3 comments about Clara Lowenburg Moses : Memoir of a Southern Jewish Woman.

1. This was a wonderful book. I hardly knew there were Jews living in the South, especially in 1865! Clara Moses's story was very poignant. Her life had so many fascinating twists and turns. The author does a great job discussing her husband and all his problems. With all she went through in her life, it is a wonder she came out of it so well.

   This is history made fun. I recommend the book to anyone interested in the South.




2. I found this book to be very amateurish and was obviously written by a woman that needs to get her facts straight. I wouldnt doubt if this "Author" was dating the president of the publishing company.



3. Some of the book was interesting but it made me happy when I was finally finished and upset that I had payed $15.00 for it.

2 comments about Pilgrimage from Darkness: Nuremberg to Jerusalem (Willie Morris Book in Memoir and Biography).

1. This is an amazing story of a man who was in the hitler youth, and became an orthodox Jew living in Israel. The story of his journey - spiritual and physical - is incredible. The book is written so that you feel as if you are experiencing the story with Oskar/Asher. Definitely recommended reading!



2. This awakening-to-consciousness journey laid before the reader is rich and enlightening; painting the pictures of lands and beliefs with a full colored brush.
   The true story gives us a look into how Nazi Germany bent and broke both Jewish and Christian people in subtle and shocking ways; ultimately-in the wake of its destruction-sending one young man, whose indoctrination into the Hitler youth estranged him from his own family and the reality of the plight of Jewish countrymen, across nations on a spiritual search for meaning in an exploration of the religions of the world.
   Information and insights on Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity broaden the reader along with this pilgrim.
   The route from conquered Germany through places like impoverished streets of Bombay, a cave in the Himalayas, ashrams in India, sand stormed deserts in Pakistan, Babylonian excavations in Iraq, the Jordanian border to Jerusalem is filled with richly described encounters, hazards and life lessons. Getting from point A to point B is alternately smooth and tense with risks.
   The end leaves one wanting to know more; believing that if peace and reconciliation can be possible for this man, with all his baggage on his search for a meaningful life of peace, then it is more than a nebulous vision for the rest of us with our multi-patterned, cultural valises in tow.
   I recommend this book to everyone- if for no other reason than to garner a glimpse at Oskar/Asher's winding paths and how it is in the daily existence of those who we may never meet, in lands we may only read about or see in snatches of media.
   This author has sensitively and honestly written this insightful biography which shows practical applications for today's journeys to the possibilities of peace between nations and people with myriad belief systems.
   It says so completely that it is not necessary to go down the path of destruction again.
   This would be an excellent book for reading groups/ethical societies where discussion is included.
   My recommendation is: read and share with others.
   You will want to discuss this book!

No comments about On the Way to Feed the Swans.

2 comments about Three Mothers, Three Daughters: Palestinian Women's Stories (Literature of the Middle East).

1. Even this book had been published in 1996 but women still suffer from many society diseases which our two authers try to bring into the surface.
   The book also give us a chance to observe how the Palestiniane women are aware of the whole situation, even the illiterate mothers.
   Authers are too smart to choose these women from different villages and different style of thinking.
   It's a book addresses the foreign reader firstly, who knows little about this society. It is also send a message to all societies to be careful, because these women are not only live in Palestine, but all societies



2. In the United States and around the world the thinking about Israel and Palestines is based on stereotypes, and on the people who "make the news". Much of it feeds fears and de-humanizes people on both sides who are striving to lead normal lives.
   
   Similarly, discussions of women in development tend to forget that women live, work, interact with men - in their families and their communities.
   
   For anyone interested in the real life situations of Palestinians, including women, this is a really wonderful book. Through the stories of 3 pairs of mothers and daughters, the book introduces the reader to experiences in the last 50 years as well as to the current situation.
   
   I visited Palestine (Ramallah only) in November 2005 - and was looking for some introduction to Palestinians and to gender issues. This book was a phenomenal asset. And while I failed to complete the book while I was there, I have eagerly continued reading it - right up to the last page. It is extremely "readable".
   
   I encourage anyone interested in the region, or interested in gender and social change, to read this book. I am buying several copies to give to friends.

No comments about Somewhere a Master: Hasidic Portraits and Legends.

