Lithuania Books

The question whether the Baltic states might have been able to withstand dire Soviet pressure and the consequent march into their territories in 1939 and 1940, is an interesting and frequently discussed "what if "issue of the Baltic region's history as well as that of the Second World War. Magnus Ilmjarv is looking for the answer to that in the meticulous analysis of the foreign policy and internal developments of the Baltic states (above all in Estonia) beginning with mid-1920ies.

The volume of the book and the amount of research done suggests the author doesn't jump to quick conclusions. He makes plain, however, that in 1939-40 political elites of the Baltic states reaped what they had sown by their domestic and foreign policies during previous five, six years. Baltic governments and politicians at that time turned out to be too selfish, corrupt and indecisive to dedicate themselves fully to the cause of continued development of their countries defense abilities. After Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was concluded, Baltic governments came to a painful realization that they don't have allies in Europe, and even more - they had not even managed in the previous years to create any foundation for concerted action between themselves. With astonishing accuracy the book reveals that even in those critical days of Autumn 39, the inertia of the past years prevailed and Baltic politicians did not share the information about their respective negotiations in Moscow. Fear reigned. Whereas Finland at that time was parliamentary democracy, the Baltic states were governed by autocratic governments. The people were paralyzed in action and ill-led, the crucial decisions had been taken by a limited number of people and the majority could not speak its mind.

Although for a reader without extended knowledge about the Baltic states the book may prove to be too detailed, at the end it touches the core of the issue - the question whether to fight the soviets in 1940 was irrelevant, because silent submission of the Baltic states in fact had happened much, much earlier.

What a wonderful book! It really touched my heart. My mother, who was born and grew up in Lithuania at the same time as the author, recommended it to me. The author wrote with fondness of a special time in Lithuania, between the two World Wars, when life was good and living sweet. As the first in my family to have been born in the United States, it helped me understand the world from which my own parents came. The book is a kind of "Gone With the Wind" of a Lithuanian lifestyle which can only now be remembered never quite to be experienced in the same way. The author writes in such detail, however, that you can imagine you are almost there. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it as truly a pleasure to read.

The review by Karen Breda is pretty comprehensive, I dont know how much there is to add, but this short novel really impressed me. I've read a lot of books about the Holocaust, both fiction and nonfiction, and this story, told as a simple parable, is one of the most powerful. There is the story set in the Vilna ghetto and the Biblical parallel of Abraham and Isaac. The author names the father and son Abraham and Isaac. This is a book that is not to be read literally for plot, although the author apparently survived the Vilna ghetto. Atrocities committed by the Nazis are more hinted at than described, which to me makes the story more effective. I also think the author was showing people as they should act, rather than as they may actually have acted. With each chapter he raises a moral dilemma. If you are looking for a realistic story about Vilna during the Second World War, I'd say try Anya by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. That is not the intent of this book, but it is thought provoking, comparing life to a game of chess.

When I had first read it as a child, I never realised that this might have been translated into English. My English teacher had recommended this as a starter reading.
Magical is all I can say. The moral of the story is never stated, but is clear at the end. I still remember that I used to look for the longest stories, and that it prepared me well as I went to Enid Blyton and then higher.
In short, enjoyable stories, well told. Highly recommended for children upto ... I guess 13?

Israel Cohen has presented a fascinating portrait of a city that owes much of its cultural legacy to the Yiddish community that thrived in it from the 15th century onward. Cohen undertook this complex task prior to WWII and wrote an epilogue following the genocide that took place in Lithuania during the German occupation, 1941-3.

Cohen's judgement seemed to be reserved due to the fact that the genocide came as such a shock to the Jewish community. Vilna was considered to be one of the few safe havens during World War II for Jews. Vilnius had a remarkable history of being an open city, tolerant of a wide array of cultures and religions, which was what Mr. Cohen chose to focus on. He made no excuses for the genocide but rather illustrated the dynamics of this ever-changing city and how Vilnius, and in turn Lithuania, simply was not able to bear up under the pressures of World War II.

He charted the various occupations of the city by the Poles, Russians, Soviets and Germans. Lithuanians seemed to be almost peripheral figures in this dramatic ebb and flow. An essentially benevolent nobility that offered its protection to the Yiddish community and constantly renewed its charters so that it could thrive within the often adverserial climate of the city.

