5 comments about The House of Rothschild: Volume 1: Money's Prophets: 1798-1848.

1. Those who already know Niall Ferguson do not need any praise for the books he writes: a few years ago I chanced to read his excellent "The Cash Nexus" and this led me to "The Pity of War" and finally to "The House of Rothschild".
   
   Ferguson is a scholar who loves challenges: not just challenging arguments, but also challenges in the sheer volume of sources and research, and finally challenges to the reader in presenting controversial theses (I think specially of those advanced brilliantly, and contentiously, in "The Pity of War" - see my review if interested).
   
   This last effort is mainly an attempt to unveil the Rothschild mythology, restoring an historically accurate perspective both of the family saga and of the banking and financial European history from 1798 to 1848.
   
   The book is a masterpiece for many reasons: not just story of a family (circumscribed to the male members), not just story of a great banking institution in the past two centuries, but also comprehensive financial history of the first half of XIX century... "a rich and nuanced portrait" as the book leaflet reads - that reveals and hides, but also creates an appealing and fascinated image of those turbulent years.
   So, it can appeal the history buff, and all those readers interested in financial history (and speculative bubbles) as well as those interested in biography and cultural history.
   
   The essay definitely has also - obviously maybe - a literary dimension: because in describing the five brothers Ferguson uses those same "colors" used by contemporaries, a literary dimension that cannot but appeal and enrich the more serious economic investigation: for Nathan the "meteoric" larger than life Napoleon-like image (passion for risk, high stakes on the table and the ruthlessness of a general), for James that richly colored literary portrait (full of mid-tones) we have been used by writers like Balzac, Zola and Stendhal (the mix of secretiveness and candid frankness, detachment and savoir vivre), for the others three brothers the age-old mythologies of Midas and the wandering Jew (specially in the portrait of the German and Austrian branch: they seem consciously prisoners of the Jewish stereotype in their inability to enjoy life and relax).
   
   Every reader interested in the story of the House of Rothschild want to know the why and how a middle class Jewish family confined in the Frankfurt ghetto was able in just one generation to become the richest family in the world.
   Ferguson's study is very good in the pars destruens, that is in taking down and unveiling the old mythologies (like the Waterloo myth, or the Hesse Kassel myth), less good in the pars construens that is substituting a coherent explanation. The surviving accounts are of course too tiny to cast light, and the accounting techniques used by the family in the early days too backward to be critically useful.
   So the impression is that of an unending race over speed limits, a sheer willingness to accept often uncalculated risks and to play for the highest stakes and at the same time an impressive luck (or God's favor) that stuck contemporaries (always expecting the meteoric rise of Nathan to end like the parallel story of Napoleon).
   So was their preeminence produced only by chance?
   Yes and no. Chance - according to Ferguson - played a striking role in the early stages - the building up, but consolidation and enlargement were due to specific attitudes of the family: solidarity between brothers, their informative network, their ability in cultivating diplomacy and - not least - to the fact that the family systematically reinvested in the business about 96percent of the net income produced (unlike - say - the Barings brothers, that in 1816 had almost the same size)
   
   The book will be also hugely helpful to readers interested in European history, casting a different - unusual to most readers - light in the inner mechanism of the early XIX century European politics.
   As for the nature of the Restoration, often liquidated by historians as a narrow and backward attempt to turn back the clock to pre-revolutionary times, Ferguson shows how different in reality was this period from the Ancien Regime and how the seeds of modernity were well present and working: the sheer preference of the banking institution for financing representative-backed monarchies, the consolidation in Jewish emancipation all over Europe, but also the frailty of arch-conservative governments (not just the case of Spain, but also of the Holy Alliance) compared to more pragmatic approaches.
   A rather under-developed theme is the rise of modern anti-Semitism: Ferguson - unlike most scholars - indicates the first traces in France well before the Affaire Dreyfus and hints how the irresistible rise of the Rothschild family (with their devotion to Judaism) was very instrumental in consolidating anti-Jewish mythologies (out of a sense of envy but also perceived in France especially as a alien "evil" power).
   
   As a reader interested also in financial themes, I was truly fascinated by those chapters dedicated to the bond and stock markets, particularly those regarding the default of Spanish and Portuguese consols.
   The Rothschild were the first bankers to export the financial facilities, long enjoyed in Great Britain, to Continental Europe and were decisive in creating a retail market for bonds and stocks.
   But the most interesting part is the one dealing with financial speculation, bubbles and defaults. Most remarkable is the feeling of a déjà vue: if you substitute Spain and Portugal with Argentina, you will observe striking similarities both in price, negotiations and very likely in the final outcome. Nihil sub sole novi, or at least it seems so.
   
