Germany Books

I admit I don't know much about art, that's why I read this book. I learned a lot about the Dada movement and also about Ms. Hoch. I'm still not sure if she is much of an artist, but I know she makes a damn fine sandwich.

This is a wonderful resource for information on Hannah Hoch, and Berlin dada. Great account of Hannah's life,
and a complete collection of her work.

This short book is an excellent introduction to the new Czech Republic. It begins with a quick look at the geography and climate of the country, and them moves into its history. After that, it does a wonderful job of explaining the Czech Republic, including (but not limited to) its religion, politics, economy, and even the problems facing it. All this is done in a mere 67 pages, but it nonetheless gives the reader a comprehensive understanding of the country.

I enjoyed the layout of this book; it includes many black-and-white pictures, many interesting sidebars, and even a chronology at the back. If you are interested in the Czech Republic, and want a short, concise introduction to the country, then I recommend that you read this book.

My wife and I recently participated in a cultural exchange between Britain and the Czech Republic (CZR). Our library yielded an armful of guide books and coffee-table picture books.

But for our purposes, Mr. Otfinoski's book took the prize. Though intended for younger readers, it offers engaging reading for anyone. The subject matter seems well researched, the writing is lucid, and each chapter includes a selection of bibliographic references. There are plenty of illustrations, mainly black and white but well chosen and relevant to the text they support. Most of all, the book gives a clear outline of the CZR's recent history and paints a believable picture of its current politics, business, culture, and everyday life.

Since the publisher's description hasn't been included in the Amazon listing, here is the table of contents:

1. An Introduction to the Land and Its People

2. From a Medieval Kingdom to a Modern Nation

3. Czechoslovakia under Two Brutal Masters (1918-1985)

4. The Velvet Revolution and the Velvet Divorce (1989-present)

5. Government

6. Religion

7. The Economy

8. Culture

9. Daily life

10. The Cities and Towns

11. Present Problems and Future Solutions

Back Matter: Chronology, Further Reading, and Index

I started reading this book just a few days ago and have'nt even finished reading it. After reading just a few pages I became thoroughly engrossed. It is exellent! I want to get extra copies to pass on to family members who will enjoy it also. I could'nt wait to finish this book before writing a review because I am so enthusiastic about it. The book is about a mother who was Jewish and converted to Catholicism in the late 1930's and her two daughters and the struggles they faced to survive in Germany during WW2. The book details everyday life and the upheavals experienced by the author and is a great read and is highly recommended.

This book is a touching, but serious memoir of the authors life growing up in Nazi Germany. The detailed description of her mother is realistic, as she is filled with both strong supportive and loving characteristics, but also had a deep dark history and was at times, a very difficult person to be with. I would highly recommend this book.

Mr. Levy has written a gripping story that could qualify as an action filled, suspenseful, first rate novel. The added dimensions of ethnicity, youthfulness and brashness, and knowing the story is true make it all the more remarkable. A wonderful tale!

Describes with dramatic tension and sympathetic humour, the gap between a young Jewish airman's high expectations of the glamour and rewards offered by joining the R.A.F and the real world Shot down,a young Jewish airman parachutes down into Nazi occupied Germany.

This is an outstanding book on the battle of Mars-La-Tour which also gives an excellent account of the lead-up to and aftermath of the battle so one gets a good feel for how the actions of the protagonists affected subsequent events. The author is a bit more sympathetic towards Marshal Bazaine than some other writers, without in any way minimising his responsibility for the catastrophe that France suffered in 1870, and more critical than many on von Moltke. After reading this book one begins to see just why the French were so aggressive in their battle tactics in 1914, with the tragic results that shaped much of 20th century French history. This book should be read alongside the excellent books by Howard and Wawro on the Franco-Prussian War.

A Day of Battle is an excellent tactical-level account of the Battle of Mars-la-Tour on 16 August 1870, which author David Ascoli claims not only decided the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War but the future of Europe. For readers accustomed to operational-level accounts by Howard and Wawro that discuss the war in toto, Ascoli's narrative offers an interesting dissection of the conflict from the ground level. However much of the author's narrative focuses on the odd behavior of the French commander who threw away potential victory at both Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte-St. Privat: Marshal Bazaine. Both battles were unusual in that a string of German mistakes and favorable terrain offered the French a real chance to inflict crushing defeats on the Germans, but in each case the opportunity was wasted.

