Germany Books

This is an exquisite book. Such cosiness and wonderful living spaces, truly exhilirating. I don't have much time to write this review but I read through the book this Saturday morning and it's impact is priceless - I briefly and partially read person's view from Canada below and they say it perfectly.

This book takes you inside some of the most interesting and memorable homes in the Alpine region. Fully trilingual - everything in the book is presented in German and French, along with English - this book also has stunning color and black and white photographs on almost every page. Makes an excellent coffee table book. If you love interior design, and are curious about the Alpine way of living, this book is for you. What a shame that it is currently out of print.

As well as ALL the other books from TASCHEN's "Interiors" series, this book is simply magical. It offers a great trip in the Alpes and simply gives you the opportunity to visit the most beautiful houses -- from simple chalets to deluxe houses -- of the mountains. The printing is fabulous and the pictures are of pure quality. Beautiful!

And Then There Was One... is a historical memoir covering the era from 1910 t o 1945. Author Michael Stone was born in Latvia in 1910, grew up in Moscow, relocated to Berlin with his family to escape the Communist Revolution, and emigrated to the United States when the Nazis emerged to take control. And Then There Was One... is a riveting personal saga that spans nations, and offers a very personal view of cataclysmic events that reshaped human history and the world. Enhanced with an appendix, bibliography, and index, And Then There Was One... is highly recommended reading.

(...)Twentieth century lives are often studies in chaos, disruption, and just one damned thing after another. For Michael Stone, born in 1910, it's a century of the murder of Jews and of coming to America and having the freedom to build a successful life. But a successful and culture life was Stone's in Latvia, born into a family of prosperous entrepreneurs. Memories, experiences, fascinating bits of information—The Cotton Club, speeches in Columbus Circle, in the Latvian army, upbringing, siblings and parents, and meeting European men and women who, through their experiences, would define the times. But also there is the malady of the century: the Nazi murder of Jews. A horrifying depiction of the roundup of the Jews of Riga: "Those actions were representative of a number of carefully planned acts of extermination of Jews, not only in various cities in Latvia, but also in other parts of Nazi-occupied regions in Europe." And the terrible personal experiences of Stone. "My initial reaction to being transferred from the hands of the Gestapo to the regular, green-uniformed police calmed me a bit." In an important sense, this is a modern American life: coming from war-torn Europe, a man prospers but remembers, for future generations, the terrible things done in Europe. And it is a history of all of Europe as that history affected poor, helpless people. Stone remembers in a thoughtful, scrupulously detailed way: And Then There Was One is a clearheaded and instructive memoir, related with passion, and with enormous sorrow(...)

Unlike traditional history books, which are written many years after events have actually occurred, this unusual book tells of the cataclysmic world events of the the first half of the last century from the perspective of one who was there. The reader will get a graphic description of the different cultures, customs and events as they then existed.

There are not many people today who can say that they were acctually present in Moscow when the Bolshevic revolution was unfolding. Michael Stone was there. In this meticulously researched volume, Mr. Stone vividly describes how he survived the bloody two-year civil war when his mother was brutally killed. He goes on to describe his family's flight from Russia to the Weimar Republic. He provides a first-hand account of the World War II from the German perspective. Mr. Stone writes with passion about his experience of being arrested by the Gestapo on charges of high treason, which carried a mandatory sentence of decapitation (He was ultimately pardoned by Hermann Goering, personally!) We are fortunate that Mr. Stone, who was thrust into the middle of the century's greatest historic events, survived to preserve the truth from his unique perspective.

This is a must read for all history buffs.

If you want a better understanding of David Hockney buy this book. It is a wonderful display of illustrations and information of a great British artist.

"David Hockney: Paintings" is well written and organized to foster a greater understanding of how Hockney evolves over the course of his career. Moreover, you will be impressed by the outstanding quality of the the black & white and color illustrations.

Authors Paul Melia and Ulrich Luckhardt provide the reader an excellent insight to the artistic thoughts of David Hockney. It also studies and explains the tremendous global popularity of the artist. This is a great book to have in the house.

I was more than pleasantly surprised by the extremely high quality of the reproductions. The book is split up in six chapters covering the main artistic phases in Hockney`s live and giving a lot of information about his paintings.
I find it extremely interesting not just to see Hockney`s work but also to read the details on the creative process leading up to the finished painting. A wonderful book!

