Germany Books

I collect pop up books and this is a rare treasure. I feel privileged to own one of only 100 copies in the world. This book has a great deal of creativity and originality for such a familiar story. There are many great pop-ups and illustrations such as; the wolf licking his lips and when he sneezes out the grandmother. It has a wonderful moral twist at the end. I love this book.

This pop-up is awesome. I am completly amazed at how wonderful each page is. It's the little details that are so nice. I can't wait to share this with my daughter. She loved her first pop-up, which wasn't made so great and broke apart. I plan on keeping this as a special read. I think this may have turned me into a pop-up book fan!!!

I was absolutely enchanted with this pop up book, it is the best pop up book I've ever seen. The paper engineering is incredible - a "grandma" that is revealed to be a wolf, the wolf sneezing out grandma, grandma and red riding hood chasing the wolf... My 2 year old is enthralled with it - but I am careful to read it together with her... a toddler could easily tear the beautiful pop-us.

MY NEICE INSTANTLY FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS AS DID I!
IT HAS BEEN 5 MONTHS SINCE I GOT IT AND IT'S STILL ARE FAVORITE!
YOU WILL LOVE NOT LIKE LOVE THE POP- UPS!

Kaspar Hauser is the title article of the November 25th, 1996,issue of German newsmagazine Der Spiegel. DNA investigation, using bloodstains from Kaspar Hauser's clothing, has shown conclusively that he is not related to the house of Baden. Also, a war memorial from Napoleonic times in the remote
Tirolean village of Reith, near Kitzbuehel, has been found to have this name as one of the fallen. The supposition is that
"Kaspar Hauser" was a simpleton from the region who was transported to Nuremberg by soldiers as a practical joke and the pranksters used the name off this monument.
The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the golden era for this sort of thing (see Cardiff Giant, Kensington Runestone, Princess Caraboo, Piltdown Man). You can buy a "dossier" on Kaspar Hauser from Der Spiegel over the internet.

Masson has gone back to original source material (and even discovered some documents long thought lost) to re-examine the story of Kaspar Hauser. With his background in psychology, he was able to analyze the story like no previous writer had, and come to some surprising revelations, not the least of which Kaspar may well have been a member of German royalty, and was quite likely imprisoned and killed for just that reason. Though I gave the book five stars, I do have some minor complaints: 1) Masson is a believer in Recovered Memory Syndrome, 2) he doesn't consider any physiological causes for Hauser's seeming lack of education and his subsequent steep learning curve (Charles Fort, oddly enough, is the only one to present convincing evidence that a bump on the head could have caused temporary amnesia, which then gradually receded as time went on), 3) he doesn't explain why Hauser was released from his imprisonment, especially after so many years, 4) Though he had asked a few pediatricians about the effects of long-term nutritional deficiences (Hauser supposedly subsisted on just bread and water), it is distressing that none of them could tell Masson anything specific (Just for the record, scurvy from Vitamin C deficiency, marasmus and hypoalbuminemic-type PEM (kwashiorkor) from too little protein and other nutrients, and rickets from Vitamin D deficiency, just to name some examples). Still, this book is worth it just for the Introduction alone, and is likely to remain the definitive work on this mysterious child.

Some books are meant to be page turners. When you buy one of those, you put an extra log on the fire, make some hot chocolate, and read till you fall asleep.

That plan of attack will not work with LOST PRINCE. You may as well try to read the complete works of Sigmund Freud in one sitting. Yet LOST PRINCE is as brilliant as it is disturbing. You may stop reading at the end of a chapter, but you will not stop thinking about this book.

The German language has turned Kaspar Hauser into a cliche of sorts. Someone who's vexing and exasperating, yet basically innocent and naive, is called a "Kaspar". German majors at most universities learn only the roughest information about him, generally in terms of his being an interesting case study for how people turn out when they are denied human contact in their formative years.

But Kaspar's story is so much more than that. It is child abuse, political intrigue, good vs. evil, and a murder mystery all rolled into one. When you finish this book, you still cannot tell the bad guys from the good. All you know is that Kaspar Hauser was treated like no human should ever have been treated, and that nothing he could have done would ever justify the inhumanity of the persons who placed him in that dark and cruel prison.

It is therefore a little eerie to realize that all this took place 101 years before Hitler, in a city called Nuremberg.

