No comments about The Rishonim (ArtScroll Judaiscope series).

No comments about The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov: Studies in Hasidism.

1 comments about Drama and the World of Richard Wagner.

1. Dieter Borchmeyer, a professor at Heidelberg, is prodigiously well read. How can the man have a life outside of books? (But his website shows that he does.) For each of the fourteen chapters of this book, Borchmeyer settles on a theme, sometimes a tangential one, but a theme. Whether it's a literary source that we've overlooked or the antithetical attitudes of Wagner and Ludwig on religion vs. art, the subject at hand is fairly tight. This is not a book, then, with a clear thesis, and it suffers a bit from that. Moreover it is uneven: to this reader some of the subjects Borchmeyer chooses simply lack much interest. On the other hand, his chapter on the Ring is one of the most insightful I've ever read. So here's what I'd suggest: by all means read it, but with some judicious skimming.

No comments about Triple Exposure: Black, Jewish and Red in the 1950s.

1 comments about A Friend Called Anne.

1. Her name shall never be forgotten, for she told a story through her diary with such delicate words. She perished before she could live the fame she always dreamed of, changing the world without knowing she did so. Anne Frank has been known internationally because of her desire to keep a record of everything that happened to her during the time she lived. In A Friend Called Anne, Jacqueline Van Maarsen tells of her friendship with Anne ever since they met in Nazi-invaded Amsterdam. They watched together as their lives were slowly changing in ways that they didn't like but were powerless to prevent. When they met for the first time, they quickly became inseparable. This was until the day Anne and her family went into hiding to escape deportation to the Nazi concentration camps. Jacqueline describes the feeling of narrowly escaping deportation during the Holocaust and the tragedy of Anne's so sudden death. Although the book was presented well, the characters were lifeless which made this memoir tedious and unexciting.
   
   A Friend Called Anne has a plot that is neither appealing nor exciting. I found the book itself slow and difficult to understand. I was amazed at the fact that the novel was a true story but disappointed in the writing itself. The author didn't give a great amount of details, therefore making the background information unclear and confusing. I am aware that the Holocaust was an extremely devastating time period and Jacqueline Van Maarson does not express such a feeling of tragedy in great detail. Without the specific details and descriptions of personalities, feelings and settings, the biography was lacking in many ways. Although it was quite a good example of the true meaning of friendship and a special one at that, I would have liked to hear more about the Anne and Jacqueline's childhood friendship before the Nazi's took over. If the author had really gone into to depth about the troubles and whereabouts of Anne's family, the storyline could possibly be strengthened. Towards the end, Jacqueline learned that Anne had been in hiding with the rest of her family for quite some time. I would have liked it much better if the author switched back and forth between Jacqueline's tale and Anne's tale at that point. Instead, she focused mainly on Jacqueline whose tale was quite flat and uneventful. In the final portion of the book, I wanted to hear about Anne and her sister Margot captured in the Bergen-Belsen camp, where they were sent from Auschwitz. However, I enjoyed hearing Jacqueline's feelings after hearing of Anne's death. As she revisited Anne's hiding spot when times were worst, she spotted picture of her and Anne as young children and told Mr. Frank, "Looking at the pictures on the fading wallpaper of Anne's room in the secret annex was like looking at ghosts." But overall, I was disappointed in the book because I know how exciting Anne Frank's experience was and it did not portray appealing and exciting stories I was hoping for.
   
   I found the biography dull and depressing purely because the emotionless characters and lack of details. The author poorly presents the relationships between people and places. Nothing about the book amused me in any way, and in my opinion, that is my definition of a boring story.

3 comments about The Blood Tattoo.

1. This book is the story of a young lady, that survived the Holocaust. With her mother and one out of three brothers she survived. Her mother would have been died if it worent for a Jewish Kopo who keep the secret of a her surviving mother. I personally experienced the story of this strong at heart lady, she visited my school as a volunteer Holocaust survivor.



2. Okay, Okay...you'll say I'm biased because it tells my Aunt's story and how she survived together with my most loving grandmother after removal from their home, imprisonment in a ghetto, and then the train deportation to Auschwitz. I have loaned my copy to so many people and each person returns it to me stunned. It is truly a gripping story and you will know my aunt through this book--she will touch you too. Please buy it, read it and then loan it to someone who wants or needs to learn more about modern man's greatest atrocity.



3. I am from the UK and have had great priveledge in meeting Ebi and becoming a friend to her. She has been my inspiration in devloping my knowledge on the Holocaust. Her book evokes all the emotions one can imagine. She has written from the heart and when one reads her book one can anly imagine what she and her family were going through. A must read. Thankyou Ebi for sharing your story with us, I know it must have been a harrowing experience when you wrote this but I am so glad you did.