The first third of A Day of Battle Consists of the period leading up to Mars-la-Tour, including the outbreak of war, mobilization and the frontier battles. After suffering several tactical defeats on the border against the invading German armies, Ascoli describes how the two main French armies - one under Marshal MacMahon and the other under Marshal Bazaine - were ordered to fall back toward Paris to regroup. Marshal Bazaine's Army of the Rhine managed to elude the German pursuit and reach the fortified supply base at Metz, from whence he was supposed to continue the retreat to Verdun in order to link-up with MacMahon's army. However, Bazaine delayed the march to Verdun for crucial hours, allowing the pursuing Germans to slip a corps-size blocking force around his flank and block the Metz-Verdun road. The center third of Ascoli's book covers the resulting Battle of Mars-la-Tour that frustrated any chance for a French withdrawal, and the final third of the book covers the follow-up Battle of Gravelotte-St. Privat two days later. The section on Mars-la-Tour is particularly detailed and includes sketch maps that depict the battle on a hour-by-hour basis, as well as numerous photographs of the terrain. The author also provides a detailed order of battle for both sides, illustrations of all the key leaders, and an appendix on French logistics; this is first-rate military history writing.

Ascoli views Bazaine as essentially incompetent and promoted beyond his ability, rather than the traditional views which ascribe either political self-interest or treason as his motives. Bazaine had risen from private to Marshal in a brilliant career, but Ascoli portrays him as a man uncomfortable with high-level command, particularly with subordinates who were senior in time-in-grade. Furthermore, Ascoli believes that Bazaine's obsession with the security provided him by the fortress of Metz dominated his thinking; instead of retiring on Verdun, Bazaine wanted to remain at Metz - even if surrounded - and await "rescue" by MacMahon's army. If he had to fight, Bazaine would fight only defensively and invite the aggressive Germans to dash themselves to pieces on his impregnable positions. While Ascoli's interpretation is interesting, it is not that convincing. Bazaine had already been a general for a decade and had performed well in high command in Mexico. Bazaine's numerous command failures in August 1870 - failure to put out reconnaissance, failure to provide adequate orders to subordinates, failure to commit his reserve, failure to even visit the front-line units, abandoning 5,000 of his wounded on the battlefield - are clear evidence of a gross dereliction of duty, not mere ineptitude. Even a bad general, after ten years of command experience, has some idea how to issue orders or he could not function. Bazaine's problem was more likely defeatism - which Ascoli notes that he voiced early in the campaign - and which caused him to mentally "stack arms." Bazaine just wanted to hunker down in Metz and keep his army intact, while doing as little as possible to tarnish his reputation. Instead, he threw both reputation and army away.

Ascoli's account is also very interesting in exposing German blunders, which are normally glossed over in standard campaign histories. General von Moltke, the German Chief of Staff, is not the paragon of military virtue in these pages, but a general whose mistakes were redeemed by French ineptitude. The "brilliantly planned" German envelopment that brought about the battle of Mars-la-Tour completely misjudged the location of the French army and exposed the German 2nd Army to piece-meal destruction. The German III Corps, the first unit to bump into the French near Mars-la-Tour, quickly attacked the French main body; this was the only battle in the war where the French had a large numerical superiority. Ascoli's hour-by-hour account of the German III Corps aggressive fight with Bazaine's much larger army is quite stirring and offers considerably more detail than those by Howard or Wawro. However, it seems that the German III Corps could have accomplished its mission of blocking the road to Verdun without becoming decisively engaged - and suffering 30% losses - against a French army that sat virtually immobile for most of the battle. Indeed, the Germans were over-aggressive and kept hurling units at the French, like Wedell's brigade which suffered 57% casualties in 30 minutes. Ultimately, the Germans succeeded in cutting Bazaine's escape route although tactically the battle was close to a draw.

The final section of the subsequent battle of Gravelotte-St. Privat is nearly as detailed and clearly highlights German mistakes and Bazaine's failure to snatch victory when it was offered. In particular, the multiple idiotic frontal assaults by von Steinmetz across the Mance Ravine that costs thousands of German casualties and von Moltke's failure to reign in a dangerously insubordinate commander demonstrate that the German war machine was not so invincible in 1870. The Germans could have been beaten, but not by this lot of French commanders who lacked any battlefield initiative.

