5 comments about An Uncommon Friendship: From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust.

1. Each memoir is important in adding to the historical record of this terrible period, and this book adds a considerable dimension with the authors shared as well as separate memories and their astute and insightful analyses of every aspect of their experiences. By the time I finished reading this book, I felt I knew both authors well and also many of the people who surrounded them over the years. I hope the book is widely read and given a place of honor in Holocaust literature. It deserves deep attention by scholars and general readers and seems eerily prescient, too, in light of September 11th, and its concern for the horrors our species can inflict on its victims. If I were still writing book reviews, this book would be a prime choice for me. It deserves all the notice in print it can get.



2. The two authors of the book just visited my school today, and told me and the other students their stories. Bernat Rosner went to my school, Thomas Jefferson School, and he even mentions and has pictures of it in the book. I've yet to read it, but I'm eagerly anticipating it. Their stories are so touching, and I feel so honored to have met these two men. Also to have had a man as interesting as Bernie Rosner go to my school in 1950, it's just so amazing. They are very interesting people, and there's just so much more I could say, but this review would unfortunately become boring. I strongly suggest that everyone should read this book, the authors have two great stories to tell.



3. I was very impressed with this book; for such a difficult subject it was beautifully written. I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Israel, and though the documentation there is quite graphic and disturbing, the voice of the child in Bernie, and the voice of the child on the other side in Fritz, completes a picture that is enlightening, but reveals a picture that no one wants to believe. It seems to me that is often the way people have dealt with this very terrible time, and the authors are very brave to tell this story. I think this book should be required reading for all college students.



4. In a world with a lot of open wounds in need of healing, "An Uncommon Friendship" helps bridge former sins and ongoing roots of bitterness to establish a world pregnant with new beginnings--every day. This book shows that other options are possible beyond the labels of cultural bigotry. When properly understood and appropriated, understanding and forgiveness are seldom far apart in life-giving relationships.

   Recently we came in contact with a person who has such a high disregard for Germans. If only they knew and understood the rich heritage German culture has also given as a gift to the New World of new beginnings.




5. Friendship comes in many forms, and that relationship between Bernie and Fritz, from different sides, Jewish and Christian, of the deep divide of WW2, is a marvelous testimony to "friendship". The only bitter-sweet moment was when I realized that Bernie had given up his religious beliefs in his "americanization". His children were not raised as Jews; another generation lost to the Holocaust, as much as the six million were.
   
   I first saw this book when a seat mate on a flight was reading it. He praised it, so I ordered it. The book was well worth the praise.

3 comments about Great Jewish Men.

1. I think the book was ok, but it left out a very important jewish person. That important person is Albert Einstein. As I finished this book I realized that it did not have Albert Einstein in it. That was very dissapointing. So, in conlusion, I would give this book 3 stars because it left out the amazing Albert Einstein.



2. This book is an excellent book. It covers information about many different men who have played important roles in Judaism, from Abraham to David Ben Gurion. The book is good if you are looking for a 2-3 page biography and certain highlights of a person's career, but could not be used as an only reference for a research project.

   Overall, the Slaters have created a good book documenting important aspects of Jewish history.




3. This work contains biographical portraits of some of the most important figures in Jewish history. The book is written with a clear factual tone, and provides accurate information on the entries. It is a kind of short encyclopedia and I believe an excellent educational tool in the Jewish people's struggle to deal with their own ignorance about themselves and their history.
   I suppose one element of reading such works is a certain ' pride ' if one is Jewish at knowing that one is somehow connected , belongs to the same people as the distinguished person in question.
   I think the authors were wise in choosing people whose actions are generally considered valuable contributions to the Jewish people and mankind as a whole.
   This work should be of real pleasure to anyone who takes interest in Jewish culture and history.

5 comments about The Diary of Anne Frank..