4 comments about The Cartographer ~ 1492 (Boomer Book Series).

1. This historical fiction novel is set in ancient Spain during the time of the Inquisition and the dark ages, one Don Jacob Duponte (fictional) was falling in love and enjoying his career and travels as a cartographer. Unbeknownst to him, someone called him a heretic and in those days, that is all it took to have someone thrown into a torture chamber or worse all in the name of the Inquisition.
   
   Don Jacob was rescued because of his talents as a cartographer by the explorer Christopher Columbus, who at the time of their meeting was still trying to get Queen Isabella of Spain to finance a journey across the Atlantic.
   
   Thrown then into intrique and a secret world where one's personal spirituality had to be kept hidden for fear of the Inquisition, Don Jacob found himself protecting secret Jews; Jewish people who had to keep their faith and their heritage totally secret.
   
   The adventure unfolds right from the pages of Columbus' own journal - with these amazing characters woven in.
   
   This novel takes the reader aboard the Santa Maria to experience the superstition of the crew and the hope of the man in charge. It takes the reader to the shores of the new world where they were warmly greeted and told of vast treasures.
   
   Then sailing back across the sea, through storms that should have killed all on board.
   
   The writing is exquisite. The adventure is captivating. The story is based on fact. The humanity of these explorers and their loved ones is compelling!



2. On the pages of this book unfolds an adventure where the characters are crisp, real and well defined and in the case of Christopher Colombus - legendary.
   
   In the history books, we learn mostly of the voyage itself, but not too much attention played out on what was happening culturally around the events. The Inquisition and persecution of Christians was constant. This historical novel is based upon Christopher Colombus' private journal.
   
   Reading between the lines of the journal, the author Othniel Seiden sees a pattern of spiritual practice that has never been discussed about Columbus and one that might shed a new and deeper dimension on this historical figure and the times he lived in.
   
   It was a great read and a fascinating subject!



3. Maybe because also in 1492 - There was the Spanish Inquisition, Christians burning at the stake, Moslems and Jews being expelled from their homelands in Spain.
   
   No history book ever mentioned Columbus' spirituality - why? Was he hiding a secret that the world is just now discovering? This historical fiction begs that question... using his private journal and understanding the political environment he was forced to deal in, author Othniel Seiden paints a picture of intrigue surrounding Christopher Colombus as has never been seen before...



4. As an historical fiction buff, I'm glad to see someone is writing good historical novels. I hope Mr. Seiden continues along the path of this book with meticulous research and weaving in a love story, intrigue, adventure and of course, historical events. I can hardly wait to read his next masterpiece.
   
   The first Columbus voyage was described so clearly, you really felt like you were there and gratefully so, because the struggle to just get the ships was so trying. This gives the reader a perspective into Columbus that doesn't exist in the history books - perhaps because it is too controversial. Who cares - I loved it!!! You will too. Great book!

5 comments about The Diary of Anne Frank (Critical Edition) (Critical Editions).

1. I'm glad someone decided to provide an uncensored version of Anne Frank's diary in English. This book contains English translations of three versions of Anne Frank's diaries, printed in such a way as to make it easier to compare them than if they had been printed back to back or in separate volumes. One version is Anne's fictionalized version. One is the, censored version as it was introduced to the Puritanical United States. The unabridged version is excellent, but not for prudes. Anne Frank was apparently bisexual, as well as a young woman of great intellect, insight and literary talent! I was amazed at how well I was able to relate to her, even though she was of another gender, born into a different race, raised on a different continent (Europe), about a quarter of a century before me! Thanks to this book, I fell in love with her!



2. I love this book, because it make me understand that all three versions of the diary that know Anne wrote her original diaries,two notebooks and 324 loose sheet while she was hiding.

   Anne did write alot about her friends, sexual feeelings, and fighting between her and her mother. The second one is missing,so she did finish the rewrite on loose sheet which is version B that the dated from December 7, 1942 to December 22, 1943. The last page of the rewrite on loose sheet on March 29,1994 about listening the radio broadcasting the Duth Exile from london that collected the daries and letters that people want to read then after the war. Anne did all the rewrite, but she never finished sadly, on August 4, 1944 the day of the arrest the nazi interupted her. She is a great writer of all times. I'm very obessed Anne Frank, because she is so smart!.

   Anyone want to about Anne's life was Melissa Muller's Biography "Anne Frank" This is a great book!




3. I really didnt know much about Anne Frank and the Holocaust until my seventh grade year. But once i learned about it i developed an interest in it. It was a sad SAD thing to study but it is life which i want to learn more about and it is history which i love to study. Anne Frank was the most interesting person that i studied about in the Holocaust. Read the book and find out just how interesting she was!!!!