Leonard Baker's Pulitzer Prize winning biography is an compilation of the life of one of history's greatest unknowns. In addition to taking the reader through the life of the "seelsorger" known as Leo Baeck, Baker shows the changes in Germany from the beginning of the twentieth century through the horrors of the Second World War. One can see first hand how the bitterness losing in World War I evolved into the greatest and most frightening regimes to ever take power. This book is perfect for those interested in German history, the Holocaust, and anyone who loves biographies. By the end of this book, you will answer Patrick Dolan's question of, "Who the Hell is Leo Baeck?"

I was impressed by this book and am not surprised that it won the Pultizer Prize. It was a well written telling of the struggles of the German Jews.

I had heard about Rabbi Baeck several years ago but had never read about his life. He was a brilliant scholar and very influential in Reformed Judaism. I'd have liked to know more about his wife. She was an essential companion in his life.

He refused to go to the Gestapo office on his Holy days even when commanded. He remained a great source of courage to the Jewish community and refused to leave them even when offered safe emigration.

He is a great example of a man of peace. I once read in a magazine his moving and controversial prayer for the forgiveness of the Nazis. This is an excellent and readable book.

very thought provoking and well written

Prof. Schweller deserves all the compliments that he might get. "Deadly Imbalances" is a real masterpiece, poisedly merging theoretical discussion with an accurate applied analysis on an empirical case (World War II). The author's modeling departs from Waltz's neorealism, but the structural perspective is soon amended, with the inclusion of one variable that is strictly on the unit level (the state's interest). This modification approximates his scheme to classical realism, with great gains to ad hoc analysis, like the one he does. Important to say that the historical research is very good too, remarkable in a study done by a political scientist. This book should be considered a good and commendable example of case study in the International Relations area.

Tremendous group of personal recollections of various soldiers fighting for Germay at the end of WWII. A braod range of perspectives are presented from that of 15 yo flak crew relatively removed from the front lines to seasoned SS non-coms fighting their way out of a russian pocket to a staff officer involved in the surrender of Berlin.

The way the SS maintained discipline even after they knew all was lost was gripping, and really provided a different view of this organization.

Likewise the loyality of young flak soldiers to theie units also provided another example of batlles being won and lost to people who are first loyal to thier comrades over thier general officier or country.

The book is well footnoted, but probably could have used a few more clarifications.

The postscripts regarding what hapened to each person was good, but a larger postscript on treatment after capture would have also been good. (I.e., some soldiers were quickly released, while others, specifically the SS, were held for some time, and the Russians released many captives only to later arrest them, and held some prisoners for 10 years. Some explaination of this would have been good.)

However these are nits and do not take away from the strength of this book.

Author Tony Le Tissier's "With Our Backs to Berlin" was an outstanding collection of personal histories of German soldiers (and one Russian) fighting in and around Berlin at the end of World War II.

The same author's "Death Was Our Companion" is a similar excellent, although somewhat broader based, compilation of the personal recollections of German soldiers in a variety of rearguard actions toward the end of the Second World War, primarily around Berlin.

Also included is an enlightening recollection by a German Army Colonel who was directly involved in the surrender negotiations with the Russians. This alone, depicting the state of events at the very end in Berlin, immediately after Hitler's death, is of immense historical value and worth the price of the book by itself. For example, on one occasion when the Colonel is trying to get through his own lines to the Soviets to conduct negotiations, he is met with catcalls that "Germans never surrender" and he was a "traitor". Earlier, he invokes an order from Martin Bormann to obtain an escort to Goebbels to discuss the status of the negotiations but is told "only SS orders" apply here.

These recollections (over a dozen in all) are written in the same engaging first-hand writing style the author used in "Our Backs to Berlin" that draws the reader into the action.

There are a few minor drawbacks: (1) a couple of the recollections here (and several of the two dozen or so photos) are also included in the author's "Slaughter at Halbe", however, the recollections in "Slaughter at Halbe" were presented in a disjointed and piecemeal manner but here they are told in full and the result is a more complete account from their perspective; (2) several maps are included but they are not always that easy to decipher, however, this may be the result of the printing process (i.e., paper and ink used) and not the maps themselves; (3) the index contains several mistakes, listing names correctly but the pagination is wrong.