Being a tremendous fan of Hockney's work, I was delighted to find this beautiful and informative book.

I liked the chronological organization as the book traced the artist's development over the years. I always find this such an interesting perspective, seeing how an artist's vision changes and evolves. And I also liked the way that the relationship between Hockney's life and his art is explored.

The illustrations were grand too!

A worthwhile book and a good study of Hockney, his life, and his works.

The Architecture of Oppression has all the hallmarks of Jaskot's articles: brilliant writing, impecable scholarship and surprising wit. It is likely to become the standard work in the field, and would also make an excellent primer on fascist architecture for the general reader.

The Architecture of Oppression has all the hallmarks of Jaskot's articles: brilliant writing, impecable scholarship and surprising wit. It is likely to become the standard work in the field, and would also make an excellent primer on fascist architecture for the general reader.

Really a fascinating book on the architecture of Hilter's so called Third Reich. German engineering and work ethic is legendary and even when used for evil, it is effective. This book give a chilling recount of the era of the Reich and you get a feel for the cold, but elegant architecture of Speer, the Reich's chief architect, it is amazing all that got built in such a short time, but what's really fascinating is what was planned, but never realized. Most of the Reich's building were destroyed during the war, but one that does still exist that gives a real feel for the architecture of the Reich is the Olympic Stadium, it is odd to think that this space that was used as a rallying cry for all German's to conquer the world, is today used for Soccer games and the World Cup, personally I think it should have gone the way of the Chancellery, but alas I was not asked, imagine that.

The book, Ardennes Offensive - VI Panzer Armee, is a must have for the serious reader of the Battle of the Bulge. It covers the battles on the northern front from the German point of view. This book provides excellent detail which I have not found in other books. In particular, it provides detailed maps for each significant action. These maps are usually in a scale of 1 inch per mile and they show tree lines, elevations, and locations of buildings and combat units. I was also impressed that the maps showed which bridges were destroyed by American engineers and how it altered the advance of the German formations. I got a better sense of what was happening by studying these maps than reading many narratives. The book's narrative was also excellent in that it listed the types and quantities of tanks in the German divisions and the ones used in combat. Because this is just the first book in a series, it does not provide an overview of the offensive as a whole. Also, it concentrates on what happened and offers little insight on the human elements of the battle (ie, what it was like from an individual soldier's view or from a civilian's view who were there). I'd suggest that a person maybe read an overview book such as Osprey's Ardennes 1944 for a quick overview or Combined Books' Battle Of The Bulge for an overview with additional human interest insights. The second book in the series, Ardennes Offensive - V US Corps & XVIII US Corps, is another excellent book in the series. It covers the battles in the northern front from the US viewpoint. Like the companion book, Ardennes Offensive - VI Panzer Armee, it provides excellent battle detail. It provides detailed maps for each significant action which are usually in a scale of 1 inch per mile. They show tree line, elevations, and locations of buildings and combat units. But unlike the companion book, the breakdown of the types and numbers of US tanks is not quite as detailed. This was disappointing since some Sherman tanks did have the better 76mm gun and it is unclear which units had them. Also, it would have been interesting if the book could have indicated what type of AP ammunition was carried by the units since some units had HEAT in addition to AP rounds. Both of these books only cover the period of the German offensive until its containment. They do not cover the Allied counter attacks after Dec 26. Overall, I'm very pleased with the books and look forward to purchasing the remainder in the series. I hope they will include books on the Allied counter offensive. I also hope that they do a series on Bagration.

This book, the first in a series of 6, is a must have for the serious reader of the Battle of the Bulge. This is because it provides detailed maps of the actions showing tree lines, elevations, and locations of buildings and units. Most maps are in the scale of about 1 inch per mile. The book also lists the number and types of tanks involved in the actions. People may prefer reading an overview book of the battle such as Osprey's Ardennes 1944 or Combined Books' Battle of the Bulge before reading this series.

This book is a must for serious readers of this battle. Unlike others, this book provides detailed maps and troop lists for each significant action fought. The maps are usually 1 inch per mile and show woodlines, elevations, and locations of buildings and units. The book also details the quantities and types of tanks in the engagements. I understand this is the 1st in a series of 6 books which cover the battle. People may want to read an overview book of the battle such as Osprey's Ardennes 1944 or Combined Book's Battle of the Buldge before reading this series.

One of the best books on clinical examination out there.