Kaspar Hauser's life was somewhat different from that of the typical feral child (there's an oxymoron for you). Unlike, say, Victor of Aveyron, Kaspar was deliberately imprisoned for approximately twelve years, beginning from the time he was about 4. At about age 16, Kaspar was suddenly and inexplicably released and set loose to wander the streets of Nuremburg. Anselm Von Ritter Feuerbach took the boy in and treated him kindly even as he observed him closely, keeping a notebook on Kaspar. This notebook is here printed in English for the first time, translated by Jeffrey Masson, who gives a history of Kaspar's life after his release as well. At the age of 19, two men tried to murder Kaspar; a couple of years later, they tried again, stabbing him several times. He died three days later. Why was this done? Apparently the rapid progress Kaspar had made in learning to both speak and write German quite fluently and articulately, and especially the memories that were beginning to come to the surface, posed quite a threat to someone. Masson puts forward for an English speaking audience a theory commonly found in Hauserian scholarship: Kaspar was the crown prince of a small nation, switched at birth at the instigation of one Countess Louisa in favour of her brat. Naturally, both the reputations and positions of quite a few people depended on Kaspar's silence. Masson puts forward many facts to support this theory; it would be well-nigh impossible to doubt that this theory is correct, even though it sounds like one of Grimm's less cosy fairy tales. Intriguing though all this is, however, the fact of Kaspar's confinement looms over the book, making it impossible to get any real enjoyment out of reading it. The description of Kaspar's life in a tiny dungeon is disgusting and disturbing. If you are at all inclined to be emotional, or if your life is not happy right now, I'm not sure you will want to read this book--it can be very upsetting to think about (perhaps that's why it's out of print). But maybe not. On the other hand, those interested in psychology should definitely read this book whether they like it or not--it'll be useful. I would recommend this book very heartily to all if I myself had not been quite so upset by reading it; forget my comments and judge it for yourself.

If you're an aviation, history or WWII buff, you'll like this book. The timeline is historically correct and you'll learn about the Russo-Finnish War---a war that you probably never heard of. It was a page turner that I hated to put down.

As a Nevil Shute fan I always wondered what happened to the Viceroy parked in the rear of the Airspeed Ltd. hangar that Shute described in his book Slide Rule. Now I know. Airspeed Ltd., Nevil Norway and the Viceroy are all packed into The Mannerheim Line. If you like Nevil Shute you'll like this book--it's a great read.

The author evidentally thoroughly researched the historical events in this book. It was well written and easy to read. The narration is excellent. The characters are made to seem as real American heroes. It records a part of history that is little-known to the average reader. Those familiar with aircraft would particularly appreciate the book and its terminology. Recommended reading for those who are interested in lesser-known world events.

This is a great period action story. The author certainly knows his way around airplanes and gives the reader lots of unusual detail that will be appreciated by airplane buffs. The chapters on World War II in Finland provide a new picture of a little known campaign. The characters are well drawn. They aren't unrealistic glamor types, but good guys trying to get the job done. Highly recommended.

As Paul Manning was writing this book, Martin Bormann was still alive, but had been eclipsed by the younger members of his organization. Now, over twenty-five years later, we should still not think of the Bormann Capital Flight project in the past tense. Bormann and Mueller are gone, but the Bormann economic and political network survives and thrives after having supplanted the USA as the dominant player in the post-WWII global economy. While this book is a history, it should also be considered as key to understanding the current global economic and political scene. Modern economic globalization is not a recent phenomenon -- the Germans, along with cooperating American and British businesses, basically invented globalization as we know it today in the aftermath of WWI and the Versailles Treaty. Prescott Bush, grandfather to the currently seated president, was one of those businessmen involved in financing German industry.

I found the first five chapters, detailing the foundation of the Bormann Capital Flight network in 1944, a little dry. However, Manning was laying the important groundwork for the exciting story that came after the fall of Berlin and Bormann's escape. Once I reached Chapter 6, I could hardly put the book down until I finished it.

The excellent Amazon review by John C. Sanders covers both the author and the book very well. Mr. Saunders mentions the story behind the book, which I found as fascinating as the book itself. This story lends credence to the fact that the Bormann network persists in our time. You can read about it and listen to a very moving interview with Paul Manning's surviving son, Peter Manning, by doing an Internet search on this book's title, and then looking for links to Spitfirelist and Dave Emory. Mr. Emory did two half hour interviews with Peter Manning. In the first one Mr. Manning was a rather laconic interview subject, probably owing to the emotions that arose when he was being interviewed. He opened up considerably in the second interview, revealing details of the hardships the Manning family suffered due to the publication of this book.