The book also includes excellent footnotes by the author explaining many facets (places, persons, events) of each story. (One exception is the author claims in a footnote that Martin Bormann committed suicide while attempting a break-out from the Reichs Chancellery the night of May 1-2, 1945. This was news to me as I had always thought his whereabouts after the war, much less his death, were never confirmed; although I am aware that a claim was made in 1972 that his body was found, I do not believe that was ever verified to everyone's satisfaction (i.e., countries outside of West Germany) as there were claims the West German government was engaged in a cover-up.)

Overall, this is a very absorbing account of many facets of the end of the Third Reich. Essential reading for students of World War II and Nazi Germany.

his book is an essential book in the holocaust library and in a general history of WWII library. It is a story of a middle-class Berlin Jewish family that chose to defy relocation to the ghettos of East and survived the war and Hitler's own war on the Jewish people, all the while living and working in Berlin. The author was hiding and fleeing two enemies: the allied bombing and the Nazies. There are details in the book of events inside the Third Reich that I have never read before. Henry Lebrecht's book is well written, suspenseful, and filled with personal and historical anecdotes. The descriptions of the allied bombings of Berlin and of the author's encounters with the Gestapo are nothing but gripping. This book is a monument to the human spirit of survival, and that also includes the Berliners who had to endure daily bombing for months on end. This is a must read for students of WWII.

One last note: The publisher of this book is XLibris, a POD, a publish on demand company. This large and momumental work by Mr. Lebrecht is a sure indication that in the book buisness POD, like indy music in the recording buisness, has come of age and that reviewers, book distributors and book stores had better pay attention; their world is changing.

Defiance: A Life behind Enemy Lines
By Henry Lebrecht

I had the honor of reading the Manuscript of over 1000 pages of this incredible story. The day by day happenings of Henry and his brother as they struggled in the city of Berlin trying to survive in hiding from the Nazi's. I know that my brother in law Henry Lebrecht had a strong desire to get his story on paper, for the world to see how truly evil Hitler was and the misery he caused. Though not everyone had the courage to hide as he did and was lucky enough to survive. This book is one that all students should read in all countries and in all languages. He shows a defiance,and courage of a few people who refused to be defeated. My deep regret is that Henry Lebrecht died in February 2005 and never had the joy of seeing his book published. This is a book that everyone should read.

Anne Lebrecht. Author.

Also recommended: 'Memories of a Forgotten Past' 'Discoveries of a Hidden Past'

When you mention Michael Frayn's name in theatre circles, you'll likely conjure up images of his classic metatheatrical farce "Noises Off." But his recent dramatic works, including this, his current, have the potential to be more powerful, more influential and more epoch-making in the world of comtemporary theatre.

Based on the rise of Germany's first left-of-center coalition government since the Weimar Republic, headed by the legendary, painfully conflicted Willy Brandt, and his collapse in the wake of a Societ-bloc spy scandal, this play lays bare the fragility of international relations at the height of the Cold War. Structurally, it's a memory play from the point of view of the East German spy, Gunter Guillaume, with scenes shifting as his personal narrative demands. No specified set, few props, and only a handful of required light and sound cues make this a fairly easy staging.

Unless you count the actors and the director.

The director and the ten-member, all-male cast needs to research the history of divided Germany, the personalities of highly esoteric public figures, and even at one point the Norwegian language. Thankfully large portions of the information necessary to savvy the background for the play are found in a lengthy and detailed afterword, saving a great deal of headache in the creative process. But that doesn't take care of everything; these figures loom large in the history of the Twentieth Century, and recreating them on stage is work.

But the play is accessible, discussing technical aspects of German history without getting bogged down in dull repetitive detail. The characters are engaging and humanely rounded. The events happened nearly forty years ago, but they feel like they're happening right now.

This play is not for general audiences; its slow, contemplative pace and its interest in a political figure most Americans have never heard of will put of casual theatre-goers. But for dedicated fans of history, politics, and theatre, this articulate and thoughtful play will leave you with plenty to chew on long after the final curtain has wrung down.

A riveting play about the nature of representative democracies, human relationships and the cold war. Michael Frayn's best play.