4 comments about Atlas of the Bible (Readers Digest).

1. A valuable addendum to general reference. Excellently presented, as with most Readers Digest products. The ideal companion book to this is the wonderful "THE Autobiography of Jesus of Nazareth and the Missing Years" by Richard G. Patton. Readers digest shows you where the Master walked, Patton shows you exactly who left the footprints!



2. "Atlas of the Bible" is filled with maps aplenty, photographs of archealogical sites, and some cut away illustrations that would make Richard Scary proud. As a reference - particularly for school reports - it's pretty good. It includes people/animals/currency of the bible and a gazeteer in the back (a sort of dictionary with everything from short biographies to a list of books in the bible).

   It's probably a little dry for yonger kids - in part, because the land isn't quite as interesting as the people; and also, because the layout has some pages reading like one very long paragraph (though I'm sure this was done to allow room for more pics, but it's not easy on the eyes).

   It's not as successful as its Reader's Digest companion, "Who's Who in the Bible", but if you hunger for more (particularly the "when" and "where") this makes a good addition. 4 stars for content; -1 for layout.




3. I know there is a tendency to look down one's nose at Reader's Digest products, but this book is a very nice addition to anyone's library, if you can find a used copy floating around. The best feature is the full color maps and photo's - easily some of the best I have ever seen. The four full page maps on pp 44-47 (and reproduced in part throughout the text as smaller detail maps) are particularly impressive and alive with color, although the scale is about 8 miles to the inch, so alot of detail is lost. The text is well written and, as far as I can tell, reasonably accurate, although the lack of sources (other than Biblical citations) is a little annoying.



4. ANOTHER IN READER'S DIGEST'S SEVERAL EXCELLENT BOOKS ON THE BIBLE, THIS ONE PROVIDES A GREAT OVERVIEW OF BOTH THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.PLENTY OF MAPS TAKE THE READER FROM PLACE TO PLACE AS THE EVENTS OF JEWISH HISTORY UNFOLD.THERE ARE ALSO MANY BIOGRAPHIES OF KEY FIGURES THROUGHOUT THE WORK, AS WELL AS AN INDEX AND DESCRIPTION OF TOWNS AND PLACE NAMES MENTIONED THROUGHOUT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. ANOTHER MUST HAVE FOR ANY BIBLICAL LIBRARY.

No comments about Inherit the Truth: A Memoir of Survival and the Holocaust.

4 comments about Tales from a Child of the Enemy.

1. TALES FROM A CHILD OF THE ENEMY by Ursula Duba compels us to realize that the past is a state of mind. She carries us back into her childhood in post-war Germany, and then quietly returns us to the present. There, through our own time, Duba again carries us back, this time further and deeper and into the psyches of those who were witness to the inhumanity of the Third Reich. We realize that the events of another time and another place envelop and profoundly affect the way our present is seen and tolerated by certain individuals, people whom we might very easily know. We come to realize that their struggle, their understanding, and their insights can have profound influence on the world around us. That this is true, especially for those of us who presumed that our realtionship to the events of WWII and the Holocaust were non-existent or at least, very distant, is stunning. We are inescapably drawn into Duba's mind and heart by the deceptively conversational tone of her poems, by her easy description of events and issues which so quickly become as familiar to us as the events in our own lives. The lives of others and the "then" which has impacted so strongly upon them today, becomes a part of our own lives, our own now



2. In reading Duba's book, my first inclination was to be suspect of this German gentile who had the audacity to portray the Jewish experience of the Holocaust, but as I read the sequence of story poems that, like blocks, built a picture of the complex, multi-layered experience of all the participants, I began to soften and ultimately came over to join her in viewing the experience from her vantage point. Duba is brutally honest with herself, requiring me too, to examine my prejudices and stererotypes. Her courage to face herself and to face up to others gave me the encouragement to examine my experience, to face down some of my haunting demons and the manadate to speak out. - Second generation Holocaust survivo



3. This beautifully written gem should be required reading for anyone who feels they understand the Holocaust. Ursula Duba is brutally honest in her portrayal of "civilized" behavior in difficult circumstances. This book will take your conscience on a difficult trip by showing us that we are all responsible for protesting injustices in the world around us.