2 comments about From a World Apart: A Little Girl in the Concentration Camps.

1. It is horrible, very real and at the same time beautiful.



2. Francine Christophe's account of her experiences at the French Concentration Camps at Poitiers, Drancy and Beaune-La-Rolande, it is a very interesting book. She tells the story in a very personal way. She leaves nothing out and tells an honest story about her experience in the camps. Her honest writing helped me understand the hardship that a whole group of children survived during War World 2. I would want people to read the book and see what those people went through at those camps.

No comments about Ernestine L. Rose: Women's Rights Pioneer.

2 comments about But Were They Good For The Jews?: Over 150 Historical Figures Viewed from a Jewish Perspective.

1. In his introduction, author Elliot Rosenberg recounts that, after telling his uncle Louis about the exploits of Richard the Lion Hearted, his uncle replied, "Yes, but was he good for the Jews?" Rosenberg, a former history teacher in New York public schools, attempts to answer by studying more than 150 major historical characters, from Alexander the Great through Bill Clinton, in each case delivering a brief summary of their careers and a longer discussion of how their attitudes and actions affected Jews. The reader gets the good (Alexander, Charlemagne, Cromwell, Suleiman, Franz Joseph, Churchill), the bad (Tiberius, Hadrian, St. Louis, Voltaire, Napoleon, the Romanovs) and the in-between, including most of the Western political leaders of the 19th and 20th centuries. This is a prodigious feat of scholarship but is not supported with footnotes. While Rosenberg is admirably succinct in his summaries, he sometimes omits relevant nuances. For example, he counts Harry Truman as "good" because he supported creation of the State of Israel, but neglects to note that Truman originally opposed Israeli statehood as a sop to our tottering British allies, and had his hand forced by the Soviet Union's cynically motivated exploitation of Western indifference to Jewish aspirations. Likewise, he cites Richard Nixon's support of Israel during the Yom Kippur war, but doesn't mention that Nixon and Henry Kissinger deliberately delayed resupplying Israel for several critical days during the early part of the war so that Arab foes could "taste victory"-a decision that cost Israel hundreds, perhaps thousands, of casualties and may have contributed to subsequent Arab diplomatic intransigence.



2. I am not Jewish but nevertheless I read a lot about the Jews and their history. Jews have been around for quite a long time and I for one wish them good luck in the future.
   Because I am interested in history, I am interested in the Jews. This book is great. I use it as a reference book in my writing of biographies. There is a point of view here that is important, pertinent, and enlightening. This is one of those book you can read again and again. There is so much information and the information is "different" because of the books perspective. It is a great book for lovers of history - whether you are Jewish or not.

5 comments about The Last Eyewitnesses: Children of the Holocaust Speak (Jewish Lives).

1. A touching portrait of many Holocaust survivors. Expertly translated by the husband and wife team, the Bussgangs.



2. The 65 personal histories chronicled here represent the scope and variety of experiences Polish child survivors of the Holocaust underwent. They tell of kindness and cruelty, of good luck and bad, of the survival of a complete nuclear family and the survival of one who knows only that he is, by origin, a Jew. Because this these people originally came from all over Poland, they faced persecution by not only the Nazis and their Belarussian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Ukrainian collaborators, but also from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and various other anti-Semitic, anti-Polish groups.

   Most of these chronicles convey the sense of absolute aloneness and isolation their tellers must have felt. However, a number reveal connections among the group of contributors, connections that hint at the scope of the Jewish community that existed in Poland before the Nazis invaded.

   The individual stories are compelling. Their cumulative effect is powerful. They bear witness to the spectrum of human capacity for good and for evil, and, above all, to the twists of fate that meant the difference between death and survival. Accounts of the lingering, ever-present effects of suffering resulting from the events of over 50 years ago serve as reminders that the past is, indeed, never really over.