I am a student in the clinical semesters and each page of this book is pure gold. I just bought the second edition (2000). It is fun to read and teaches the kind of medicine I want to practice. Get it.

The most interesting, complete, and entertaining of all of the books on physical diagnosis I have ever read. I use this book extensively with my medical students, housestaff, fellows and colleagues. For every topic, there is always something new to learn, both technically and historically.

An in-depth family bio on the Bengel family of jewelers through the Art Deco period. Includes lots of family photos, original art piece drawings, and beautifully photographed actual pictures of Bengel pieces. It is a nice slice of life in pictoral form for anyone who wants to see close up, the types of jewelry that was being worn during that era. A beautiful book for the art lover or the vintage lover, for reference or coffee table.

A first-class survey of Art Deco Galalith jewelry which focuses on the output of the German watch-chain and jewelry manufacturer Bengel. The first ninety-seven pages look at thirties fashion, jewelry and the art movements that created such a vibrant look to pendants, bracelets, earrings and brooches. Clearly Christine Weber-Stober has done a lot of research into European Art Deco jewelry and the items made by Bengel from Galalith (from the Greek 'gala', milk and 'lithos', stone)

It was made from milk protein and formaldehyde and was one of the new synthetic products developed in the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century. The beauty of it was that it could be made cheaply, was heat resistant and easy to color, so makers of buttons, belt-buckles, knitting needles and similar small items were able to churn them out by the millions. It did have one drawback though: it couldn't be cast like later plastic but was made in slabs, tubes and rods then cut and worked into whatever simple shape was required.

The various new materials developed in the early years of the twentieth century were ideally suited to designers and creative folk influenced by the new 'isms' of the age: cubism, futurism, vorticism and especially modernism via the Bauhaus. The second part of the book has 253 photos of mass produced jewelry from the Bengel company. Their expertise in metalwork combined with the simple colorful shapes of Galalith makes all of these pieces look quite stunning. Strangely, despite the author's research, there seems to be no real explanation as to why this German metal working factory made such remarkable work. None of it was stamped with the company name, their Galalith jewelry output went to wholesalers who sold it on to retailers who added their brand names.

The book's production is as gorgeous as the jewelry. Printed on matt art paper with a 175 screen, the elegant layout throws up the excellent photography. The text is in German and English but the designers have avoided any potential reader confusion by splitting the text pages horizontally with German occupying the top section. In comparison the books for collectors from the main American publishers in this sector look bland and visually uninspiring (expensive, too).

Art Deco Jewelry is a beautiful celebration of past jewelry style that still looks fresh and lively today.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Probably the dawn of art deco fashion jewelry was the 16-28 May 1927 machine-age exposition in New York. This exposition showed how modern technology could be fused with the arts, bringing German bauhaus design to America's attention.

The prior year, 1926, saw the release of the silent film "Metropolis," Fritz Lang's anxious vision of a world demanding conformity in which "the masses" are controlled by machines and their owners. This film's art direction makes use of many art deco design elements which find their way into mainstream costume jewelry design. Geometric shapes and simplicity dominate costume jewelry in which new, inexpensive materials, such as bakelite and corolite could be incorporated, adding translucent and opaque color.

Fashion jewelry components in the 1930's were manufactured primarily in Bohemia so, when Jewish owners lost their factories in 1938, art deco costume jewelry also vanished from the fashion scene. This book gathers -- and preserves in photographs -- much of art deco jewelry's beauty within its pages.

This book is a translation of the famous postwar trilogy of Charlotte Delbo, a French Resistance fighter who was caught and sent to Auschwitz, then transferred to Ravensbruck. She was, and is, quite well-known in France. Though she is now deceased, the translator, Rosette Lamont, knew Delbo personally and is the foremost expert on her work, having written a number of articles on Delbo. Another who has written sensitively about Delbo is Nathan Bracher. Like all translations, there is a little something lost in the English rendering. If you are able to read the French, the original titles are "Aucun de nous ne reviendra," "Une connaissance inutile," and "Mesure de nos jours." Other books by Delbo you might find interesting are "La Memoire et les Jours," and "Le convoi du 24 janvier." She also wrote a number of plays, and poetry that isn't in this trilogy.