This book is long out of print, and is likely to remain so for some time, probably owing in no small part to the difficulties faced by the original publisher, Lyle Stuart. When copies become available, they are usually priced at $100 or more. Fortunately, the Manning family, in their desire to have the book distributed as widely as possible, has authorised a freely available version of the book which you can easily find by following the links above.

Readers interested in this topic may also be interested to read _Gold Warriors: America's Secret Recovery of Yamashita's Gold_ by Peggy and Sterling Seagrave, available on Amazon.

one of the most disturbing and truth filled books. read this and you will never backdown from the facists again.true grit.

On or about February 11, 2004, I received the book ýMartin Bormann, Nazi in Exileý from Amazon.com. The book detailed how Bormann, Hitlerýs #1 henchman preserved the Nazi government and banking-industrial base to go on operating after WWII. Manning contended that many Nazi SS officers had escaped Germany via the ODESSA organization and that they continued to function to intimidate and eliminate those who would attempt to bring war criminals to justice.

Approximately 5 days after I had received the book, I received an email entitled ýThe Garden of Edený from [an email address]. There was a 145 KB attachment with the email, but when I opened the message, there was no message, and there was no attachment line which could be accessed. Thinking this was highly unusual, I then typed into the address bar ýwww.ý in front of second section of the email address -- that is, the part after the @. This brought up the website of a German telecommunications company called ISIS. All the writing was in German. Given the information brought to light in the book, I seriously doubt that being contacted by ISIS was a mistake or a benign coincidence. This company somehow obtained my email address and then sent me a bit of e-terror to let me know something.

Based on this experience, I would have to say this book is dead-on, and that certain people in Germany appear to be interested in who is viewing the wealth of information contained in this book.

Anticipating the defeat of the Third Reich, Reichsleiter Martin Bormann set up 750 corporations in neutral countries, primed as vehicles to receive the liquid wealth of Germany in addition to patents and other proprietary industrial information. An organizational genius and the real power behind Hitler, Bormann, known as the "Brown Eminence", successfully fled Europe for South America and administered a "Reich in Exile" in the years following the war. With remnants of the SS as an enforcement arm, former Gestapo chief General Heinrich Mueller as security director, the 750 corporations as a base of economic power and the willing silence and cooperation of the Western Allies, Bormann guided his organization to a position of consummate power. One banker quoted by Manning termed the Bormann Organization, the "world's most important accumulation of money power under one control in history". Controlling Germany's major corporations, the Federal Republic itself and much of Latin America, the Bormann Organization also maintained a formidable circle of influence in the United States. Paul Manning has written the definitive text on the Bormann Organization.

Manning worked with CBS radio during World War II in London as a member of the elite Edward R. Murrow/Walter Cronkite team. As part of his coverage duties, he was the only member actually allowed to fly on U.S. Air Force missions as a fully functional crew member. Having qualified as a gunner, his flights included B-17 missions with the 8th Air Force over Germany and several B-29 missions to Japan. On behalf of CBS, he broadcasted the surrenders of Japan and Germany. In 1948, along with fifteen other distinguished war correspondents, he was awarded a medal for his reporting of the unconditional surrender of the Germans at Rheims. After the war Manning continued his journalistic profession and also served as a speechwriter for Nelson Rockefeller.

Several decades after WWII, Manning stumbled across the U.S. military CSDIC (Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centers) interviews of members of German industrial and banking magnates in the US National Archives. Aghast at the findings, Manning set out to write a book about the secret machinations of Nazi money laundering. Unknown to Manning, the manuscript was a stake in the heart of former CIA director Allen Dulles (brother of Allan Dulles) who represented many German interests on both sides of the Atlantic during the 1930's and 40's through his law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell with offices in New York and Berlin. Upon the German surrender, Dulles was instrumental in quietly recruiting Hitler's chief intelligence officer General Reinhard Gehlen and many of his key operatives. They were brought to Fort Hunt, Virginia and folded into the American O.S.S. which was converted into the C.I.A. with enactment under Truman of NSC-68 in 1948. Gehlen remained covertly in full U.S. employ until returning to head the German BND in the fifties.

Concerned over public exposure of Manning's investigation, Dulles volunteered to "help" the unsuspecting Manning with his manuscript, and sent him on a carefully orchestrated wild goose chase, searching for Martin Bormann in South America. Without knowing that he had been deliberately sidetracked, Manning wrote a forward to his book personally thanking Allen Dulles for his assurance that "I was on the right track" and "should keep going." In actuality, Dulles' assistance was aimed at sending Manning and his manuscript into obscurity to avoid disclosure of the transfer and protection of Nazi money.