   This is a book I greatly enjoyed.
   I cannot but recommend it to every reader interested in serious history.
   That is not to say that it is perfect: I was - as many other reviewers - incensed by the lack of bibliography (shame on Penguin), but on the average it is an outstanding achievement.
   
   Likewise, if you happen to be interested in the argument, you may be interested in other works I chanced to read about the same themes:
   - Muhlstein, Anhka - "James de Rothschild", this is a book I read long time ago, but it was more a biography in the classical way and as far as I remember, I found it rather inconsequential
   - Chancellor, Edward - "The Devil Takes the Hindmost" - a colorful and well-informed essay focusing specially on the XIX century. There are chapters dedicated to defaulting bonds in the XIX century as well as to the railway stocks bubble in the United Kingdom.
   - Conor Cruise O'Brien - "The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism". I have many works dedicated to Sionism and Judaism, but this is the most concise and clear exposition of the birth of anti-Semitism in Western Europe in late XIX century.
   
   You are most welcome if you can suggest other readings or just share ideas and comments!
   Thanks for reading.



2. I have to start out by saying overall I enjoyed the book but I would only rate it as an average book. It is a little too detailed and didn't keep my interest from one chapter to the next. It would have been better if it left out 150 pages or so. I found myself doing a lot of skiming over what I would say was boring filler in the book. You can learn a lot about the type of business that that Rothschilds were in but not a lot of how they went about doing it.
   
   After reading this it seems that the Rothschilds were in the business of making large loans to governments and then packaging these loans as bonds and selling them to the public. They were as much bond and commodity traders as they were bankers, which I found interesting. There are numerous quotes from letters written back and forth between family members that will give you a sense of their personalities. The family history is very detailed so if this is the kind of thing you are interested in then you will probably enjoy the book more then I did.



3. [Also see: Fritz Springmeier's Bloodlines of the
   Illuminati]. Ferguson, who teaches at a Northea-
   stern University in the US, did yeoman work here
   on at least defusing some of conspiracy talk about
   how fools like Bernard Piper-Collins claim Roths-
   childs alledgedly control ALL things.The Rothschilds
   never ran the bank of England, the gentile Baring
   Bros. did. They are however a very corrupt family.
   Author Ferguson did excellent work here.



4. the book had some good pictures, however prof Ferguson not once, but on numerous occasions, claims to refute the story of how Nathan brilliantly deceived the London Stock Exchange players after the battle of Waterloo, earning $40 billion (2007 prices) in one day. A bit jealous I suppose.
   
   Verdict: Ignore the anti-semitic propaganda and the book is worth a look.



5. What has Ferguson not told about the Rothschilds in his seemingly exhaustive two volume set?
   
   He all too facilely dismisses Victor Rothschild's being the fifth man in the World War II Soviet spy ring of Blunt, Burgess, et. al. He does not bring up the 1776 Masonic Illuminati order of Adam Weishaupt with alleged connections to Mayer Amschel. And he dosen't discuss the Rothschilds' connection with Freemasonry at the highest level, and their gift to Israel of the Supreme Court building, a New World Order artifact, heavily laden architecturally with Freemasonry symbolism. Likewise, glaringly absent from note are 19th, 20th, and 21st century Illuminati activities, which the family has been widely thought to be involved with. History Professor Ferguson could fill in his blanks on some vital but shady Rothschild history from Henry Makow, a researcher and writer--and a Jew.
   
   According to an article on Ferguson in Harvard Magazine (May/June '07), he is about to take on biographical writing of Henry Kissinger, at Kissinger's request. This should generate caution. Could Kissinger's "papers" be entirely relied on? Kissinger probably saw what sheen Ferguson could put on the Rothschild's archives as raw material, ignoring or minimising important but dark concerns.
   
   Same question on the Warburg's family papers that he is availing himself of. What will Ferguson tell us about Paul Warburg's role in establishing the egregious Federal Reserve, and Max Warburg financing the Bolshevik revolution?
   
   Let's hope that Ferguson can either put this and other allegations to rest once and for all or illuminate them if true--but now that he's shown his colors with the Rothschilds, I doubt that he will, either way.
   
   It seems that sympathetic academic interest in these elitist families and individuals is inevitable in part because that is where the big bucks for research and publishing would be, especially for a scholar who professes to have, as he says in the Harvard Magazine article, "become a thorough philo-Semite".
   
   Is there a whiff of opportunism here at the expense of objectivity?