4. I am going to tell you about the best book I have ever read. The best book I have read is
   The Diary of Anne Frank. It is about a little girl that is Jewish. It takes place in 1945 during
   World War II. It talks about them being scared of hearing a knock at the door. It talks about them getting sent to concentration camps and how the people get tortured there like in gas chambers that is were they stick you in a room air tight and fill the room with deadly gas fumes. They wood also cut all your hair off and tattoo a number on you. Most of the people would die because they would freeze to death because it was so cold. They were fed very little food and their beds had flies all around them and they would make you have a job like cleaning the bathrooms. So you can see people there were treated very badly. And all this happened because one man named Hitler wanted to do this all because the people where Jewish. These are just a few things why this is my favorite book. And I think that you should read this book too.



5. The Diary of Anne Frank is one of those books many people read in school. For reasons I don't remember I was not one of them. I stumbled on this version and decided it was time.
   
   Overall this is an excellent compendium of the 3 versions of the diary. The first 175 pages give you the history of the Frank Family, how they were arrested and suspects for betrayal. It also delves into the challenges of Fraud that has been lodged against the diaries. The author shows how these claims are baseless and the gives you the process used to debunk the claims.
   
   This is not a simple read. This book is more for the scholar then the casual reader. Especially when faced with up to three versions of each passage in the diaries. The casual reader will probably find themselves skipping the other passages.
   
   My wife said there were versions that painted Anne as a Saint and I did not see that in this edition. I saw the average teenage girl with the usual complaints about family and the horrible times she found herself in. Yet, she managed to find herself infatuated with boys and tried to outlast the fate that would happen to her.
   
   This is a book all should read especially when considering it has been banned a few times.

No comments about The Coldest Winter: The Holocaust Memoirs of Rabbi Samuel Freilich.

5 comments about Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany.

1. I became aware of Marthe's story when told I was going to interview her for an article. I found the writing smooth, and the book a quick and educating read. As other reviewers have written, it is filled with events that are intense, suspenseful, sad and hopeful. This is an amazing true story that I'm glad Marthe decided to share.



2. This is a story of great personal courage in the midst of horrible tragedy. It is the story of Marthe Cohn who was born in the city of Metz, raised in a devout German- speaking Jewish religious household. Circumstances including the loss of her fiance led her to become a fighter in the French Resistance. Courageously she worked behind enemy lines to provide vital intelligence for the Allies.
   In this book she tells her own story but while doing so tells that of tens of others with whom she shared a struggle and a world. At the end of the book she discloses what has become of many of them with the passing of the years.
   For her courageous actions she was awarded the Highest French Military Medal of Distinction.
   She comments at the end of the book that her maiden name translates as "Hope and 'Goodness'. Her life and actions certainly were an exemplification of her name, and evidence of the greatness of the human spirit in times of darkness and adversity.



3. On October 7 and 8, 2006, C-SPAN 2 featured this book and author on Book TV. The author, now in her mid 90s, spoke in impeccable English for about one hour without notes. Because she used the active voice, her adventures were easy to follow. It was a tour de force.
   
   Her parents lived in Alsace when it was part of Germany. But she and her five older siblings grew up in Alsace after WWI when it was part of France. As a result, she became fluent in German because that was the language spoken in her home, and she became fluent in French because that was the language she learned in school. Despite her youth, her fluency in both languages made a perfect spy for the French resistance and French Army.
   
   The book is about her amazing adventures as a spy and agent of the Free French. Despite her modesty, her actions reveal a woman of incredible physical and moral courage. This book and author should be the subject of movie or miniseries that would inspire young women to use their talents for great causes.



4. I saw Marthe Cohn on Book TV and was inspired to buy the book. She appears to be a very tiny white haired woman, no wonder her family and friends were shocked to find out that she had been a spy for the free French and a genuine hero. She is blessed with a very sharp mind and a remarkable memory. Her story is so well written that it had me on the edge of my seat, in spite of knowing that she did indeed survive.
   
   The most telling part of the book is where she describes the paralyzing fear she felt as she was about to cross into Nazi Germany. She somehow found the courage and made the crossing many times. Petite, blond and speaking impeccable German, she was easily accepted as "Aryan", even by one Nazi officer who was sure he could "smell a Jew". She was thus able to get much vital information and saved many lives.
   
   This is a great book for anyone who likes adventure stories. The fact that it is true makes it all the more appealing. I couldn't wait to share this book.



5. I hadn't expected this book to be as interesting as it was. I had difficulty putting it down. It is the story of a young Jewish woman in occupied France during WW II. Her efforts during the war to save her family and spy for the French resistance are thrilling and awe inspiring. It is amazing how ordinary people can do extraordinary things when faced with life threatening challenges. Her courage was so admirable.