1. Online Reader-
   After having just read this book for an English assiment I have only just now realized how much a War can do to someone.
   I admit to crying throughout the book, and while reading I was heartbroken to hear of all of the misfortune that befell these inocent people. And to think that one man-Hitler-could cause all of this pain and misery made me insanly angry at him, and ashamed for all of those who followed him blindly.
   In this book, and young girl Anne, and her family, as well as another family and Mr. Dussel, (seven people in all) went into hiding from the Nazis for TWO YEARS.
   I feel so sorry for them that having not to breathe fresh air for two years, and to be cramped up with many people for two years, and the end result was being killed by the Nazis. I am so glad, however, that we now have her diary, and realize and know so much more about the Holocaust and all of the people who had to endure it's brutalness.



2. They really should write better item descriptions. This is a play not a novel. Unable to return just wasted a bunch of money.



3. I just received this in the mail to give to my niece and discovered that it is written as a play. The Amazon description does not mention any thing about it being a play. Arggh! Frustrating.



4. Please note that Amazon does provide a box to the right of the selection list of documents that you may use to narrow your search parameters. I was looking for the play, so I chose the "entertainment" option. Also present in the box were "novel", "history" and a number of other options. It's a little confusing to navigate at first, but the more you use Amazon the better you'll understand how it works.



5. I did not get the product I wanted due to a lack of photo. The description did not tell me that the book I was purchasing was in play format. I wish to return the book.

No comments about The Messiah Comes Tomorrow: Tales from the American Shtetl.

No comments about Abraham's Search for God (Bible Series).

1 comments about A Cross and a Star: Memoirs of a Jewish Girl in Chile (The Helen Rose Scheuer Jewish Women's Series).

1. Poets seem to have a knack with memoir. There's alreadysomething very baring about much contemporary poetry that is similarto what many memorably brave and direct memoirs possess. There's also something even more immediate about translation. Works translatedinto English often have a stunning directness, which can owe itself tothe difficulty of effectively bringing the idioms and cadence ofanother language into our own. These tendencies, like any elements ofwriting, can be effective and they can also be overused. InMarjorieAgosin's A CROSS AND A STAR: MEMOIRS OF A JEWISH GIRL INCHILIE, they are both. Luckily, the effectiveness of the writing outweighs the repetitiveness of certain phrases and elements. The brevity of the book, 179 pages which include 30 pages of photographs, serves it well. Agosin is writing in the voice of her mother, so the book becomes a sort of autobiography by association, and as such the stories are simple and powerful. If the book had been any longer, the simplicity of its thematic basis, and the overly-direct style of the translated prose, would have begun working against it. As it is, the collection effectively evokes the beauty and wonder of Chile, the destructive power of hatred in the lives of one family, and the power of people who choose to help, rather than hurt, each other. The tales in the collection span decades, and many have survived only due to oral storytelling traditions by which Agosin's predecessors maintained their connections with each other even in the face of the overwhelming tragedies of the Holocaust. Most evocative are thestories dealing with specifics of lives torn apart by having to leaveeverything behind in order to avoid being taken to concentrationcamps; the details of these stories, the choices made by theseindividuals, are compelling. Agosin's accounts, too, of the mixture ofbeauty, fear, peace and isolation that came from living at thesouthern tip of the world amidst Nazis and natives is fascinating. Theonly places where the narrative falters is in the repetition ofaccounts of verbal abuse which the Agosin's mother endured. Thereare only so many times you can be told that she was called "dirtyJew" or "Christ killer" before those moments have lost their power amid the lush prose and captivating details. One of the most striking aspects of the memoir is the way in which it seems to flow back and forth between pure realism and a kind of "Magic Realism." This is in keeping with the events of the book, taking place at the bottom of the world, as well as the ways in which people can alter their perceptions of reality to deal with incredible adversity. Since the narrator is recalling childhood for the bulk of the book, simple desires are often stated with great grandeur, such as Agosin's mother's wish for the beauty and safety of a Catholic guardian angel. Much of the narrative's power comes from the unaffected wants and needs of a girl growing-up surrounded by a mixture of overwhelming hatred and beauty, societal spurning and familial love. It is a mixture that works well. This book is an effective, and highly readable collection of survival tales that sing of natural beauty and spiritual strength, of the wonder of children and the resolve of adults, and of the incredible value of memory and language.