Through its connections with major American corporations, the Bormann group successfully pressured publisher after publisher to decline Manning's manuscript. Of particular significance in the suppression of Manning's book was the Thyssen family.(patriarch Fritz Thyssen was Hitler's earliest and most prominent backer among German industrialists) His grandson, Count Zichy-Thyssen, who controlled Thyssen Steel from his base in Argentina, let it be known it would be very much appreciated if American publishers "stayed away" from the Manning text.

Manning finally found a home for the book at the maverick publishing house Lyle Stuart. In retaliation, the head of the publishing house had his legs broken the week the book was released and reviews of the book were blocked in major newspaper markets and mainstream publications. In 1993, after another decade of intense research, Manning's son Jerry, was senselessly and inexplicably murdered. Based on information garnered from his contacts in the intelligence community, Manning concluded the killing was in retaliation for his continued work and intent to publish a follow-up book, "In Search of Martin Bormann". The death of his son devastated Manning and stymied completion of the 2nd book. He died shortly after in 1995.

In December 1998, California-based researcher and broadcaster Dave Emory conducted a live, on-air radio interview ... with Manning's surviving son, Peter, concerning the Bormann flight capital organization and his father's work in bringing its activities to light. Peter movingly recounted the difficulties his family experienced as a result of his father's work on the book. In addition to surveillance and harassment, the family experienced economic and mental hardship as a result of deliberate efforts by elements hostile to its message. For obvious reasons, copies of this book were assiduously removed from market and have, for some time, been unobtainable. This landmark work nonetheless remains the unvarnished truth regarding Germany's post-war economic rebirth and lays the groundwork for understanding its current bid for dominance in manufacturing, banking and most importantly, publishing. "Martin Bormann: Nazi in Exile" is without peer in detail, accuracy and courage in probing the most important and successfully concealed story of the twentieth century. Mandatory reading.

This is the best indroduction to Edith Stein. It is vividly written and moves quickly. The book underscores the strength of this contemporary woman who, facing great challenges, had to think through and stand firm in her beliefs. In Cavnar's book, the central drama of Edith Stein's life is her conversion to Catholicism. This book does what a well-written saint's biography should do--namely, challenge the reader to respond to God's call with greater intensity.

This book highlights the life of a woman who should be better known to all of us. Her story is one of courage and conviction, first in her struggle to define her faith and to situate spirituality within philosophy, and later in her struggle against Nazi persecution. The author skillfully interweaves biography, histoy, and spirituality, all the while painting a very human and intimate picture of this incredible woman.

Author Cynthia Cavnar condenses the life of Edith Stein into the most readable book yet. Information is contained herein which was not mentioned in longer biographies. However, in the few pages in which Cavnar discusses Pope Pius XI and XII and their roles in the fight against Nazism, Cavnar misses the mark, downplaying Mit Brenneder Sorge (On the Church and the German Reich) by Pius XI and ignoring altogether Pius XII's Summi Pontificatus (On the Unity of Human Society) published in 1939. I would have to recommend "Edith Stein: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross" by Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda over Ms. Cavnar's title although the former book is a little less readable.

Cavnar outlines the context of the life of St. Edith Stein so that the reader may appreciate the martyr's life as she lived it. Yet the author does not cling to the technicalities so as to give a boring recitation of St. Edith's accomplishments and failures. Rather, Cavnar brings the deepest passions of St. Edith to life: her love of philosophy, her love of teaching, her love of helping others, and most importantly, her love of God. The narrative moves swiftly so that the reader is caught up in the excitements and disappointments in St. Edith's life from World War I, her academic work and her relationships with her family members. This book is an excellent inspirational biography that presents a very real woman who was very dedicated to God.

this is one of my favorite books of all time. NYRB is now my favorite place on earth! THANK YOU THANK YOU! (ps. this is a classic, all should read it)

Shortly after the death of Daniel Paul Schreber, Sigmund Freud used his (Schreber's) memoirs as the basis for a fantasy of his own. Everyday readers are lucky that Schreber wrote down so much of what he saw, heard and felt during his many years in German mental asylums, for his own observations are far more artistic and harrowing than anything Freud ever wrote.

In this book, Schreber takes us into his world--the world of the genuine schizophrenic. He writes of the "little men" who come to invade his body and of the stars from which they came.