5 comments about Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943.

1. I am responding to previous reviews - I do not think this book is about romance, and I did not feel lack of personal "data".
   This is an incredible documentry book that document a time (1943) and place (Berlin). Yes, it is about love story. More so, it is about the human tendency to except the current situation and ignore warning bells, the systematic Nazi optression etc.



2. I liked this book. Some of the pictures, I really wish I could blow up and have as prints in my room. The story gives a lot of insight into that era. The Amazon criticism is that the author really doesn't focus much on the lesbian aspect, instead focusing more on the era, the World War II Jewish persecution, etc. Given the setting and the individuals involved, this seems understandable. I really, really enjoyed this story. The problems and personality flaws of the women aren't glossed over either which is nice.



3. It is a great book about a love affair during the war. I love how it tells about how the continued writing to eachother even when apart. This story will make you cry but is very beautiful in many ways.



4. I enjoyed the film version of "Aimee & Jaguar", but I think the book tells a much deeper story. We get to know the characters on a more profound level: I was especially charmed by the poems both women wrote, especially Jaguar's rhymed comments on her everyday life experiences. The book provides astonishing details about life for Jews who went "underground" in Berlin; somehow, the picture of the slow tightening of the Nazi noose was clearer to me from this book than from the many other works I've read on the period. And Aimee's fate after the war was unexpected--messy, frustrating, and human. A more timid author might have left some of this information out.
   
   I do have a few complaints about Fischer's approach to writing history: I agree with some other reviewers that the story tended to get muddled in the constant mention of unimportant names and dates, and it's difficult to keep track of the minor characters. An index would have helped with this. The author included loads of love letters, which get a little repetitive. I also would have liked to see more photos of Aimee & Jaguar's friends, rather than so many pictures of just the two of them.
   
   I don't have the knowledge to assess how successful Fischer was at capturing lesbian feelings: the love between the characters seemed believable to me, and there was one fairly explicit scene that many historians would not have dared to write, but which I think added to the emotion of the story. I did think it was odd--bordering on irresponsible, for a historian--that Fischer stated in an epilogue that she thought Jaguar would have left Aimee if they had been together longer. This is pure speculation. Though I appreciated Fischer's honest confession of her feelings about Aimee, it might have been fairer to the reader if the author had put this at the beginning of the book. After reading the epilogue, I remembered a number of incidents in the story that portrayed Aimee in a negative light, and I couldn't help but think that Fischer's personal attitude may have colored her telling of those events. For example, when Jaguar is sent to a concentration camp, Aimee tries unsuccessfully to demand her release from the camp authorities. This action is described as "irrational", and one onlooker comments that it may have even harmed Jaguar. But no evidence for this is given--letters from Jaguar after Aimee's visit say nothing about it. Aimee's attempt might just as easily have been described as a sign of her great love for Jaguar, or of her bravery in confronting the Nazis, but instead, a picture is painted of a woman behaving irrationally, a standard sexist stereotype.
   
   I can understand why Fischer was offended that Aimee appropriated Jaguar's Jewish background after the war. I think some of Aimee's attitude might have come from the role of German women in the time that she lived: she would have expected to take on some of the attributes and beliefs of her "husband." Plus, she was disgusted at the system that had robbed her of her lover. And her action can also be looked at in a positive way: one of Aimee's sons became very interested in the Hebrew language, and ended up emigrating to Israel. Is that a bad thing? I thought it was strange that Fischer gave so little credit to Aimee for the risks she took to try and help Jaguar and a number of other Jews. It is true that Aimee was not always on "the good side", and Fischer did some hard work investigating her background. But shouldn't people who learn and change be given some respect?
   
   Fischer closes the book with a description of her own husband's work, which will probably make every reader feel immensely guilty. Again, not something most historians would do, but it is another sign of Fischer's brave, though not always successful, attempts to get to the heart of humanity's struggle with its own dark side.



5. This book is the very first book to ever make me cry, and I'm one of those people who've read all types of genres. It was captivating and compelling. Like many, I saw the movie first, but when I saw it was a true story, I simply had to have the book as well. I am glad I did. The book provided the background and meaning that the movie left out. Because of the book, I will probably have to rewatch the movie again.
   
   The courage, bravery, and love shown in this novel is beyond compare. It's a read worth reading slowly.

4 comments about A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw.

1. To enjoy listening to stories told by grandfather, you don't necessarily have to be a child! As a matter of fact, it is a life virtue to enjoy these stories told by Isaac Bashevis Singer, regardless of age. They are set in the now vanished Hassidic community of pre-II World War, but their moral content transcends time and space, and although they are soaked in Jewishness they equally appeal to the open-minded reader. Beware that out of the seventeen tales in this editon, 14 are included in "My Father's Court," by the same author.