4 comments about Anne Frank: Life in Hiding.

1. This is another book about Anne Frank that I get the chance to read. Although there are many biographies about this wonderful human being, this book is the closest one that can answer the questions that all Anne Frank fan has. I did for many years just read the Diary over and over but I wanted more! This book is definetly more! It tells you more about the relationship she had with her family and the rest of the people in hiding. This is a girl who could hardly see the light coming from her window and the only green thing that she could think about was a huge chestnut outside the Annex. This book describes this little things that she cherished and that she no longer had....her freedom. She didn't either had freedom of speach inside the Annex due to the critics about her attitude. This book develops more information about why Anne acted like she did and why she had an open opinion about everything. It also gives you a bigger idea of why she didn't like her mother and develops more about her childhood around her family and her friends. I hope all readers that enjoy the Anne Frank writings will enjoy this description about her persona. Is a total different thing to read her diary knowing more about her life and early aspirations. ENJOY!



2. The summary on this book is this is a book about Anne Frank. It tells about her life and her diary. Also it tells about her troubles and her problems. In this book, people are put into concentration camps and poision gas room by the Nazis. If you don't know who the Nazis are, they are a type of group that dosen't like Jews.
   Anne was born in 1856.Anne was very adventrous. She liked to write, so at the age of 13, her mom and dad bought her a diary. Anne was very talkative. Sha always got into trouble.
   Some problems that she faced is hidding.She was hidding from the Nazis. She was hidding with another family and a dentist. Also another problem she faced is physical changes.
   Some ways she solved her problems is by writting in her diary. In her diary she would write about things that were going on in her life. Another way she solved her problem is by hidding. This is a problem solver because if she didn't she would be in a concentration camp.



3. This book is filled with the ups and downs of Anne Frank, how she handles her problems, how life was being Jewish and happy memories of her life. It tells how Anne was a very energetic girl who had fun with friends and was very social. However, it also describes how hard life was for her, being Jewish, going into hiding and being captured and being transported to different concentration camps. Anne was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt Germany. During her time in hiding she kept all her secret thoughts in a diary that her mother and father (Edith and Otto Frank) gave to her the day she turned 13(June 12, 1942). Anne had a very strong bond with her father and sister (Margot) but not as strong with her mother but she still loved her dearly. This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone who is interested about Anne Frank.



4. This book is magical, because it shows you and makes you feel like you are the scene. It made me think how hard it would be to live like a young Jewish girl called Anne Frank living a life with guns being shot and having to move so much.
   I can not imagine living like Anne that can only go to shops that have the Jewish signs, and not much of the stores had them. Anne was very brave to put up with this stuff every day. She is unbelievable, she was a great person. You should read this book because it can give you information and show how lucky we are that we have freedom to go anywhere we want to go.
   I had a lot of fun reading this book and it showed me how lucky I am to be here in the United States. This book also taught me how cruel Hitler was to the Jewish and other people.

5 comments about From A Name to A Number: A Holocaust Survivor's Autobiography.

1. Mr. Wiener possesses many gifts, foremost of which is his ability to connect with people. I have seen him face Junior High School audiences, many to whom he is the first Jewish person they have ever met, and hold them spellbound as he recounts his life with compassion, humor, and wisdom. I have seen him embraced by those same students and their teachers afterward. Reading this book one feels the same connectedness, as he is a wonderful storyteller who can draw readers into his complex past.
   I was most moved by some of the many letters he has received from listeners and readers of all ages which are included in this book. You will experience a profound sense of hope as you read them.



2. Besides the previous comments listed in the other reviews, I would like to add what Alter means to me: He is one of the increasingly rare examples of living history.
   