That these "little men" choose to invade Schreber's body in more ways than one only makes his story all the more harrowing. At night, he tells us, they would drip down onto his head by the thousands, although he warned them against approaching him.

Schreber's story is not the only thing that is disquieting about this book. His style of writing is, too. It is made up of the ravings of a madman, yet it contains a fluidity and lucidity that rival that of any "logical" person. It only takes a few pages before we become enmeshed in the strange smells, tastes, insights and visions he describes so vividly.

Much of this book is hallucinatory; for example, Schreber writes of how the sun follows him as he moves around the room, depending on the direction of his movements. And, although we know the sun was not following Schreber, his explanation makes sense, in an eerie sort of way.

What Schreber has really done is to capture the sheer poetry of insanity and madness in such a way that we, as his readers, feel ourselves being swept along with him into his world of fantasy. It is a world without anchors, a world where the human soul is simply left to drift and survive as best it can. Eventually, one begins to wonder if madness is contagious. Perhaps it is. The son of physician, Moritz Schreber, Schreber came from a family of "madmen," to a greater or lesser degree.

Memoirs of My Nervous Illness has definitely made Schreber one of the most well-known and quoted patients in the history of psychiatry...and with good reason. He had a mind that never let him live in peace and he chronicles its intensity perfectly. He also describes the fascinating point and counterpoint of his "inner dialogues," an internal voice that chattered constantly, forcing Schreber to construct elaborate schemes to either explain it or escape it. He tries suicide and when that fails, he attempts to turn himself into a diaphanous, floating woman.

Although no one is sure what madness really is, it is clear that for Schreber it was something he described as "compulsive thinking." This poor man's control center had simply lost control. The final vision we have of Schreber in this book is harrowing in its intensity and in its angst. Pacing, with the very sun paling before his gaze, this brilliant madman walked up and down his cell, talking to anyone who would listen.

This is a harrowing, but fascinating book and is definitely not for the faint of heart. Schreber describes man's inner life in as much detail as a Hamlet or a Ulysses. The most terrifying part is that in Schreber, we see a little of both ourselves and everyone we know.

Others who have posted reviews of this book are certainly correct in their assessment -- it's engaging, harrowing, enlightening, etc. HOWEVER, nobody has addressed the actual CAUSE of Schreber's insanity which, of course, is key to the reading of his memoir. The patient in most cases, and certainly in this case, is unable to tell us matter-of-factly what is troubling him. Instead, he tells us of his dreams or his imaginings, or his horrible delusions. It is then the psychiatrist who untangles the web. I can't recommend highly enough, as a companion to Schreber's memoir, the book "Soul Murder: Persecution in the Family," written by the psychiatrist Morton Schatzman. The book is now out of print, but can still be found used. Instead of describing the book,I'll quote from the jacket flap: "Daniel Paul Schreber (1842-1911), an eminent German judge, went mad at the age of 42, recovered, and eight and a half years later, went mad again. It is uncertain if he was ever fully sane, in the ordinary social sense, again. His father, Daniel Gottlieb Moritz Schreber (1808-1861), who supervised his son's upbringing, was a leading German physician and pedagogue, whose studies and writings on child rearing techniques strongly influenced his practices during his life and long after his death. The father thought his age to be morally "soft" and "decayed" owing mainly to laxity in educating and disciplining children at home and school. He proposed to "battle" the "weakness" of his era with an elaborate system aimed at making children obedient and subject to adults. He expected that following his precepts would lead to a better society and "race." The father applied these same basic principals in raising his own children, including Daniel Paul and another son, Daniel Gustav, the elder, who also went mad and committed suicide in his thirties. Psychiatrists consider the case of the former, Daniel Paul, as the classic model of paranoia and schizophrenia, but even Freud and Bleuler (in their analyses of the son's illness) failed to link the strange experiences of Daniel Paul, for which he was thought mad, to his father's totalitarian child-rearing practices. In "Soul Murder," Morton Schatzman does just that -- connects the father's methods with the elements of the son's experience, and vice versa. This is done through a detailed analysis and comparison of Daniel Paul's "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness," a diary written during his second, long confinement, with his father's published and widely read writings on child rearing. The result is a startling and profoundly disturbing study of the nature and origin of mental illness -- a book that calls into question the value of classical models for defining mental illness and suggests the directions that the search for new models might take. As such, the author's findings touch on many domains: education, psychiatry, religion, sociology, politics -- the micro-politics of child-rearing and family life and their relation to the macro-politics of larger human groups." For me, this book shed a great light on "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness." In reading the other reviews, I get the sense that some people have concluded that Daniel (the son) "simply went mad," or "something went wrong," when the truth is that his father was a border-line personality and one sadistic man who inflicted his own brand of insanity on his children. If only we had something to document the father's childhood . . .