2. This book is a very good read for anyone and everyone that likes to read about foreign culture-- or even if you don't! I usually detest biographies and book reports, but reading this book made it FUN!



3. Singer just has it. These vignettes of his childhood do not have the emotional power of his greatest stories but they are rich with life, insight and humor. And somehow he tells stories even when he is making simple descriptions of his early life. This work too tells the pain and poverty of his childhood and the difficulty of his parents' lives. It is too a tribute to a world - gone .



4. I am Jewish, and I learned a lot from this book. I learned about life in Warsaw, and about the time period around World War I. It shows how that time compares to this, and how much more we have now than back then. Lots of people take electric lights for granted. This book shows what it was like to live through freezing weather, hunger, and stress about war.
   
   I don't exactly like autobiographies, but this one really, really hit the spot!

5 comments about Miriam's Kitchen: A Memoir.

1. Well done, most interesting, all the various recipes, combined with memories from a time long ago. Have enjoyed it immensely.



2. Miriam's kitchen is a thoughtful, interesting, warm and homey memoir. If you are interested in material culture -- particularly food -- of various groups, you'll find it interesting. It's also a story about balancing identities -- Jewish, American, feminist, traditionalist, etc.



3. Elizabeth Ehrlich is a Jewish American woman who rejected, for many years, her connection to the practices of her Jewish faith. It is only through her discovery of her mother-in-law Miriam's kitchen and the foods prepared there that she learns to value the traditions that shaped her own family, traditions brought from the Old World and translated into the New. Through entries in her journal, through letters, memories, stories, and above all, through Miriam's recipes, Ehrlich recreates for us the story of her spiritual awakening and her self-guided journey into the lives of her foremothers, who nourished their faith and kept it alive and growing in difficult times, difficult places, through pain, separation, and even despair.
   
   This often funny, often heart-rending, always beautifully-evocative book is a powerful testimony to the importance of women's domestic contributions to the survival of their families, their communities, and their faith.
   
   Susan Wittig Albert
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   www.storycirclebookreviews.org



4. I read this many years ago. I love the stories that the author tells about her life and her family as related to food and Jewish tradition. I could relate. The recipies provided in the book are delicious. I am keeping the book as a reference.



5. This book and the reciepies are a must have for any Jewish household. Fantastic story of family history and wonderful receipies from Russian Jewish past. The egg salad is absolutely fantastic!!!

5 comments about Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror (Vintage).

1. When this book originally came out in 2006, its title was: Prisoners-A Muslim and a Jew across the Middle East Divide. When I received the book to review it had a new title: Prisoners-A Story of Friendship and Terror. I found this very interesting because the new title seemed more hopeful, a strong message woven throughout this book.
   
   Jeffrey Goldberg is the Washington correspondent of The New Yorker. Until recently, he served as the magazine's Middle East correspondent. Before joining The New Yorker in 2000, Goldberg covered the Middle East and Africa for The New York Times Magazine. He is also a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces.
   
   Prisoners is a memoir of his time in the Israeli Army. In 1990, during the first Palestinian uprising, Goldberg served as a prison guard in the largest prison in Israel. He decided early in his service that he would talk to the Palestinian prisoners, mostly out of curiosity but also because he thought it was possible to be friends with them. Rafiq, the prisoner and Fatah activist that he spent the most time with, was as he describes, "a bookish kind of guy who had some ironic distance from the essential absurdities of prison life." Despite their extreme differences, they began a dialogue in the prison that grew into an astonishing friendship--and now a remarkable book.
   
   Goldberg brings real faces to the war on both sides of the conflict, something we don't always get when reading about this topic. He believes this book is meant for anyone who is mystified by the issues in the Middle East. He hopes that, through this memoir he will explain to all sorts of readers why the Middle East is such a puzzling and troubling place.
   
   The message of his book is that it is not impossible--it is terribly difficult, but not impossible--to build a friendship with your enemy. Rafiq said it best: "If a million people in the Middle East could have the sort of friendship we have created--a tenuous, fraught friendship, but a friendship nonetheless--than the Middle East might become a better place." We can only hope.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: A thought-provoking story.



2. This is a very well written book that grips you from the start and makes you want to keep reading to find out "what happened next" in the manner of successful fiction. The events outlined display a considerable amount of courage on the part of Goldberg, who stayed a few weeks in a Pakistani Madrasa, and repeatedly entered the Gaza strip and was alone among what were, officially, his enemies.
   
