20 October 2005
Popular American Author Chats with Students, Teachers in Germany
Todd Strasser, author of "The Wave," participates in live IIP Internet chat
U.S. author Todd Strasser, popularly known by his pen name, Morton Rhue, participated in a Internet chat with German students and teachers to coincide with the Frankfurt (Germany) Book Fair on October 20.
During the webchat, which was organized by the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Strasser answered more than 60 questions from students and teachers from the Gymnasium Carolinum and Meerane Gymnasium in Germany and many other participants around the country.
The consul general of the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, Peter Bodde, also participated at the U.S. mission’s booth from the Frankfurt Book Fair, considered the world's largest and most renowned literary exhibit.
According to Strasser’s Web site, his books The Wave, Asphalt Tribe and Give a Boy a Gun have been translated into 12 languages and are part of the reading curriculum in many schools in Germany.
His most famous book, The Wave or Die Welle in German, examines the power of group pressure that has pervaded many historical movements such as that of the Nazis in Germany.
In the book, this pressure is recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a "new" system to his students. The story is based on a true incident that occurred in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969.
Strasser said the idea for The Wave came from an original essay by Ron Jones, available on Strasser’s Web site. Strasser said he thinks students in Germany take the book a little more seriously than students the United States “because they know it can happen.”
In addition to Germany, The Wave is read in “several other European countries, as well as in China and, of course, it is used in the U.S.,” said Strasser.
He also said many of his ideas “come from current issues and from speaking to other people” and he believes students have a greater influence on his work than teachers.
A student discussed the overwhelming popularity of English writers in Germany. Strasser said that the culture exchange goes both ways, noting that German writers and filmmakers are popular in the United States.
Strasser said his new book about boot camps will be available in spring 2006.
More information about Strasser is available on his Web site.
The discussion was just one in a series of Internet chats hosted by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Programs.
Since June 2005, IIP has held interactive Internet chats on such topics as Uzbekistan, environmental protection, human rights, U.S. foreign aid, the U.S. Supreme Court, the future of Web chats, Muslims in American Society, immigration and multiculturalism in the U.S., work habits in the U.S. and Europe, and the spread of freedom around the world.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