To begin with, the reader should be forewarned that what the author suffers from is not the idiomatic English "nervous illness," or mild neurosis, but a fundamentally different way of seeing the world, stated best by the author at the beginning of Chapter 5:"Apart from normal human language there is also a kind of nerve language of which, as a rule, the healthy human being is not aware." The book's profundity and the author's depth of insight are such that, after reading a few pages of the first chapter, one is reminded of nothing so much as Proust's Remembrance of Things Past: "Souls' greatest happiness lies in continual reveling in pleasure combined with recollections of their human past."....But, after this, the book becomes as disturbing as Proust is essentially soothing. For the author feels himself utterly isolated from other men, not even deigning to recognize them as men at all but as "fleeting-improvised-men" which "creates a feeling in me at times as if I were moving among walking corpses." (Ch. 15) What I found so disturbing about the elaboration of the author's viewpoint and recounting of his tribulations in the asylum is that there is something in his viewpoint that rings essentially true: We do not and can not know even those closest to us on the deep spiritual or "nerve language" level the author exists on in perpetuum. It is this essential truth combined with the author's matter-of-fact, almost cheery, tone that made reading this work such a strange experience for me. For English readers, such characters do exist in fiction (Poe's Usher kept occuring to me, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), but the tone of such psychically unstable characters and what we would call their nervous disposition are consonant with a mind gone awry and thus not to be taken so seriously. Of Schreber, just the opposite impresses itself upon the reader. It is this dissonance between tone and subject matter that render the book strange. For the view it expresses is essentially a dark one. If one reads closely, a terribly dark one. The only thing comparable to it is the worldview of the Gnostics: That this world is essentially some sort of mistake, and that there may be no way to "fix" it, as it were. The main reason to read the book, to my mind, is that it is a well-written,non-fiction account of a unique state of being (although readers might want to check out Proust as well as The Gnostic Religion by Hans Jonas for similarities.) But, caveat lector, the book is not for the faint of heart. It may keep you up many a night. It did me!

This is a great book you'll come back to again and again and if you don't have it, then your library is incomplete. Shulze has obviously did his research and come up with a readable and fascinating story that tracks Mies's work all the way from Aachen to Chicago. I can't say enough in praise of this work. Where other authors skim the surface when writing about Mies and his work, Schulze dives deeply into the pond and reveals some fascinating background information on the man, his time and his work. I cannot recommend this book enough and feel it should be a text for all architectural students. My only regret is that I should have read it 20 years ago.

This is a biography and a very complete one at that. It is not strong on illustrations, drawings, or theory but it is the best book at understanding Mies as a person and in his private life. If you are interested in his work more so another excellent book is David Speath's Mies Van Der Rohe the two of these books together will give an understanding of of mies the man and his work, which to really understand both are nessisary. This book is about the man who reminded us that the simplest solution is the stongest solution.

As a fan of modernism and a resident in a Mies Van Der Rohe-designed Commonwealth Plaza building in Chicago, I have an acute appreciation for Mies' vision and mastery of form and function in architecture. I borrowed this book from a friend and was mesmerized by the depth in which Mr. Schulze chronicled some of Mies' best works. I received incredible insight into the philosophy of this master architect. The text was accompanied by black and white photos of the buildings and designs and was perfectly matched. The black and white layout of the book focuses the reader on the form of these buildings and its importance, thereby giving a glimpse of the thoughts behind the designs. The book is incredibly comprehensive and a must for anyone with an interest in architecture and modernism. Unfortunately, the book is not in print and I have been constantly searching for my own copy, preferably new. I hope that the University of Chicago Press, itself part of a highly-regarded academic institution, to quickly offer a reprint of this valuable book. I would love to obtain a hardcopy version, as I strongly feel that this is a collection-quality book.

While much is known about the works or Mies van der Rohe, little is ever revealed about the man himself. After reading Franz Schulze's book I found myself reflecting quite deeply on my own direction in the great field of Architecture.

Schulze gives readers a honest perspective on the mysterious personality of Mies. He tells much about his marital life, his relationship with his daughters, and his political life; three aspects of the man which had significant influence on his career.

In the end Mies is painted as one who did what was necessary to become great, but never lost sight of the true essence of arguably the most influential of all art forms.