4. This book belongs on the same shelf as Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Maus: A Survivor's Tale" and "Schindler's List." Duba really gets inside her characters -- victims, perpetrators and those in-between. Her poems will leave lasting impressions and have readers returning to the pages many times.

5 comments about The Night Trilogy: Night / Dawn / The Accident.

1. I thought this was a well written memoir and as hard as it was to read it is something that should be read by every living person. We need to step up and not allow this to happen in any country and it is so sad to see it happening everywhere. When will we learn our lessons?



2. This was one of the most moving book(s) I have ever read. Everyone should read this at some point in their lives



3. I was given the first two stories of the trilogy to read in my Nazi Germany and the Holocaust class this year and found them to be excellently written and very meaningful. With the help of an excellent teacher who posed all the right questions I was allowed to see the full meaning of these two stories.
   
   I wasn't able to read the Accident, as my teacher chose for us to read the Sunflower by Simon Weinsenthal instead, although I do hope to someday.
   
   Night and Dawn are two great stories which should be read by all.



4. Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, for his tireless work in addressing the Holocaust, wrestling with its almost incomprehensible moral questions, and most importantly working to ensure that it never happens again. NIGHT, his memoir of his own experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was perhaps the earliest first-hand account to be widely published. Totally authentic, written in blood and tears, it quite defies criticism. To assign four, five, or even ten stars to it would be an obscenity.
   
   And yet Wiesel followed NIGHT by two very short fictional works, novellas rather than novels, called DAWN and DAY. Clearly he wanted to explore issues that could not be addressed in a factual memoir. And these two later books are fascinating in showing Wiesel's first steps as a novelist, rapidly gaining confidence and skill. In this respect alone, I feel that criticism is indeed germane.
   
   We all know the advice to writers: show, don't tell. You can see Wiesel encountering the issue even in NIGHT, which is a mixture of simply reported facts and personal reflection. When he is simply telling his own story, the facts stand by themselves, and even at this date reveal aspects of the Holocaust that I did not understand: for example, why the Jewish communities did not move more proactively to resist their fate, and details of the social interactions among the camp inmates themselves. Occasionally the personal reflections get in the way of relating events, and yet how else is the author to tackle his loss of faith and feelings of guilt which seem to have been a heavier burden than any physical indignities? Wiesel's answer was to turn to fiction.
   
   In his preface to DAWN, Wiesel makes it clear that the protagonist, Elisha, is not the author himself, although he admits that it easily might have been, had he been sent to Palestine rather than France after his liberation from Buchenwald. The fictional Elisha is recruited by freedom fighters trying to oust the British and form the state of Israel. After taking part in several guerilla actions, he is ordered to execute a hostage, a British army captain, in reprisal for the hanging of a Jew. The whole of this slim volume takes place in the night before the execution, and poses the question of whether a man who has escaped the hands of killers can ever be justified in becoming a killer himself. The theme is clearly important, and once more topical, but I cannot say that it works as a novel. The fictional background is sketchy and seems constructed with the sole purpose of presenting this dilemma. A large section of the book is devoted to Elisha's dialogue with ghosts from this past, which further diminishes reality. After a few pages, Wiesel stops showing Elisha through his deeds and social interactions, and concentrates instead on the moral dilemma in his soul; in novelistic terms, the result is to reduce rather than enhance the character's humanity. The book thus comes over less as a novel than as a parable.
   