Thanks to the work of the Video Archive for Holocaust Testimony at Yale University, the Survivors of the Shoah project by Steven Spielberg, and the efforts of the new National Holocaust Museum, there is no shortage of testimony from Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. But Jews were not the only victims of the Nazi regime, and there is surprisingly little testimony from non-Jewish survivors. Delbo is probably the only non-Jewish victim who became an important literary figure in the postwar era, and her position as victim along with her eloquent indictment of Christianity and Christian culture for their complicity in the extermination of the Jewish victims with whom she feels strong kinship and empathy make her work an absolutely unique contribution to post-Holocaust literature. Feel free to e-mail me at schnaibl@fas.harvard.edu for more bibliographical references.

The other two reviews are so insightful and accurate, in my opinion, I should have little to add. Yet, after reading "Auschwitz and After", I felt I had to express something of how the book made me understand and grow. As a convert to Judaism (born in 1951, I was on the pathway my whole life, I realize now), I have read many, many books/memoirs/histories on the Holocaust. Many of them have been very moving, indeed, beginning with Anne Frank's Diary, on through to "Maus". Though I acknowledge that these words have been said before, I still believe that Charlotte Delbo's words put me into that Hell more than any other survivor's testimony to date. Delbo's words do more than say "this happened and that happened". They are poetry...yet how can poetry apply to any experience in a death camp? Surprisingly, scarily, the poetry transports the reader there more truly than any film, any historical analysis, even better than any well-written survivor account. At first I thought I would not like it; my sensibilities were offended that someone would write in poetic format about an experience at a death camp ("Maus" was different; it was a cartoon, yes, but drawn by the son of a survivor, not a survivor). After finishing Delbo's triology, I feel that her words (not all in poetic form) made me understand as much as anyone who did not experience a death camp, how it felt, how one survived, what one endured when one "came back" to the "real world".

Due to the passage of time, we are losing the remaining Holocaust survivors. Hence, Spielberg's and others' efforts to record the testimony before it is too late. There has been more attention lately paid to the children of the survivors' and how their parents' experiences affected their lives. Delbo's words transcend the words of one survivor - she really makes the reader understand what happned to those who "came back", how little they had to give, in some cases, to their spouses, to their children. American culture puts a lot of emphasis on "getting over, moving on". To some extent, I believe this is usually a healthy thing to try to do; but some experiences fall outside the realm of being able to "get over it". I would suggest that some experiences are so traumatic that one cannot "process" them and get over them. How is forgiveness possible when the entire world is affected as a result? Some experiences mark a person and maybe a culture permanently, and to deny or to try to repress this is unhealthy. At the end of their lives now, most published Holocaust testimonies report that the death camp experience "never leaves you" - something "survivors" probably didn't believe when they were first liberated. The fact that the Holocaust survivors are becoming fewer and fewer makes Delbo's book all the more important because it conveys the true horror, the true evil of human degradation and genocide - and explains why the Holocaust, as well as other genocides have and will reverberate from generation to generation. Her book made me realize that understanding and vigilance, not "processing" and forgiveness is the answer.

I have never read a book on the topic of the Holocaust that grasped it quite as well as this one has. Other books make the Holocaust sound 'too good' compared to her stories and accounts that are portrayed in this book. If you want to get a real grasp or feel of the Holocaust experience in a poetic and creatively written path, then this is a book you should read. Also, for anybody interested in the Holocaust, this is a definite must. It is basically as true and real as an account on the Holocaust can possibly get. It is simply an amazing piece of work.

Don't miss out on one of the best memoirs ever written. Herman I. Neuman tells about his early memories of Nazi Germany, the terrible post-war poverty, the cruelty of whippings administered without love and about his and his brother's abandonment by their father and the judicial system of Germany. Later, as teens, they were lured to America under the guise of escaping the abuse only to be separated and turned into slaves at their uncles' farms.

But, the most compelling story begins after these two young victims escaped their bondage and dug deep into their own souls for the strength and courage to pursue better lives and achieve educations without the benefit of counseling, financial aid or help from anyone. This is a story of triumph over unspeakable hardships. This is about heroes.

Carol Kluz is the coauthor of suspense: Countermeasures and Perilous Summer under the pseudonym of Carol Randy. She is the author of epic fantasy, The Prophecy Unfolds, The Prophecy Unfolds: Volume II and The Agents of Kedra.