   While the author's need to see signs of hope as to the future of the Israeli-Palestinian situation via his friendship with his former Palestinian prisoner "Rafik" is constant throughout the book, many of the questions Goldberg raises throughout his journeys are destined to dead-ends because they are based on a perspective that has been subject to a considerable amount of editing. And, as the nature of any quest goes, if you don't ask the right questions, you don't get the right answers.
   
   Whereas the author's pursuit of these signs of hope, even in hostile territory, is admirable, his premise is not as impassive as the synopsis of the book wants us to believe; It tells us that, as a prison guard, Goldberg "realized that his prisoners were the future leaders of Palestine", hence "this was a unique opportunity to learn from them about themselves", but, when you get to that part of the book, Goldberg tells you that one of his tasks in prison (as a member of the military police) was to confiscate any and all signs of Palestinian national aspirations (flags, rocks in the shape of Israel, national songs). These were the pre-Oslo days, when a "Palestinian state" was unacceptable to Israel. And while Goldberg was genuinely curious about understanding his prisoners, he did not think they'd be "future leaders" of any state, as confiscating any signs of such aspirations testifies. It is very interesting to note how taking such liberties in shuffling around elements of the time-line for the sake of a stronger pitch in the synopsis mirrors what happened with the larger picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
   
   One of the questions the reader is inevitably lead to upon reading Goldberg's accounts of such confiscations in prison is:
   
   What drives one people to try and confiscate all signs of the identity of another people? Or, more accurately:
   
   How can a people base the security of their identity upon the elimination of that of another?
   
   In Goldberg's latest account of the conflict covering the last few years, he presents it more as one that has its origins in religious intolerance and Muslim extremism. It is ironic that Goldberg quotes Israeli writer "Amos Oz" at some point in his narrative, because it was precisely Oz that repeated that this was not a religious conflict, but a real estate one. While the rise of militant fanaticism in the Muslim world is an undeniable fact of considerable threat to many countries, recasting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being caused by religious pathos is, again, a reshuffling of the story for the sake of a stronger pitch.
   
   Anyone who is interested in knowing more about what is going on in that unfortunate part of the world could benefit from the account of "Susan Nathan", a British Jewess who lived in an Arab village in Israel, in her book, "The Other Side of Israel", or "Emma Williams", a British doctor who lived and worked in Jerusalem, in her book "It's easier to reach Heaven than the end of the street, a Jerusalem memoir". Both provide some parts of the picture that were edited out of Goldberg's story, courageous as he may be.
   
   Some questions open doors to other questions that may well be very different from the ones the author intended, but which are the only ones that could bring the reader closer to an understanding of the real story.



3. This is a must for anyone Jew, Muslim gentile (like me) who despairs at the Israeli/Palestinian problem to be confirmed in the view that there are people of good will on both sides where common humanity exists but unfortunately frustrated by those in power who believe that force is the only way forward



4. What a fantastic book.
   
   Jeff Goldberg takes us through his life's journey from an aspiring child zionist to his time as an Israeli military police officer, his return to America for life as a journalist, and his return to Gaza and other cities in Palestine where he tries to reconnect with many of the prisoners he watched over during his time as a "shoter" (policemen) in the prisons
   
   Without telling too much of the outcome, I will say that the many experiences are thrilling, very telling of the situations, and seldom experienced by anyone. It is very rare to find someone trying to find a prisoner he once watched over so that he can open his home to that person. This will open up a whole new set of experiences and ideas for Goldberg.
   
   What drives Goldberg to do this? Maybe it was his desire to end his own personal conflict with the course of middle eastern politics. Maybe it was his apologetic retribution for being a police officer in a palestinian prison. Maybe it was his want to show the Palestinian people that the Israelis are prisoners too, to the hostility that is perpetuated by suicide bombings. Maybe he thought he could end the conflict by reaching out.
   
   After reading the book, all the complexities and truths that exist within this conflict become more clear. The perspective he brings is fascinating and worth being read by anybody who has a care about the situation in Israel/Palestine.



5. most Middle East books are either boring or predictable. Prisoners is neither. It's written with humor and pathos by a reporter/journalist with a long histroy of covering the Jewish/Arab confict. Goldberg has written for Rolling Stone, the New Yorker and now the Atlantic. He's spent a lot of time on the ground in the middle east. This book tells his story in an engaging and informative way. If you want to be entertained and learn more about this 2000 year old conflict, this is a great book to read.

5 comments about No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War.