All that changed with the Russian occupation in the 19th century. Lithuanian Jews found themselves conscripted into the army just like Jews throughout the Russian empire, but somehow they managed to hold together a tight-knit community that had many leading lights including the most famous Gaon Elijah.

The book is well worth reading for it provides a rare glimpse into the dynamics of this Medieval city that was shaped by an astonishing array of forces.

Will Lithuania Comstock Please Come to the Courtesy Phone? is a really good book! Angie (a girl in the book) misses her plane. Her parents are on a ship for a week and so she doesn't have anywhere to stay. So she stays at the airport. Her father had given he $75.00 for her week on her trip. She thought that would last her forever. Well it doesn't! She got rid of it very quickly! She meets a girl, named Val and they go on lots of adventures. All of a sudden after day goes by the security guards get really suspicious! I can't tell you the real exciting parts of the story or the end because I want you to read the book! So please do! I gave this book a 5 star rating. I did this becasue it is a really great book and I think it is the best that Marcia Savin wrote.

Written by Myra Sklarew and translated into Yiddish by David Wolpe, The Witness Trees is an amazing bilingual (English/Yiddish) compendium of poetry, eyewitness accounts, and a moving historical narrative of Lithuanian Jewish history. The Witness Trees includes Dovid Kartz's introductory essay on "Jewish Lithuania and a Shtel called Keidan", and David Wolpe's "The Destruction of Keidan". This is followed by a Preface, and then Myra Skalrew's "Lithuania". The Witness Trees is strongly recommended reading for students of Judaic and Holocaust Studies, as well as anyone with an interest in Yiddish literature and translation.

I read a lot of history books, but I don't review very many. In fact, I think this is only my second review of a history text. I think it's because I don't want to come across looking like an idiot since I'm only an amateur historian. :D

However, Iron Kingdom was so good that it inspired me to write something here. I bought this book purely for research purposes, but once I started reading, I devoured not only the chapters relevant to the time period I was researching, but the entire book. Clark has an engaging way of writing that kept me up late several nights, thinking, 'Okay, just a couple more pages, then I'll go to sleep'. Maybe I'm just odd, but I got as much enjoyment and suspense out of reading this as I do from works of fiction.

The only real gripe I have is that Clark tended to gloss over large chunks of time and events. I realize this is going to happen in a work of this magnitude; if he'd gone into minute detail on every bit of the three and a half centuries the book covers, we would've had a 1500 hundred page book instead of the already hefty 680 pages (not including notes and bibliography). And maybe that's actually a good thing; by keeping the narrative flowing, my interest was more than engaged from beginning to end. But still, I wanted a little more in certain parts...

Overall, from my layman's perspective, Iron Kingdom was a very worthwhile read, and I'll definitely be referring to it and re-reading it time and again.

For those of us who just had a general idea about how Prussia expanded from a provincial backwater (Brandenburg) into one of the most formidable power players in Europe, Christopher Clark's welcome and detailed history of Prussia fills in the blanks.

Brandenburg was a landlocked territory in central Europe, with few resources, no coastline, and well-trampled by foreign armies coming and going. How did this modest electorate become the power that it became? Clark writes thoroughly about how Brandenburg survived and grew, especially through the efforts of Frederick William (The Great Elector) and Frederick the Great. The latter's invasion of Silesia turned the power balance of central Europe upside down, with Austria no longer having full hegemony over that region.

As with most modern histories, Clark tries to give us a new way of looking at the stereotypes, in this case the equating of Prussia with militarism which is so ingrained. In some respects he is a bit too revisionist, but he does paint a broader picture of Prussian culture and also why a strong military was absolutely vital for Prussian survival. Clark portrays Prussia as progressive in many ways and not just a military camp posing as a nation-state.

Having acquired or conquered places like Silesia, Saxony and Pomerania, greater Prussia was a mish-mash of nationalities, not the pure German state that it is sometimes portrayed to be. The maps at the front of the book show how far flung the nation became, and how much more difficult it became to keep it secure. During the Napoleonic Wars Clark shows how Prussia's geography put it in an impossible situation, right along France's invasion route to Russia. Much of what Bismarck accomplished later in the century was to prevent Prussia from ever becoming that vulnerable again.