   Alter is someone from another time and place who is here with us now, reporting first-hand about not only the horrors of war, but about the extreme and unique horrors this war included which surpases other conflicts. Is it possible to fully understand this? No, it takes a survivor's account to show us. And Alter Wiener is with us as a guide into one of the worst times in history.
   
   He is a resource for teaching us and reminding us not to forget. Not to forget, so this doesn't happen again.



3. Alter Wiener's book, "From A Name To A Number" is a message of survival, hope, love and forgiveness. It is a prominent and important work of history that all should read. It not only puts a personal face on the Holocaust, but reveals the horrors of Hitler to the generations who came after the war. I believe this book should be mandatory reading in our school system.



4. Alter Weiner is a very special person and it was a very special book. We "The Bad Girls Book Club" read together and he came with pictures and spoke to our club even though we were quite small. It was a horrifying experience and he tells it without bitterness and even some humor. If ever you want to realize how lucky we are in America and this time period you need to read this book.



5. We had the privilege of having Mr. Alter Wiener visit our elementary school and meet with our 5th and 6th grade students to share his story. His visit culminated a unit of study the children had engaged in to learn about the Holocaust and the reality of hate, bigotry and it's results. Our children were very solemn as they listened to Mr. Wiener's story. Afterwards, many asked questions about his experience and memories these many years later.
   
   Mr. Wiener has written a book of his experiences, losses, and journey through an earth bound hell that every adult should read to be better informed about Hitler's atrocities on mankind. This book presents a story from someone who was there and is written in an honest and comprehensive manner. In his book, Mr. Wiener answers a question for a student who asked, "how is it that you have that constant smile?" Mr. Wiener responded, "My smiling face does not indicate that my heart stopped bleeding. In fact, it has indeed been bleeding for the last sixty-seven years. I am just sending a message to Hitler and to those who had been following his racist ideology that Nazis' plan to stop me breathing at the age of thirteen did not materialize. At the age of eighty, I am still breathing and smiling."
   
   "From a Name to a Number" is appropriate for older students and could easily be part of a high school reading list. It should definitely be one of those books that all freedom loving adults should read.

5 comments about Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood.

1. I really liked this book. A good read about growing up, religion, family and OCD. I just saw that the author has another book, and I'm ordering that one right now! Good read!



2. Jennifer Traig uses a distinctive comic voice throughout this book that makes it very easy to read. The author describes the trials and tribulations of growing up with OCD, and her anecdotes are both poignant and funny. She provides a non-clinical point of view, describing the impact of OCD on her everyday life. I would recommend this book and am looking forward to reading more works by Traig.



3. Intrigued by the excellent art design on the cover of this book, I recently enjoyed stepping into the mind of author Traig as a young girl struggling with a mental disorder amongst other pains of growing up. She writes with a very sardonic tone, which suits the serious subject quite well, making it a fun read instead of a potentially dreary one. The only aspect that seemed slightly out of place was how she didn't really wrap the memoir up with any sense of finality. There was hardly any sense of the author in the present tense, aside from a few mentions of her religious life currently. Perhaps the intent was to create a snapshot of her as an adolescent, but it seems like an abrupt ending to the book regardless. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in reading a sharply written memoir.



4. Is it wrong to fall over laughing when reading a book about a person with severe OCD? If so, I'm in some deep cosmic trouble, because this was hilarious.
   
   "Scenes" aptly describes the book because, as Traig herself makes clear, her battles with the disease were sporadic. Plus, the book has scattered through it various (also very funny) quizzes, proofs, sample SAT questions, and so forth that give insight into the OCD mind. Somehow, Traig helps us find humor in the horror of bloody, chapped hands, anorexia, and hair-pulling. It's almost a hat trick; I'm not sure how she did it.
   
   Traig and her family, as presented in the book, are immensely likable and weather the bizzare with good humor. There are colorful portraits of them as well as of Traig; no member of her immediate family is there as a mere prop to her own story, which is a real strength in the book, something that helps make it more substantial than many of the more "me-centric" memoirs.
   