"Bastards, Bitches, and Heroes" touched me on so many profound levels that I am in the process of sending copies to friends. It is not a wallow for sympathy but rather, a bemused sardonic narration of survival. It is told in the most palatable way possible to enable those who will to see and understand. It enables us to handle the pain. Those who cannot or will not identify with the times in which the author lived still have an great read to look forward to. Mr. Neuman's book is told form a prospective we seldom see, but need desperately to remember. I am grateful for his sharing this harrowing and eventually triumphant memoir with us. That he has, has brought a new dimension and appreciation to my life. This book belongs in every school and in every home. Too many generations have forgotten the horrific price war exacts from the innocent. In every way, this is an important book through the eyes of a survivor. My grateful thanks to Mr Herman I Neuman for taking the incredibly difficult task in hand; to remember and share this book with us.

This book is groundbreaking in the sense that it departs from the genre of wallowing in and consuming the emotionality of dire wartime experiences--all too common in books set during World War II--and transcends to a new level of intellectual understanding. The interweaving of ironic asides with a fascinating plot keeps the reader on edge as to "what will happen next" while sparing him or her the feeling of being emotionally manipulated. This book offers something of interest for all.

This book provides much detail about the bombing of Hamburg. For instance, those German civilians who went to basements all perished in the main firestorm area. But those who went to shelters with gas and smoke-tight doors had a good chance of survival. As an American of Polish descent, I appreciate the fact that Middlebrook recognizes the skill of Polish pilots and mechanics. He also notes the fact that the Poles were not to return to a free Poland, thanks to (western-permitted) Soviet domination.

This story of the Allied bombing of Hamburg, Germany begins 30 years before the actual attack with a description of the origin of stategic bombing. The book narrates the development of the technology that culminated in that nightmare of firestorm and destruction. It is also the story of the Allies's attempt to end the war by annihilating certain German cities.

On the night of July 28, 1943, a firestorm occurred, the result of the British "area bombing" method used in the attack on the city. The center of the storm, which covered a 4-square-mile area, is estimated to have reached a temperature of 800 degrees Centigrade. Survivors said the storm sounded "like the Devil laughing."

Middlebrook includes eyewitness accounts.American and British flyers described what they saw, heard and felt. German survivors describe the horrors they endured.

The author is a conscientious researcher and compassionate historian. He confronts issues that affect the political relationships of the USA, Britain and Germany; the bitterness that some Germans still harbor because of the bombing of residential areas, and the anger that victims of the Reich still have against the Germans. This book studies all viewpoints.

Books like THE BATTLE OF HAMBURG add valuable pieces to the puzzle of historical perpsective that we all need when we make political decisions at the ballot box.

Martin Middlebrook does his usual thorough research job, which includes excellent Order of Battle information, planning and operational details. Excellent diagrams for each raid shows where each aircraft was downed and where bombs were dropped. This is the story of four RAF and two USAF bomber raids on Hamburg between 25 July-3August 1943, in the first example of "round the clock bombing". This is also a useful case study to examine the British concept of night area bombing versus American daylight precision bombing. A total of 100 British aircraft were lost, as well as 552 airmen killed and 65 captured. The USAF lost 17 bombers in Hamburg raids, with 46 killed and 114 captured. The RAF dropped about 8,300 tons of bombs on Hamburg, the Americans about 300 tons.

These raids were unique in several respects. The first British raid used "Window" to successfully disrupt the German night-fighter defense. The second British raid created a firestorm that killed over 40,000 civilians in Hamburg. The two American raids were hampered by cloud cover and inflicted only minor damage on the U-Boat construction yards in the city. The Luftwaffe lost more than 13 aircraft defending the city and the defenses improved considerably in the course of just one week. Although the raids failed to disrupt U-Boat construction or erode German morale, Middlebrook feels that the raids did help to "grind" Germany down and force them to devote more resources to the defense of their cities. I find that Middlebrook's claims for the RAF bombing campaign somewhat exaggerated; they rarely bombed within 3 miles of their target and their bombers were shot down fairly easily (with few survivors).

There is a tremendous amount of detail in this volume which makes it well worth reading, even if aviation history is not one's primary interest. The full, ugly face of aerial bombing is also revealed, probably in more stark contrast than other works, since Middlebrook spends as much time describing civilians faced with firestorms as bomber crews going down. At the end, Middlebrook asks whether area bombing - specifically targetting civilian housing - was justified. His answer, that it was consistent with the mores and circumstances of the Second World War are somewhat questionable.