1. Casey Anderson
   Book Review
   
   The sad and hard story of Anita, she lived in Poland. To start off the sadness in the beginning Anita her brother and the rest of the family were almost caught by the Nazi's buy they hid, they were sadly robbed of almost all there possessions. They had finally had to leave there house and go to the ghetto. They say, "The word ghetto was only a word to them", I think that means that they had never thought of leaving and going into the ghetto, it was like shock. They try to convert into Catholics by their first communion but it was said back then that a Jews sin is far worse than a Catholics. This was bad and times were getting tighter (the Germans were catching on to them).They were finally captured and taken to a camp where they had to work with low food and march a lot. They stayed there for many years and started to lose there hopes especially when there niania (there nanny) died after being
   beaten. Luckily though out of all of the thousands of people were caught many Red Cross busses had come to take them away from the Nazi's and into Sweden. But now she has moved to America and when somebody asked where she's from she will always say, "I am an American and proud of it". This book was very well written but didn't have to much detail on the backgrounds of there lives.



2. Imagine playing hide-and seek, but you are hiding from the German Nazis because you are illegal. Every time they get close to you, a new hiding spot must be found, or your life will be put on the line. During the Holocaust, young Hanusiu played by these rules everyday. Told from a child's point of view, No Pretty Pictures is the memoir of Anita Lobel, earlier called Hanusiu, and her journey through the secrets, tears, and sacrifices of the Holocaust. Ms. Lobel did an amazing job describing everything that happened to her in those fatal years. One part that held excruciating description was when Hanusiu was forced into her first Concentration Camp. I felt as though I was walking into the camp alongside Hanusiu. The other prisoners, barracks, nervousness, and overall feeling of pain were expressed in a way that I cannot believe was seen through a child's eyes. Another major event that took place was when Hanusiu was diagnosed with tuberculosis after she had been rescued. She was forced to stay in a sanatorium for about a year and a half to cure the chronic disease. I could feel her hope and insecurities as each day passed, knowing that she might never get out. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a clear picture of what happened during the Holocaust, supported with lots of description, and seen through a true survivor's eyes.



3. Imagine playing hide-and seek, but you are hiding from the German Nazis because you are illegal. Every time they get close to you, a new hiding spot must be found, or your life will be put on the line. During the Holocaust, young Hanusiu played by these rules everyday. Told from a child's point of view, No Pretty Pictures is the memoir of Anita Lobel, earlier called Hanusiu, and her journey through the secrets, tears, and sacrifices of the Holocaust. Ms. Lobel did an amazing job describing everything that happened to her in those fatal years. One part that held excruciating description was when Hanusiu was forced into her first Concentration Camp. I felt as though I was walking into the camp alongside Hanusiu. The other prisoners, barracks, nervousness, and overall feeling of pain were expressed in a way that I cannot believe was seen through a child's eyes. Another major event that took place was when Hanusiu was diagnosed with tuberculosis after she had been rescued. She was forced to stay in a sanatorium for about a year and a half to cure the chronic disease. I could feel her hope and insecurities as each day passed, knowing that she might never get out. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a clear picture of what happened during the Holocaust, supported with lots of description, and seen through a true survivor's eyes.



4. This book is a tragic adventure. Anita Lobel recalls the arrival of the Nazis and the end of her childhood as she knew it. I was thankful this book was a fast read, the suspense of what would happen to Lobel and her brother was too much at times. The writing is beautiful and appropriate for young readers as well as adults. Beautiful photos.



5. Born into a comfortable home in Krakow, Poland during the 1930s, Hanusia finds her childhood abruptly ripped from her at age five, when she must flee from the Nazis simply because she is a Jew. Hanusia's father left in the middle of the night, and no one has heard from him since; while her mother is trying to maintain a job under false papers. Young Hanusia's only got her brother, two years younger, and her beloved nanny, Niania.
   
   When leaving the city for the countryside stops being a refuge for the children, Niania decides to take them to the remote village where she grew up. Thus, the next few years are spent, wandering the countryside to barter for food and struggling to survive day to day.
   
   Eventually, the children's luck runs out. Hanusia is ten and her brother eight when they are taken on a Nazi transport to a concentration camp. Yet despite the horrors, something or someone continues to look out for them -- and Hanusia, who has long considered herself partially Catholic, thanks to Niania's influence -- couldn't really say which faith is keeping her alive.
   
   After the war, Hanusia's tuberculosis lands her in Sweden, a beautiful land of plenty where she and her brother are eventually reunited with their parents and given a chance for a new life. Yet how does a person get past such horrors, especially when she scarcely remembers what it was like to live otherwise? How does a person even begin to live again with parents she scarcely remembers?
   