It's heavy reading at times, but there are many chapters than can be read separately when the reader chooses, especially those that have to do with social and cultural issues. Overall there is a lot of detailed Prussian history here that will enlighten the history buff and give a fresh perspective to this topic.

This book was fascinating. It was incredibly interesting to read how a country with few natural resources rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe--and then disappeared without a trace after WWII. The author writes extremely well and has produced a very readable book. I recommend it very highly.

Most people think of Prussia as this monolithic kingdom that grew like a cancer in central europe for three hundred years. In reality, it was Brandenberg and the Hohenzollens that created a myth and an empire. Prussia was never more than the far eastern province (and an agrarian one to boot) of what became the German Empire in 1871. In point of fact, Prussia was never part of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", but the remains of the lands of the "Teutonic Knights" who settled the land in the 1400s so as to 'civilize and christianize' the savage pagan prussians who lived in the area.

Since Brandenberg was an Elector-ship in the HRE, and the first king in the Hohenzollen line was "King in Prussia", the title and name stuck. For most Germans, those in the area of current Germany, Prussians were a stock character like Vermonters or Iowans. A little bit odd and definitely not very cultured. They were always pictured as a comical figure in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, even in Berlin.

Now, Prussia is the major part of northern Poland, though all the names have been polonized and most of the history obliterated. But then the area around Stettin (Szczecin) which was Swedish Pomerania, doesn't show any of it's earlier history either.

Like so many myths, Prussia was a 'fantasy', and it was created by men like Bismarck and Goebbels to serve a purpose as a rallying cry. Like most myths there was some truth to the story, but it was twisted in so many ways to fit the myth, to be unrecognizable. The strength of the story is the 'story behind the story' which is very well represented here. But you will not find a 'military history' here, but the history of a culture and a dynasty.

I will say it again this book was outstanding. This is one of the best historical works I have ever read. Clark is an eminent scholar and an excellent writer as well. This book offers the reader a wealth of knowledge and information in a style that is both eloquent and entertaining.

One of the things that most struck me about this book was the level of intimacy with which the author writes about the different figures and times. The author's level of erudition is such that the reader feels as though they are reading a contemporary account of events rather than a work written 300 years after the fact. The author's knowledge and scholarly dedication allows the author to write with an authority that comes through very clearly, and it is this authority that gives this work so much power.

The author's style made this, rather large, work an easy and enjoyable read. The pages simply turn themselves. Not only does the author have a very readable style, but his prose and ability to turn phrases would rival any literary work. As someone who has read a few history books, quite a few of which were rather dry, it is rare to find an author who knows his subject this thoroughly and is also a talented writer as well.

What I really like about these types of histories (when they are done well that is) is that they give the reader a broader perspective. Instead of taking a particular figure or moment in history and studying it in isolation, detached from earlier influential events, the reader gets to see history as a continuous, free flowing force that affects individuals and whole nations alike. If you want to understand German history or Prussian history this book is a must because the author not only hits major historical events but speaks on the philosophical undercurrents that drove those events. Mr. Clark writes in great detail about how events such as the enlightenment influenced Prussian leaders and the state.

This is an amazing work that should be on anyone's reading list who is interested in Prussian or European history. It is indispensable.

The two best books I have read on what it was like to live through the Holocaust have been "Childrens" books. This is one of the two books. It is not a childs book. It is a stirring story of survival through experiences that would severely try anyones will. It is a book for everyone.

I am a researcher and writer of this time period. Sometimes, I pick up a book like this, and I feel I have read it already before I have even begun. After awhile, and enough research, you think you are becoming somewhat numb to the evil. Then I read something like this book and my heart is pierced once again.

Should the author read this review, I wish to say to you:

May God bless you for the rest of the years that remain.

This was a truly amazing book. Since the author (not even going to attempt to spell the name) was alive and went through the holocaust she knew first hand what it was like. I remember at the beginning I was waiting for like talking and dialouge but then I realized it wasn't happing and at the beginning it just kind of seemed like the author was introducing something but as you get farther and farther in the book you don't have that feeling anymore you keep wanting to know what else could possibly be worse than what this people are going through and waiting for what is going to happen to these people next! Great to learn about Holocaust and easy EASY non-fiction read!

