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It is as if the wisdom of S⌀ren Kierkegaard – “life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards” — set in motion Sam Chaiton’s memoir, as a guiding directive through a profound journey of self-discovery and soulful reclamation of his parents’ past.

From his beginnings as a child of Holocaust survivors (like me) dreaming of a life in the arts (also like me!), through his eventual role in helping to secure Rubin “Hurricane” Carter’s freedom, and beyond, comes Sam Chaiton’s frank, wholly engaging memoir. I did not know him until the journey he took into his family’s heart-rending history led him from Wierzbnik, Poland, to Toronto, Canada, – and right to my door. The synchronicity of our two families’ experiences during WWII is astounding. The slave number that the Nazis forcibly tattooed on my mother, Manya’s, arm in Auschwitz is a mere fifteen numbers apart from the one Sam’s mother, Luba, bore since that terrifying first day of their incarceration. They were in the very same lineup, and that was just one coincidence on their tortured road to freedom. What a trip.

We Used to Dream of Freedom is a fascinating and compelling account of a life lived outside convention yet guided by the most important human values: freedom, family, compassion, memory, and self-knowledge. Frank, touching, thoughtful, and surprising, Chaiton's memoir is a testament to the healing and understanding, and ultimately, love that is possible when a family shares the difficult stories, and speaks the unspeakable.

We children of Holocaust survivors live precariously, with so much trauma ingrained in us, and so many reasons to somehow break free and strive for success. While my survivor parents were adamant about telling their war stories incessantly, many others, like Sam Chaiton's parents, insisted on keeping their stories a secret. We Used to Dream of Freedom paints a poignant portrait of the devastating damage mystery and dark secrets can do to family ties. Chaiton's fearless and moving memoir is a precious gift to anyone who yearns for a better understanding of intergenerational trauma and the path to true liberation.

A bold, honest, and absorbing exploration of how the Holocaust and its secrets continue to traumatize a second generation. Chaiton's flight from familial dysfunction sets him on an extraordinary path, leading to the freedom of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. The author's stunning realization then brings us full circle: the trajectory of his Jewish survivor parents and the African American boxer "are scarily similar in the injustices of their incarcerations, based entirely on racism rather than reason." A timely and gripping read.

A powerful "second generation" memoir that captures the impact of growing up in a family with two survivor parents who imposed total silence about their Holocaust experiences. Among the five sons, Sam's response was decades of alienation and disappearance but ultimately healing and reconciliation after uncovering his parents' horrific stories.

This multi-faceted memoir is the story of Chaiton's years raised in a Holocaust survivor family and followed by his unique adventurous journey working through trauma, reinvention, and understanding. In our current world of daunting change and challenge, his story will resonate with all ages, cultures, and nationalities who are struggling to maintain their equilibrium.

You will be transported through time and memory by Sam Chaiton's stunning memoir. With remarkable honesty, clarity, and evocative prose, Chaiton shares a storied life touching on family, art, activism, the Holocaust, and his relationship and role in the exoneration of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. We Used to Dream of Freedom is a must read.

Sam Chaiton's We Used to Dream of Freedom is a brilliant read, abounding with clear-eyed humanity, telling us about an extra- ordinary life in which Chaiton resets the scales of justice, not just for himself and his family but for all of us.

Sam dances through his life-affirming meeting with the early modern dance movement at a time we know little about in writing; communal living à la "summer of love"; a persistent urge to right wrongs in himself and in the world at large. He finds his family through leaving them behind — his siblings for two decades, his parents forever — but a solid nuclear circle of dependable friends surround him and care for him. I found the book extremely relatable as a Canadian-born dance artist with roots in Europe through my own father's parents, themselves saved by ingenuity, and silence, from the horrors of WWII.

Sam Chaiton's search for familial love and connection drew him into a life marked by keen curiosity, cycles of experimentation, risk, accomplishment, success, loss, acts of compassion, and eventually to the revelation of his family's buried past. May our obstacles goad us to live lives that make a difference, as Sam's has.

A vividly written, dramatic personal memoir of activism, artistry, alienation, and ultimately, affirmation, depicting a life lived in the murky after-shadows of the Holocaust.

Given his experiences as a child of Holocaust survivors, I understand why Sam dedicated his life to righting wrongs and fighting for justice for the innocent, including Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and me.

No two Holocaust survivors' stories are alike. Each is unique unto itself. And as Sam Chaiton's revealing, artfully written, and timely autobiography, We Used to Dream of Freedom, makes clear, this is equally true for survivors' children raised in the shadow of the Holocaust. Chaiton's second-generation story, singularly his own, is a conversation starter that deserves to be read.