Schulze appears to have a deep respect for Mies and is therefore very frank in this book. However, he is not merely spouting rhetoric. Much of the biography is based on interviews with those close to Mies, including his grandson, Dirk Lohan, who himself is a successful architect in the Chicago area.

"Not Alone" is more than just an opportunity to learn about the "other side" of the war from the unique perspective of an outsider who was on the inside (a British-born woman who was classed as German by the Nazis). This book is a journey with Franke as she grapples to deal with a world that has turned upside down. For either students of the time period or those exploring the human spirit, this book is excellent. Being fascinated by both, I find this book priceless.

Written with emotion and honesty, "Not Alone" takes readers into the distant, now-incredible world that existed behind the Nazi lines during the Second World War, guided by someone from the other side who experienced it first hand. Then, as that desperate world collapses, she brings readers on a remarkable journey to freedom, on the walk of the century from Germany home to England, two small children and all her belongings clutched in her hands, and carried on her back. The courage of the author and her love for her children will touch the hearts of everyone who reads this book. Highly recommended.

After reading so many books about how generals and politicians won the war it's about time we saw how the innocents suffered because of the wars. This is the story of a British woman trapped behind German lines and her courageous struggle to get out of Germany and back to England with her two children.
Well worth the read. Inspiring.

I DO NOT THINK THAT THE COVER DOES THE BOOK ANY JUSTICE AT ALL AND IS NOT THE LEAST BIT ATTRACTIVE FOR POTENTIAL BUYERS.

The authors give a full account of this historical trial. I had no background knowledge of the Nuremberg Trial, and I found this book easy to read as well as complete and detailed enough. I would complement it with Nuremberg's Diary, by Gilbert, to get a deeper insight of the defendants personalities. Although I can't compare this book with the others available on the subject, I would certainly recommend it as an excellent choice.

I first became familiar with the Tusas' study in 1985 while covering Argentina's "mini-Nuremberg" trial of the three military juntas that ruled in Buenos Aires from 1976 to 1982 for Newsweek and the Washington Post.

It is a wonderfully written, comprehensive study, really the best I have read on the subject either before or after. I recommend it without hesitation for all those interested in the trial itself, its effects on international law, or anyone who is just trying to make sense out of the murky period in which we now live.


Martin Edwin Andersen
Churchton, Maryland

This book is well written and informative. If your goal is to know about the Nuremberg Trial, or if you're a lawyer studying issues that arise in conducting international tribunals, you'll enjoy this book and it'll be five stars for you! If you're looking for an exciting book on WWII or the aftermath of that war, you'll probably be a bit bored with portions of this book and at best think it's worth three stars.

Best parts of the book deal with the opening and closing statements at the trial, testimony and cross examination of Goering, Speer, etc, the deliberations of the judges, the verdict and subesquent executions, including the mystery of how Goering got the cyanide the night he was to be hanged in order to commit suicide.

What might bore you if you're not a lawyer is the international law stuff, so I'll give the book four stars.

This book must be the best account of the Nuremberg trial out there. OK, I'll admit I haven't read all the other accounts, but this one gives all the information any interested person needs to know about the trial without getting mired in needless detail. Plus it's written in narrative style and the Tusa's personal observations are side splittingly funny at times (Hard to imagine for such a serious topic, but they do it)

The book begins before the actual trial and details the discussions that the four powers had about the trial - what the scope of it would be, which countries would be represented, what the charges would be, who would fund it etc... The actual pre-trial preparation was such a mammoth task and this book helps the reader appreciate the difficulties facing the judges, lawyers and administrative staff.

After this introduction, we get a view of the prosecution and defence teams and the judges. The Tusas have done an excellent job by bringing us behind the scenes of the actual trail and getting us up close and personal with the 'stars' at the trial. They help us understand where the judges are coming from and how the different systems make it difficult for them to agree on certain aspects of the trial - very accessible to those who aren't lawyers.

What is the more interesting part of this book is the character studies of the various defendants. The Tusas have succeeded in making these men come alive. I was reminded of the movie Nuremburg with Alec Baldwin when I read the description of Goering and Speer. (Incidentally that would be an excellent movie to watch after reading this book.). The cases against these men are explained both from the prosecution and the defence side. Heavy sarcasm lightens the mood especially when some of the heinous crimes are described; it is amazing the blatant lies that some of these 'leaders' told when faced with their crimes.

