum of our time.

Cover photograph: (Detail of Jewish youth) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jack Lewin
Illustration based on portrait of Daniel Trocmé from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Robert Trocme

©2019 Maggie Paxson (P)2019 Penguin Audio
20th Century Anthropology Europe Political Science Social Specific Demographics World War II France War
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

“Inspiring, riveting, and brilliantly researched and written, this is a book for our time by an author who has found her calling and risen with literary grace to a powerful challenge.” (Booklist, starred)

“Lyrical, complex, [and] genre-melding...History, memoir, profound soul-searching about peace, and meditations on the moral limitations of observation (rather than action) are woven together with dreamlike sequences imagining the lives of victims whose fates aren’t on historical record. The beautifully written, often heartrending narrative is as unforgettable as the region and individuals it brings to life.” (Publisher's Weekly, starred)

“Multilayered, intimate...Paxson is meticulous in her attention to...the way people live, their language, the choices people make in times of violence.... An elegant, intensive study that grapples with an enormous idea: how to be good.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred)

What listeners say about The Plateau

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Remarkable. Masterpiece.

The Plateau is unlike any book I've ever read before. Equal parts riveting courageous story and intimate memoir and historical narrative, while spoken through the voice of a humble yearning poet.
Hearing it in author's own voice was an extraordinary addition to the already compelling heart-breaking epic.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thank you

A thoughtful, timely, impassioned quest for a way to live with love and without fear.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!