   Religion plays a heavy part in this memoir, something that many readers may not expect, but it was the key piece of Traig's disorder. I personally found it fascinating to read about, as so many elements of Orthodox Judaism were unfamiliar to me, and, again, I thought it gave the book a good deal of substance. Some readers may be put off by this element of the unfamiliar, while others may find it intriguing (and it certainly makes this book stand out from any other OCD memoir). The book becomes not just a "book about a girl with OCD" but also a more profound look at a girl coming to terms with her identity and faith. And again-- to be able to make all of this side-splittingly funny reveals rare talent indeed!



5. I just finished reading Jennifer Traig's incredibly engaging memoir. Who knew a book about a serious condition- OCD, more specifically srucpulosity- would be so entertaining, yet endearing? I was constantly reading parts of the books outloud to my husband, who was wondering why I was giggling.
   Traig is both a gifted and clever author as she gives us an inside peak into a world of extreme religion and cleanliness.
   The story was captivating, the writing wonderful, and yes, the devil is in the details. If you are considering buying this book, definitely buy it. Put a tissue on your head and read it!!

5 comments about Test of Courage: The Michel Thomas Story.

1. Recently, John Carroll, editor of the Los Angeles Times, made some comments about this book at a symposion at UC Berkeley that in a nutshell give you all the reasons you need not to read this book. He stated:

   "We published a story awhile back, by a very clever reporter named Roy Rivenburg, about a man who published his autobiography. And, if you read the autobiography, you'd be amazed you'd never heard of this man, because he pretty much single-handed won World War II for us. It was a preposterous book, and our review of it was an investigative review. It debunked many of the claims in this book and had some fun doing it, had a few laughs at the author's expense. When you put yourself out in public and make claims that are preposterous, and publish a book on it, you're likely to get a reviewer who will look into that and set the record straight. I'm very proud of that story, we haven't retracted a word of it, we don't intend to because it was true."

   This book is actually a biography (not autobiography) of Michel Thomas by a British writer named Christopoher Robbins. The book is well-written and reads like a thriller, but thanks to some fine investigative reporting by the LA Times we now know that many of the "heroic" exploits of Thomas' life may be more fiction than fact.




2. Being an avid fan of Michel's language teaching methods I was very very disappointed in "The Michel Thomas Story". Whilst Michel's early life and times made very sad reading, I felt that Christopher Robbins book, whilst good in many respects, did not really give an insight into Michel's personality or post-war life. It focused almost entirely on World War 2 and the problems that it bequeathed to Michel.
   
   For instance, Michel leaves Europe after WW2 and pops up in the USA but there is scant mention on how he made a living sufficient to finance and start up his language schools and the book practically ignores his contacts with many well-known people in Hollywood etc. His personal life must have had many more interesting threads than the writer of this biography has chosen to develop.
   
   If Michel himself were to write a biography I am sure that I would then feel that I knew the man behind the name and there is clearly much more of interest to develop in another book.
   
   Every success to Michel - his language teaching methods are simply magic and certainly work, even on me, a non-linguist!



3. This book is loaded with factual errors [in my opinion]. It makes claims about the World War II feats of Michel Thomas that are completely at odds with military records, newspaper articles from that era and other reliable sources.
   
   Some examples:
   
   1. Author Christopher Robbins claims Thomas was an officer in the U.S. Army. In fact, Thomas was a civilian employee, and the L.A. Times, which debunked much of this book, has National Archives military documents from 1946 bearing Thomas' signature over the words "civilian assistant."
   
   2. In the book, Thomas said he was born in Poland. However, for 38 years, he told journalists he was born in France -- and different parts of France at that.
   
   3. Robbins claims Thomas was with the first battalion of U.S. troops as it entered the Dachau concentration camp in April 1945. After the L.A. Times proved otherwise, Thomas tried to backtrack, claiming he never said he was with the battalion, only that he arrived at Dachau sometime the first day. There are two problems with this explanation. First, the introduction to "Test of Courage" states that Thomas verified every fact in the book. Second, Thomas had been claiming he was with the first troops in newspaper articles dating back to the 1950s.
   