There is a short section on the case against Organizations; the SS, SA, Gestapo etc... which is followed by the verdicts and the executions. I think that this book is fairly unbiased and factual (there are references at the end of each chapter and it's from the BBC J ) I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the second world war and especially the part that the Germans played in it.

Much discourse on Heidegger finds seeming grounds to separate the man from the philosophy, but Rockmore, in reviewing the crucial parts and pieces of the case, makes a strong case for the intrinsic connection of the Heideggerian philosophy to the philosopher's Nazism. The point should be obvious from the context of the times, Heidegger's conservative demeanour and the latent confusions of anti-liberal culture already effecting Nietzsche. The book focus on a detailed analysis of the famour Rector address, then follow the trail through to the attempt by Heidegger to disengage himself from his prior affirmations. One can waste a lot of time on sophistries here, and, while the value of the philosophy might endures in a question, the fixation of the typical discourse here deserves this careful review of the prosecutor.

Tom Rockmore has radically overturned 20th century philosophy models by challenging Martin Heidegger head-on.

Most famous writers of 20th century philosophy imitate Heidegger's terms, 'in-the-world,' and 'them' and other aspects of his existentialism. Heidegger's Nazi affiliations are most often swept under the rug and even today many of his writings are kept secret by his Estate.

Tom Rockmore courageously joins the battle to expose Heidegger as a Nazi thinker -- and not as an unwilling Nazi participant as his followers like to soft-soap these issues. But Dr. Rockmore is not seeking sensationalism or merely political battles, rather, he is an erudite philosopher himself with some penetrating insights into the origins and weaknesses of Heidegger's positions on the issues.

The 20th century is filled with defenses of Heidegger the man and the writer. His nakedness is praised as beautiful attire by some of the key writers of the past century. Tom Rockmore has performed a revolutionary act by exposing this nakedness and hypocrisy, not only politically but in the realm of theory.

This is one of the most interesting books available on 20th century philosophy.

This well written and closely argued book is a stringent criticism of Heidegger's philosophy and its relation to his notorious embrace of Nazism. Rockmore argues that Heidegger's involvement with the Nazis was hardly the result of personal quirks or coercion but rather a product of his philosophical preoccupations. Rockmore bases his conclusions on a careful reading of the relevant texts, analysis of the main features of Heidegger's thought, and relevant historical background. For example, while Heidegger liked to present his thought as a recovery of the insights of pre-Socratic Greek thinkers, Rockmore shows that Heidegger was influenced by the racist and anti-rationalist Volkish ideologies prevalent in Germany. Rockmore's case is well argued and others, notably Heidegger's recent biographer, Rudiger Safranski, reach identical conclusions. It is clear as well that Heidegger abandoned overt Nazism not because of any real ethical concerns but rather because the Nazis would not accomodate Heidegger's ideas for how German society and education should be run. This book also contains damning criticism of the individuals who have defended Heidegger; including members of Heidegger's family who have apparently restricted access to potentially damaging documents; Heidegger's disciples, some of whom have attempted remarkable ways to explain away Heidegger's Nazism; and a number of other philosophers who seem to be unable to stomach the fact that the person they trumpet as the great thinker of the 20th century was a Nazi. Heidegger emerges as a brilliant and remarkably egotistical man inhumanly dedicated to the pursuit of a small set of ideas, some of which may be great insights, but literally careless of human rights, human dignity, and the physical suffering of the great majority of humanity. One criticism of Rockmore's book is that Rockmore, though usually very careful with terminology, is sloppy about use of the term Nazi. Rockmore argues that Heidegger, after his withdrawal from overt Nazism, remained dedicated to an "ideal Nazism". It would be better to restrict the use of term Nazism to the actual acts and (often contradictory) programs of the Nazis. As Rockmore shows clearly, Heidegger was preoccupied throughout his life with ideas that were anti-humanist, anti-democratic, and Volkish in character. This puts Heidegger in the same general category as the Nazis but referring to "ideal Nazism" is a bit confusing.

Excellent exposé of the person and their inseperable philosophical and political beliefs.

This puts Heidegger in the correct context of his position relative to Nazism, that is, an integral part of the greatest act of capitalist criminality in the 20th century and not, as has been said many times elsewhere, an unwilling participant in the whole "accidental" tragedy.

It says something about the charade called the denazification that Heidegger was allowed so much free reign after, what is euphemistically called the second world war, was brought to a close, with the unexpected crushing of western state capitalism by the USSR.

Regards,

Martyn R Jones
http://www.itspolitics.com/feuerbach/index.htm