I have always been fascinated by the history of World War 2. I think it is because the number of family members I had serve during the time combined with working at an assisted living facility when I was in my early 20's where the majority of the residents were Jewish. I used to love listening to their stories. When author Frank McDonough wrote to me asking if I would like to read and review the book Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman who Defied Hitler, I of course accepted!

Sophie Scholl was a member of an underground, non-violent protest movement against Hitler's rule in Nazi Germany called the White Rose (die Weisse Rose). Mr. McDonough was offered to read through the diaries, personal letters written by Sophie and the transcript of her interrogation by the Gestapo. He compiled this intriguing biography from information gathered during his reading.

Scholl, a student who was 21 at the time of her death in February 1943, is a legend in Germany. The White Rose movement, which opposed Nazism by circulating thousands of leaflets telling German Christians that they had a "moral duty" to rise up against Hitler, the "messenger of Anti-Christ". The leaflets were dropped between 1942 and 1943 at Munich University. In February 1943 when Sophie Scholl along with her brother, Hans, and friend, Christoph Probst, were beheaded in Stadelhein Prison, Munich, for urging German students to rise up against Nazi terror.

Overall this was an excellent book. The historical events described catch your attention. The relationships between the Scholl children, their parents and various friends of the family is touching. If you don't like reading about historical happenings, this book may seem a little flat when you read it. I was looking forward to reading a great book about Sophie but to me it seemed that the first half of the book focused more on her brother Hans and her boyfriend Fritz and what happened to them while they were fighting in the war.