Like the fabric of time itself, Susan Griffin's essay "Our Secret" is an
             essentially non-linear piece of writing. However, the author creates
             cohesiveness by weaving core threads of meaning and intent. Passages that
             would otherwise be completely disjointed from one another: stories of the
             Holocaust, of Griffin's childhood, of the manufacture and design of
             ballistic missiles and of the structure of DNA, form the warp and woof of
             the skillfully rendered essay. The fundamental theme of "Our Secret" is
             embodied in its title, which directly derives from Heinrich Himmler's own
             words: "we should take our secret to our graves." Using Himmler's biography
             as the nucleus of the essay, Griffin explores the reverberations created by
             the Reichsfuhrer. His influence, according to Griffin, is not only felt
             directly by those whose lives he encountered and inexorably changed vis -
             vis Nazi practices, but also in the ways he helped to create the collective
             consciousness of a nation. Moreover, like any human being, Himmler cannot
             be studied without consideration of his childhood experiences. Griffin
             demonstrates this also by weaving in stories of her own childhood, showing
             the otherwise imperceptible links between her life and that of others,
             including the reader. In fact, one of her main premises is that even with
             six billion people on the planet, no life exists in isolation from any
             As the title of the piece suggests, Griffin primarily examines the
             nature of the personal and collective secret and the consequences of
             suppression. Without unnecessarily delving into psychoanalytic theory, the
             author speculates on the nature of human sexuality and how it relates to
             the formation of whole cultures. The link between unhealthy sexuality to
             pain and torture are also explored sensitively and deftly through
             disturbing tales of Himmler's life. Griffin's exploration of human
             sexuality includes commentary on...