   DAY (originally published in English as THE ACCIDENT), Wiesel's second attempt at writing a fictional sequel to NIGHT is altogether more successful. This is partly because its theme is less absolute and more subtle: the difficulty of returning to a full loving life for somebody who has lived so long in the realm of death. His quasi-autobiographical protagonist (Eliezer, but the name is mentioned only once) is a rounded character with much depth. The book follows him as he recovers in a New York hospital from a near-fatal encounter with a taxicab. Although we still hear his inner thoughts, his situation is shown primarily in terms of his very real relationships with others, particularly his lover Kathleen. He has clearly led a varied and somewhat successful life in the dozen years since his liberation, but, though no longer a loner in practical matters, he still retains a huge void in his heart. Wiesel introduces quite a lot of psychological suspense, and has the wisdom not to make the ending too facile; if there is healing to come, it will still be a long process.
   
   I have not (yet) read any of Elie Wiesel's later novels. Judging by the speed with which he ascends the learning-curve as a fiction writer here, I would expect them to be increasingly filled out in human terms -- perhaps even to the point where his Nobel Prize might have awarded as much for Literature as for Peace?



5. This was one bound volume of Wiesel's first three books, which concern the Holocaust, survival, and humanity. Night is Wiesel's personal memoir, which relates his personal story before and during World War II, as he and his father are separated from his mother and sister and interned in a series of concentration camps. Dawn is the story of a member of the movement to free Palestine from British occupation and Day concerns how one could move from a past that consumes one's every thought (or even if one should).
   
   Quote: "Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."
   
   I read Night in high school, and always think of it as being a particularly long book, which it is not. Wiesel manages to pack more than I would think possible into a little over a hundred pages, which relates the story of himself and his family during the Holocaust. It is a beautifully written work that relates a terrible story. I found the story of Wiesel's loss of faith and the relationship he had with his father particularly memorable. If you somehow missed this in high school, pick it up, if you didn't, find it again. It's worth it. Dawn and Day are not as catching as the first work, but are still interesting in their own way.

No comments about The Strassmanns: Science, Politics and Migration in Turbulent Times (1793-1993).

No comments about The Lost Generation: Children in the Holocaust.

1 comments about Heschel, Hasidism and Halakha.

1. This was Rabbi Dresner's final work. It is a moving tribute to his own beloved teacher. It is too a connection of his thought to Hasidism and Halakhah . It is written with great devotion and understanding. A wonderful little book.

1 comments about Journeys/david Toback.

1. When I first picked up this book it was a gimmick because I had the same name. But then I started reading and reading and reading. I just could not put it down. This book is a wonderful description of Jewish life at the turn of last century. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who likes a good book.

3 comments about At the Fire's Center: A STORY OF LOVE AND HOLOCAUST SURVIVAL.

1. Jean Peck has beautifully written the story of how four individuals (two men and two women) who live in Hungary and Poland face and ultimately survive the Holocaust. As their homelands become embroiled in Nazi Germany, they are caught up in the Holocaust. Their survival stories, each very different, are revealed in this book. The book does not stop with the end of the war but lets us watch as they gather the strength to continue their lives after suffering devastating losses. They marry and all four become distinguished doctors. Jean Peck gives a remarkable portrait of four remarkable people. It is an inspiring book, one I highly recommend.



2. The incredibly written account of two couples that survived the trecherous Holocaust to marry and then move to America. The story starts out with all four young adults facing many normal issues until they are faced with prejudices and then changing of the system. When the Nazis take over they are all over whelmed and their lives are forever changed. The novel takes you through everyone's lives as their live through the Holocaust and survive to tell their story. I think that this is the best book that has ever been written about the Holocaust and it so beautifully done that you have to stop and catch your breath at the end. In the end, you feel love and you feel sympathy to the two couples who had to endure such pain. I loved this book and I will read it over and over because it is such a classic.



3. The story of these four people, struggling to survive in the face of tremendous danger reminds us of the evil that humankind is capable of inflicting, but also of the sweetness of triumph and defiance. An excellent first work by the author.

1 comments about Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah.

1. Previously published as "Kinderlager" (1998), "Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah" is the companion book for the PBS special of the same title. In 2001 "Surviving Auschwitz" was named to the Top 10 List of Holocaust Books by the Institute for Higher European Studies in The Hague. For more reviews and comments see "Kinderlager: An Oral History of Young Holocaust Survivors."