My daughter needed this in a matter of days for a project. As always Amazon came thru.

The story by Shoshana Rabinovici-Weksler about her family in Pre-WWII Vilnius(Vilna), and how the whole family found different ways to survive daily nazi actions in Ghetto Vilna, through the liquidation of the Ghetto when basically almost all Jewish population of Vilnius was killed in a matter of four days.
Then her and her mother's struggle to continue thru a concentration camp, the Death March and the liberation.
But the most powerful image in the story is her Mother, who did for her daughter more than anybody can possibly imagine or even trying to imagine.
Very very painful and tragic story, highly highly recommend to anybody whether he/she knows about Holocaust or knows very little.
Thank You Shoshana for sharing with us!

Susie Weksler was only eight years old when the Nazis invaded her city of Vilnius, Lithuania.
The family would be forced to endure starvation and fear, and she describes the experience of hiding with other Jewish families and children in the Malina (the underground tunnels and sewers of Vilnius), where she describes the death of a baby who was smothered when his father tried to keep him quiet.

Worse was to come.
With the help of her mother who saved her by disguising her as being 16 years old when she was only ten, and filled her with a strong spirit of survival, Susie survived three concentration camps, and a "death march".

The book describes heart wrenching and disturbing scenes of the horrors imposed upon the victims of the Nazi inferno, scenes you will never forget.
The death camp where Susie and her mother were interned was liberated in January 1945, only three of her family had survived.
The book included the English translations of the poems Susie wrote in the ghetto and the camps.
They are powerful and inspiring and show a gem of a spirit:

The Time is Not Far

There will come a time
and the time is not far
when from east and west,
from every side
light will arrive
and a warm wind
and the clouds will
all disappear quickly
Oh, believe me my friend,
the time is not far.

This is one of the richest, most descriptive and engaging accounts by survivors of the Holocaust and I would strongly recommend it as a high school set work book.

Susie immigrated to Israel in 1950, where she did her military service and married and still lives today.
Her mother died in 1974.
Most Holocaust survivors and most descendants of Holocaust survivors live in Israel today.

Had great service. Recieved book fast and was in great shape. Would order from them again.

I got a great book at a great price and fast shipping.

'Night of the Hawk' was my second book I read on late 90s. Although it is a sequel strory from 'Flight of the Old Dog'. Brown has given me a view of cold-weather country in Balkans where I have never been there at all. I could feel the cold of the weather but the story even coldest and chilling! But also Brown's wrote a story about a new warfare in it...I really eager wanted to see the mysterious stealth plane. Brilliant Story and it's recommended for those who have a military aviation enthusiast.

Dave Luger was listed as KIA five years ago. Now in this gripping novel it has been discovered that he has survived and is being held by the KGB. In Night of the Hawk a rescue mission unfolds trying bring Luger back into U.S custody. Dale Brown puts readers right into the action by giving them a third person omniscient view so that they can see the plot unfold from different points of view. He uses his knowledge of military technology to explain everything so that the readers will be pulled even further into his novel. He also tells how spies are converted into to being double agents so that people will understand why some people break. In one of the best shows of military writing Brown makes you want to keep reading his excellent book He combines action, drama, and technology into a whirlwind of word that are matched by few. What Tom Clancy did for the nave, Dale Brown has done for special force. He explains the HAWC air force base in Nevada and how they test new technology to improve America's fighting force. Brown uses characters for the first time instead of using previous character as the center of focus. He sums it up by bring it to a close with the U.S, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States to the brink of a nuclear was as missiles fly and soldiers march in what could become World War three. The U.S marines are pitted against Byelorussians force along with a mixture of fixer and rotor wing aircraft, armored personal carriers and tanks. The U.S is trying to achieve without being detected and blamed for cause trouble in NW Asia. Excellent book for all military fiction lover

Another epic technothriller of redundant proportions. "Hawk" follows the adventures of Pat Maclanahan and the crew of the "Old Dog" in post-Soviet Europe. Brown's novels circulate through several geo-political hot-spots (China, Iran and former east-bloc states). Here, the accent is on the Baltic states, upon which former soviet Russia (not "former" enough for Brown's liking) seeks to reassert her power. Lithuanians trying to remake their country must stand alone against the might of the Russian military. Meanwhile, Russian hardliners inside of Lithuania hope to bring the former east-bloc state into the Russian fold - apparently by creating an extensive laboratory called Fisikous that designs and builds high-tech weapons, including a stealthy strike-fighter designed by the captured American Dave Lugar and patterned along the same technology as the EB-52. As Russian aggression becomes more overt, American forces bolster a coalition of Turkish and Lithuanian warplanes to turn back the tide.