3. In The Last Eyewitnesses, the editor, Wiktoria Sliwowska, has presented her own testimony of the destruction of Polish Jewry as well as those of her contemporaries. These have been assembled by the Association of the Children of the Holocaust in Poland. The special character of this anthology lies in the fact that these Jews, mostly in their sixties and seventies now, have come together to relate their childhood memories of the Holocaust, when childhood was denied to them. The reader becomes a witness to a unique cathartic experience. The translation of Julian and Fay Bussgang has given the English reader the opportunity to encounter these testimonies, full of the stark details which contradict everything expected from childhood. Primarily, these survivors learned that in their circumstances, it was dangerous to be a Jew. These children spent at least six years of their lives trying to divest themselves of their Jewish identity. They had to change their names, sometimes several times, change their language, in many cases, and learn Catholic prayers and rituals. As one sees by the names listed in the table of contents, many have never really recovered their identities as Jews. The histories provided demonstrate that there can be life after the Holocaust, but there can never be an elimination of its legacy. And this legacy will extend beyond the lives of even these and other last witnesses.



4. In The Last Eyewitnesses, the editor, Wiktoria Sliwowska, has presented her own testimony of the destruction of Polish Jewry as well as those of her contemporaries.These have been assembled by the Association of the Children of the Holocaust in Poland. The special character of this anthology lies in the fact that these Jews, mostly in their sixties and seventies now, have come together to relate their childhood memories of the Holocaust, when childhood was denied to them. The reader becomes a witness to a unique cathartic experience. The translation of Julian and Fay Bussgang has given the English reader the opportunity to encounter these testimonies, full of the stark details which contradict everything expected from childhood. It is chilling to hear of the young who, besides being faced with constant want and privation and witness to violence and brutalization, also have to deal with an immediate and mature realization that their own lives are tenuous and threatened day by day. One individual describes his fear and panic, as he and his sister fled from their pursuers into the woods, as well as the subsequent pain and guilt for having separated from her during their attempted escape. His path led to life, while hers led to death. It is painful to read of children who are clearly aware that in their circumstances, it is dangerous to be a Jew. A new word has entered their Jewish vocabulary, "Action", a raid by Germans and their cohorts to seize Jews for death, either to be killed on the spot or taken to the death camps. One can scarcely imagine living with the ever-present fear of being discovered - afraid of one's dark Jewish appearance, living in cellars or closets, forbidden to approach a window, hiding in the woods. The sad fate of Polish Jewry is revealed in the statement of one teenage girl upon returning home after liberation: "...In my one and only little dress, without a cent to my name, I traveled to where Mama, Dorota, and the rest of the family were sent to the ghetto. Here, after arriving at my destination, I lived through the worst moment of my life. I did not anybody, not a single blessed soul." Not only did they not find many of their loved-ones or any vibrant Jewish community after the War, but they found anti-Semitism still alive, though their families were dead. These children spent at least six years trying to divest themselves of their Jewish identity. They had to change their names, sometimes several times, change their language, in many cases, and learn Catholic prayers and rituals. Many survivors have never returned to their original, Jewish names. As one sees by the names listed in the table of contents, many have never really recovered their identities as Jews. One individual expresses his confusion about whether he is a Jewish-Pole or a Polish-Jew. The histories presented here cover the entire gamut from total alienation from Jewish contacts to strenuous effort to learn about their background and Israel. As one reads the various depositions, one is amazed that any children could have lived through such inimical circumstances. One is amazed at the efforts of courage and sacrifice, love and desperation on the part of these parents to give up their children to strangers in the hope that they might live through the horrible German regime. One is also amazed at the stories of great courage on the part of many Poles in the rescue efforts described. "Antek" Cukierman, hero of the Warsaw Ghetto, has commented that one Pole could betray a hundred hiding Jews, but it took a hundred Poles to save a single Jew. These accounts verify that reality, as does Yad Vashem's recognition of many of them to be included in the ranks of the Righteous Among the Nations. The people who have come forth in the aftermath of the Holocaust to give these accounts of their personal lives and tragedies, as they struggle to define their identities, have gone on to demonstrate that there can be life after the Holocaust, but there can never be an elimination of its legacy.And this legacy will extend beyond the lives of even these and other last witnesses. Abraham Rzepkowicz, Reviewer



5. At times the stories collected in The Last Eyewitnesses just get to you -- the insanity and cruelty of it all. This book should be required reading for everyone. Those interested in Jewish history, Polish history and Holocaust accounts will find this book indispensible. Beyond that, however, this collection appeals to anyone interested in the human condition and the absolute will to survive. An amazing, amazing book.

No comments about Leo Strauss and the Politics of Exile: The Making of a Political Philosopher (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series).