   Throughout this book, Lobel's voice is simple, clearly that of the child she was -- no matter what obstacles tried to take that from her. She states things as she sees them, and at no point does she appear to feel sorry for herself. Instead, young Hanusia is an inspiration to us all.

5 comments about The House of Rothschild: Volume 2: The World's Banker: 1849-1999.

1. Ferguson insults the purchaser of the Penguin Paperback by omitting the bibliography and only providing sketchy footnotes. "Serious scholars" who desire these items are advised to buy the Harcover edition. Other than that, it is a good read



2. I agree with one of the critics that the book had many facts and details that broke up the pace of the book for me. Ferguson presumes that the reader knows a fair amount about bonds, consuls and other financial mechanisms. He would have done well to slow down a bit and explain a few of the terms and concepts. And I think that Ferguson tells an utterly superficial and innocuous history of the Family. Long awkward sentences make for labored reading. That having been said, this was no doubt a delicate and ambitious undertaking.



3. This book was just way too detailed for me. It contains lots of facts and figures about biz transactions but it is just too much. It was to the point of who cares? Niall Ferguson really did his home work as far as that is concerned but it made the book boring. To me it felt like it was written by an accountant. It is the story behind the facts and figures and how they came about which make for interesting reading. But I have to give him credit for the time he spent putting this book together is unimaginable.
   
   Having said that I would have enjoyed it more if it had some stories where they made 1.2 million on this deal or lost 500,000 on that deal but it wasn't there. Just an accounting at the end of the year saying this was what they had at the end. No exciting stories like the robber barons trying to take over a railroad or JP Morgan putting together large trust deals in the US. Although chapter 11, which tells of the Rothschild involvement with mining and Cecil Rohdes and De Beers was very interesting and by far the the best chapter in the book, although it was not enough for me to give it a better rating. But that chapter for me made the book.
   
   I skimmed more of this book then I did the first one. There are a few more interesting stories in here but not enough to really keep you interested. If you like well written interesting biographies this is probably not for you.



4. A very complete book, a mine of facts but the author was unable to sort what is important from miscellaneous. The mix of general european history, business history and family events is by moments as indigestible as porridge por a non-scot.



5. What has Ferguson not told about the Rothschilds in this second volume of his seemingly exhaustive two volume set?
   
   He all too facilely dismisses Victor Rothschild's being the fifth man in the World War II Soviet spy ring of Blunt, Burgess, et. al. He dosen't discuss the Rothschilds' connection with Freemasonry at the highest level, and their gift to Israel of the Supreme Court building, a New World Order artifact, heavily laden architecturally with Freemasonry symbolism. Likewise, glaringly absent from note are Illuminati activities, which the family has been widely thought to be involved with. History Professor Ferguson could fill in his blanks on some vital but shady Rothschild history from Henry Makow, a researcher and writer--and a Jew.
   
   According to an article on Ferguson in Harvard Magazine (May/June '07), he is about to take on biographical writing of Henry Kissinger, at Kissinger's request. This should generate caution. Could Kissinger's "papers" be entirely relied on? Kissinger probably saw what sheen Ferguson could put on the Rothschild's archives as raw material, ignoring or minimising important but dark concerns.
   
   Same question on the Warburg's family papers that he is availing himself of. What will Ferguson tell us about Paul Warburg's role in establishing the egregious Federal Reserve, and Max Warburg financing the Bolshevik revolution?
   
   Let's hope that Ferguson can either put this and other allegations to rest once and for all or illuminate them if true--but now that he's shown his colors with the Rothschilds, I doubt that he will, either way.
   
   It seems that sympathetic academic interest in these elitist families and individuals is inevitable in part because that is where the big bucks for research and publishing would be, especially for a scholar who professes to have, as he says in the Harvard Magazine article, "become a thorough philo-Semite".
   
   Is there a whiff of opportunism here at the expense of objectivity?

No comments about Jews and American Comics: An Illustrated History of an American Art Form.

5 comments about The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers.

1. I put this book down a few times--when I fell asleep reading it. I really wanted to like this book. I got it on special order from my bookstore. The story is just not alive. The book is totally without humor. The characters who appear as neighbors in the book are hard to differentiate. The dialogue is wooden. Events seem to live in a timeless, de-natured way in the author's memory. They do not unfold in the book. There is a lack of energy about the whole thing. It is just not very interesting. The book is in no way like Angela's Ashes. If Harry Bernstein had been sixty-six instead of ninety-six would this book have been published based on its merits? I am sure it would not have been.