This was a peculiarly messy Brown novel, adding to the problems you normally run up against in his books. For one thing - what's it even about? The specter of a powerful post-Soviet Russia using its military to rebuild its Soviet-era supremacy isn't a new idea for Brown (or one he'll abandon - witness "Warrior Class"). There is no central threat that must be eliminated by a certain deadline, so there's no tension or any sense that the story is building to a climax the way "Storming Heaven" did. We're supposed to root for the brave Lithuanians who quickly become the "Davids" in a high-tech David-and-Goliath story, but when their leader reveals that he's training an army of warriors patterned after Lithuania's medieval knights, you wonder how loopy "David" can be while remaining the favored underdog. The subplot about wicked ex-Soviets designing and building high-tech weaponry ready for battle is ludicrous. As a former air warrior himself, Brown must appreciate that you need more than fancy computers to actually turn out a prototype airplane - let alone one that can integrate a complex weapons and sensors suite and take the punishment of combat. Furthermore, with the Soviet position as unpopular in Lithuania as Brown can make it, it's impossible to reasonably imagine what good these Soviet wannabes can expect from their gleaming weaponry. (You figure that the pricetag of any one of Fiskous's aircraft, these Russian hardliners could arm thousands of Russian convicts with assault rifles and RPG's and airdrop them into Lithuania). Instead, as if on an episode of "Airwolf", the bad guys decide to cast caution to the wind, and duke it out against the heroes in the air. It's almost as if the researchers of Fisikous are in another book entirely - while Europe struggles to throw off the yoke of the new Russia, these guys sit around their labs arguing about aerodynamics and radar cross-section. Ofcourse, Brown doesn't let the plotting get too far along (when it does, he quickly summarizes everything) before fast-forwarding to the action - which in "Hawk" alternate between air warfare scenes and blatant Clinton bashing (whether you loved the Clinton years or loved to hate the Clintons themselves, and unless you're a rabid basher of Billary, you're likely to find Brown's barbs gratuitous at best and outright malicious at worst).

The story's biggest weakness is meant to be its surprise - Dave Lugar returns! Feared dead when left behind at the end of the original "Flight of the Old Dog", we now know that he was "rescued" by the Russians, who brainwashed him into turning over America's deepest military aviation secrets. Somehow passed to Fisikous, he's become the unwitting creative genius behind its stealthy fighter. Unfortunately, Lugar's story is only one of many details from other Brown books to make an appearance here. Brown obviously likes the idea that he's created a continuum of characters whose lives are wider than the covers of any one of his books. Unfortunately, the characters are so one-note (Brown prefers to summarize them in miniature dossiers rather than develop them as organic characters) that any attention paid to their adventures in other books seems out of place and distracting. This creates an odd paradox: you've had to have read any of the other books to appreciate the significance of the references Brown makes to them, but "Hawk" so follows the formula of those older books without bringing anything new to the reader, that Browns fans will have the least fun reading this one. We still have overly exhaustive explanations of how new weapons are based on what's tried and true of existing technology, Brown's pilots still exchange extended long dialog while flying their high-performance aircraft into battle, Brown's villains (liberals, Russians and US Naval officers) continue to annoy, and Brown himself treats his stories as an opportunity to demonstrate everything he knows about the military - even when the plot or the need to develop it in get in the way. Whether Brown's details are even correct is a subject I'll save for "true brothers". Grasp of details, however, is not the same thing as making those details flesh out the story or even the scenes in which all of that technology comes to bear. Though by the end of "Hawk" you'll know what a radar-warning receiver sounds like, or what an EW display looks like, the thrill of flying in combat is missing - Brown neglected to give his characters enough feeling to convey the rigors of being shot at while flying at 600 mph. This is one of Brown's weaker books - fans should opt instead for "Skymasters" or "Battle Born".