   4. The book says Thomas single-handedly discovered and rescued millions of Nazi Party ID cards from destruction at a paper mill near Munich in May 1945. But this version of events is flatly contradicted by October 1945 articles in the New York Times and London Express.
   
   5. Robbins also claims Thomas escaped Gestapo butcher Klaus Barbie. But in 1983, the U.S. Justice Department's chief Nazi hunter called a press conference to denounce Thomas' Klaus Barbie stories. And when Thomas testified at Barbie's 1987 trial, the prosecutor asked the jury to disregard Thomas' testimony, saying it wasn't made in good faith.
   
   Although the book purports to be thoroughly documented, the "evidence" [in my opinion] in it didn't hold up, as several media reports have demonstrated.



4. This book tells an improbable tale which, surprisingly, is entirely true.
   
   The book can be hard to follow chronologically for readers unfamiliar with WWII history, and its style can be a bit hagiographic at times, but the underlying facts of Thomas's life are supported by absolutely solid documentation and statements from Thomas's surviving wartime comrades, who went to bat for him when his bona fides were questioned by an L.A. Times humor columnist after the biography was published.
   
   In 2003, their testimonials were forwarded to the U.S. Army by Arizona Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic New York City Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, along with original military documentation from the National Archives concerning the specific battles in which Thomas participated. The following year the U.S. Army awarded Thomas the Silver Star for his bravery fighting against the Nazis in 1944. In a moving ceremony, Senators Bob Dole and John Warner pinned the medal on Thomas in the shadow of the Atlantic Wall of the newly-dedicated WWII Memorial in Washington, in May 2004. Thomas's family and friends, and several of his wartime comrades stood by, many with tears in their eyes, along with an honor guard of Army Rangers standing at attention. Because Thomas was also a recognized member of the French Resistance, the Ambassador of France, M. Levitte, also attended the ceremony, and saluted Thomas's wartime heroism.
   
   [...]



5. James Bond was a fictionalized glorified version of Ian Fleming's war career, but it's openly fictitious and admittedly entertaining (if shallow). This book has the fiction and the shallowness, but it reflects really poorly on Michel Thomas as a person. I've three primary objections:
   (1) his chauvinism: MT always complains that women outside his family betray him, yet he manipulates them for his own purposes with no second thought (the daughter of the camp commandant for example, must have betrayed him because he refused her offer to rescue him a day before all the prisoners were rounded up, even though he was playing her to help his own survival). This rush to judgment that others have the worst-possible motives also shows in his attitudes towards the Poles, where he claims that Poland had the worst anti-Semitism in Europe (even though his own relations in Lodz were very successful), largely because he didn't think he and his mother were treated well (the worst thing that happened was a cruel joke where neighbors acted like he'd fallen down a well), where not long before the author discusses how his mother had done something socially unacceptable in the period by divorcing twice - so is it anti-Semitism or would a Catholic/Lutheran/etc. woman who divorced twice be treated similarly?
   (2) The nonsense about the Gestapo giving up on torturing him after six or seven hours makes a mockery of the many people who had suffered under the regime for much longer.
   (3) The claim of entering a psychological state making him incapable of feeling pain when he's being tortured - if this is really possible (and keep in mind neither the CIA and KGB could replicate a such feat), then it also makes a mockery of all the people throughout history who have suffered. It's simply that they didn't have MT's strength of character and mind to overcome their pain. Furthermore, if he did figure something like this out, he should have been visiting cancer or burn wards and teaching that to people instead of teaching languages to celebrities.
   
   Skip this book - I'm disappointed that anyone would participate a biography that portrays him as a egomaniacal self-righteous misogynist (MT apparently participated in the writing of it). The way that it's written calls into question all the other claims that MT has made about his war record.