2. This is one of the best books I have read in the past twelve months.
   I wish I knew the author. His portrayal of Jewish life in a small towin in England in the early 20th century is riviting. I think that one of the things that really appealed to me was his homage to his wife, and how his sadness at her passing served as an inspiration to move on and write this. I am looing forward to his sequel.



3. So far am and about 1/4 through the book - dull and boring - but I'll stick with it. Anne Magnolia



4. I received this as a Christmas present. The basic premise is that that author (writing this in his 90's) grew up in sort of a working-class ghetto in England, a mill town. His street was literally divided by half, one side Jewish and one side Christian. Bernstein's story begins before WWI and describes the cautious ways in which the two sides mixed or ostracized in a cautious dance. His drunken father never left enough money for the kind mother and her kids, so mom is forced to forage for spoiled vegetables which she then cleans up and sells from her home. This "store" becomes a communal hearth for the Jewish women, but all is torn asunder when Harry's bright sister marries the Christian across the way. A family gathering for the couple after they have a baby brings the two sides somewhat together. Very reminiscent of Angela's Ashes . . .



5. I read this book in two days, only because I had to sleep sometime, otherwise I might have done it in one day. I then gave it to my mother, who is 84 years old, and she read it in two days as well. The way the author writes of such difficult circumstances in which he grew up, in such a simple and all-accepting way, is so pure and innocent that it speaks perfectly of the way a child sees his world. The author is not a newcomer on the scene, but I wish I had a lifetime of novels written by him, because his writing is that good. For anyone who loves a really good story without phony embellishment or unnecessary prose, this is a must read. It is just a remarkable book, and I cannot wait to read the next and the next and the next.

5 comments about Rachel Calof's Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains.

1. On finishing Rachel Calof's autobiography, the reader should spontaneously count his blessings, regardless of current circumstance. Virtually forced to enter a marriage arranged in her Russian homeland, Calof survives a brutal pioneer existence on the featureless prairie near Devils Lake, North Dakota while bearing child after child.

   The brief memoir could easily be assigned to high school or college students. A short afterward by the translator, Calof's youngest son, completes her story, and an essay by the editor, J. Sanford Rikoon, sets the experience of Jewish pioneers in North Dakota in historical perspective. The other academic essay included is of no value.




2. Written later in life by an immigrant to the sparsely populated Northern Plains, this true story of a life of hardship, and at times, bare survival, depicts the daily grind of this non-stereotypical woman and her family. Only a small percentage of Jewish immigrants engaged in agriculture atall, because they were not allowed to be land owners in their 'old country.' That fact, and the hardships that they encountered here, in a harsh climate, are a testament to the courage, hope, and stamina of these early settlers.



3. This is a short account by Rachel Bella Calof of her childhood in Russia, her emigration to America for an arranged marriage, and much of her adult life homesteading in North Dakota. The account is succinct and yet tells volumes about her life and the hardships she endured with only her superstitious mother-in-law and other family members for support. Woven into the tale of endurance is the additional interest of how the Calof clan maintained their Jewish culture and heritage in the face of the early years of starvation and illness. The bulk of Rachel Bella's narrative focuses on her life with her husband Abe farming on the prairie and as a primary historical document, it is of major interest. Following the narrative is an epilogue by the youngest of Calof's nine children and then two academic essays to place her story in a larger context. While I enjoyed her story, the academic gobbeldy-gook was well nie worthless (and one of them entertainingly states "And the cost of the experiment was especially high for families in which parents lost children because of a lack of rudimentary medical attention..." Hmmm. And I'd always thought a lack of rudimentary care was a good thing!). Rachel Bella Calof's story didn't need placement in a larger framework to be moving and interesting. If you read this one, I recommend skipping the final two essays.



4. This book was an eye opener for me. To begin with, I did not know that there had been Jewish homesteaders, and, in general, did not know anything about the lives of these pioneers, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
   
   Second, the writing style of this woman brings the reader deeply into their time. It is a sensitive, intelligent, articulate expression of their lives, and it is even more remarkable considering that she was a woman without any formal education.
   
   I bought several copies and have been handing them to my friends who, in
   turn, pass them on to their friends.



5. I was required to read this memoir for a U.S. History class and enjoyed it immensely. It was a short easy read, but you really can feel for Rachel Calof in her detailed descriptions of the harsh life on the Northern Plains. I was a bit dissapointed in the shortness of this memoir, but given the writers nature, readers can be greatful that they got this much.