Slovakia Books

A powerful epoch told from the perspective of a 15-year-old boy forced to manhood by war and genocide, written 62 years later by one of this century's greatest thinkers. Following the capture and eventual murder of his family by Nazis in 1944 Slovakia, 15-year-old Paul seeks out and joins a band of partisan forces (anti-Nazi insurgents with minimal support of Stalin and Soviet forces. He miraculously survives raids and guerrilla attacks they initiate, despite being seriously outgunned.

The short and fast-paced book presents brilliant mix of Peter Fleming and Hortio Alger, telling the tale of a young man who survives dangers and adversity inconceivable today. It follows firsthand experience of Strassmann as a guerrilla fighter and saboteur, and later as a 16-year-old Corporal of the Czechoslovakian Army.

Paul Strassmann has written some of most profound works on matters of business productivity and information technology, and has taught at US Military Academy, West Point and GMU. "Paul's War" provides a new lens on the experiences that have shaped Strassman's thinking, while presenting an expert's view and firsthand perspective on some of the lesser-known or understood history of WW II.

A must read for anyone familiar with Strassmann's earlier work or those with even a cursory interest in WW II, the Eastern Front, the treatment and fate of Eastern European Jews, or the realities of totalitarianism. Should be required reading for every 15-year-old you know.

A selective history, interwoven with personal reminisces by the author, of a great European city under the thumb of the Nazis. Highly recommended.

Peter Demetz is both a cultural scholar and a witness. His compelling personal story, as a youthful civilian in and around wartime Prague, unfolds in scattered places throughout this book in beautiful, truthful, and understated prose.

Excellent, well-written book about one of the great cities of the world. Orderly, logical structure for the first-time visitor as well as for those who visit Prague often or live there. Not only a good writer but an accurate, non-revisionist historian. A pleasure to read and to share with others.

This is one of those books that you really have to hold in your hands to appreciate its qualities. It's worth at least the twenty dollars it costs on the basis of its quality paper and binding, but beyond that it represents a really remarkable and unique illustrated guide to the history of 20th century Czechoslovakia (now, The Czech Republic) as exemplified by the history of modern Prague. I own several books on Prague and Czech history and I've been there a few times, but this volume contains illustrations I've seen nowhere else. Examples include candid and fascinating pictures of late-imperial Prague, pictures made at the time of Czech independence from the crumbling Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918, along with many from the inter-war era and long night of Nazi occupation and Soviet domination, and 1989's "Velvet Revolution". Throughout the book the historical narrative and mostly black-and-white photography is augmented and considerably enriched by hundreds of full-color illustrations, including historical documents, advertising, and other artifacts. The book's few weaknesses include an evident lack of editorial discipline in the presentation of some of the material, and minor problems with the narrative text that I would describe as "mischaracterizations" rather than "inaccuracies". I also noted a few inconsistencies between the languages of the narrative (each block of text is presented in English, German, and French). But these are insignificant quibbles next to the great wealth of wonderful things this book offers. It is a small triumph of social and political history, photojournalism, graphic design, and production values, and it's difficult to drop it into a single category. I highly recommend it to those interested in Czech/European history, art, architecture, and design. And if you are planning to visit Prague, along with exposure to the vast, rich universe of Czech art, literature, music and film, and the also-excellent Knopf Guides series' Prague volume (which you should by all means bring with you), this book will provide you with an excellent context-setting overview of a remarkable city.

If you need to get some more information before you buy this valuable book, you can go on-line and visit following page:

Russia Abroad - a site dedicated to Russian Emiggration after 1917 not only in Prague or Czechoslovakia.

Russian Emigration after 1917: bio- and bibliographical database, e-text library, documents, photoarchive, research results, forum, caatalogue of relevant resources.

A oversize volume consisting mainly of 183 illustrations, most of them full-page and about half of them color. The color plates resemble Currier & Ives prints and would be suitable for framing if the book was broken up. Introductory text and captions in English.

Expertly edited by Milan Richter, "Milan Rufus: And That's the Truth" is the very first bilingual English/Slovak edition of Nobel literature prize candidate Milan Rufus' poetry. Stark black-and-white images by illustrator Koloman Sokol perfectly complement the brief, striking verses embodying the author's embrace of human values, Christian morality, and concept of homeland as a place where man's creativity can shine. Each short poem is presented in its original Slovak and in English translation, on facing pages. "Ordination for a Poet" (for Jozef Mihalkovic): Long ago / when sand still flowed, / God stopped the poet. / And to him said: // "Wherever you come from, / you are my child. / You will bring warmth to the world. // But for the words for each poem / you must enter the deep seams of home."

Excellent, foldout map of Slovakia with place names of even small villages listed in the index. Major Slovak roads are included on the map. The Legend is provided in multiple languages including Slovak and English. The only thing missing from this map is an insert section with enlargements of the bigger towns.
Place markers are provided for airports, parks, tourism, churches & monasteries, history, castles, hostels, spas and camp sites.
Also included (because they border Szlovakia) are the eastern half of the Czech Republik, southern Poland, northern Hungary, the eastern edge of Austria, and the western edge of Ukraine. Highly recommended!

This was a great book. It explained the history of the various Slovak people and our great heritage. Being of Slovak decent I found this very informative and a lot of my family legends make since due to what happened in our peoples history. There are not many books on the Slovaks but this is a must have for anyone interested. Note that Mr. Oddo wrote this book before the fall of the iron curtain so it ends with the Soviet occupation. But that doesn't change the other 9000 years of history here. I highly recommend this book.