Personal Pages Books

Given as a gift and told it's a joy to tear a new page each day! Always count your blessings!

It has been a lovely experience to spend a moment or two each day thinking about those things that are quite often taken for granted. The only caveat is that whenever a food item is mentioned, I find that I develop a craving for it! Unfortunately I may end up gaining a pound or so because of this calendar. Ha Ha!

I love this calendar. My best friend and I give them to each other for Christmas every year - and have been for several years. What a great reminder of the little blessings we all have - a reminder to be grateful for everything! I look forward to the 5 things every single day!

i buy this calendar every year. it makes me happy. to read five things each day to be grateful for, to think about, to spark my unconscious, to throw a party, there are so many ways to interpret the words here. i love this calendar and will buy it as long as it keeps coming out!

WOW! This is the most dynamic, honest, transformational book I have ever read. I've experienced living a life of joy and bliss while connected to my spiritual center but never understood how it happened or how I came to lose that connection. Now I know and it all makes sense to me. But most importantly, I know how to get it back!

If you want to know why you must distance yourself from toxic or unfeeling people in your life, read this book. If you want to know how to call forth your spiritual warrior in order to have the courage to express yourself authentically, then read this book. If you want to know the meaning of passion and how to find it, then read this book.If you want to know how to heal old wounds, then read this book. If you want to learn how to live an authentic life, then read this book! If you want to learn how to connect with your intuition and inner guidance, read this book!

Thank you Kimberly Kingsley for sharing your brave honesty and insightful wisdom.

So far the book has been enjoyabe and easy to read. It's definitely a book worth having and keeping as a reference. I will be giving it as a gift as well.

I love this book! I usually have a hard time with self-help books, but this book is different. I found myself looking forward to reading more each day. I gained so much from this book. I think everyone can learn something here. It gives advice for day to day energy tips as well as long-term, lifelong energy advice. I'd recommend The Energy Cure to anyone.

I highly recommend this book for all types of readers. I am not a typical self help reader, however, this one had such a positive effect on me it was a pleasure to continue on with the reading. Within the first 15 pages of The Energy Cure, I was breathing deeper and felt more relaxed than I had in weeks. As I continued reading, the energy drains in my life became very apparent. I never would have thought that minor changes could make such a difference in my day to day life. If you're interested in connecting with your inner source of wisdom and joy and gaining a real sense of inner peace, you should definitely give this book a try.

This is the first cookbook I've found that doesn't contain things I'm allergic to, I can use every recipe in the book! Great for people who have multiple allergies like gluten, corn, dairy, soy, etc.

The recipes are easy to follow, tasty and very healthy. They do, however, involve ingredients like stevia, arrowroot and amaranth flour which may not be easy to get in some places.

My son has just been diagnosed with numerous food allergies. I paniced. This book gives you an explanation of what is going on and lets you know you are not the only one out there. It is a great guide with wonderful recipes that your whole family will enjoy and they are actually easy to prepare. I love it.

This book is a MUST for anyone who has food allergies! It is very insightful about how food affects your body and how to find recipes and ways to eat and enjoy food tastefully by eliminating and cooking with alternative ingredients! It also includes valuable tips for anyone (allergic to foods or not) to use when choosing and preparing food.

I called the author (several times in fact), and felt compelled to write a review based on the quality of information I've benefited from. I thought I knew alot, but realized so much more just from speaking with the author for only 10 minutes or so. It becomes obvious that she practices what she preaches, and was very direct in providing detailed answers to my questions. Again, caring and knowledgeable are terms that describe her well. I was very impressed.

Another writer who weaves words the way artists weave blankets: with knowledge and love.
The book is beyond wonderful and worth reading more than once!

In Search Of Kinship is an achingly luminous epiphany to read. A series of essays by an award winning Western author who honors her sacred connections to the earth through life and literature, In Search of Kinship draws on Native American sacred writings and traditions as well as others. It becomes a rich rainbow fusion seen through a filtering prism of light.

Unself-conscious in form and style, vivid in natural, daily detail, it is a series of testaments to a deeply felt faith in the land and creatures, human and non-human, who people the land set in Wyoming on the visionary back doorstep of the Black Hills near Sundance Mountain, Lambert draws upon numerous rich traditional literary sources, including Black Elk Speaks by John Niehardt, Buffalo Woman Comes Singing, by Brooke Medicine Eagle, and Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions by John Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes, to name a few. She weaves a rich blanket of hope, addressed to the land itself. In the epilogue,'Song of Songs Which is Wyoming's,' she writes of her aging horse, Romie: "Memories cloak and comfort. Time has, for each of us, a different measure. Your decline in many ways frees me to become a new woman whose past is just beginning to catch up with the future.

Actually, it is you , Wyoming, and not Redy, who has taken over Romie's role in my life. Our affair began despite my grudging nature, despite my loyalty to Colorado - land of my youth. At first, these gentle black hills hid their power from me. I compared your eastern edges to the Rockies of my childhood and thought them not worthy of my devotion.

I recoiled from your red-slashed buttes, scoffed at those who called them mountains; these mere places where your face wrinkled with age. I was, at first, deaf to the ancient whispers of those who had found shelter within your arms. I trod the ancient paths but saw only my own footsteps(pp.239-240)."

She goes on to describe the land as an ancestor, even a jealous lover.

"It was not fair of you to tease me with your elusive antelope, to flaunt your whitetail deer before my modern human eyes. You seduced me with the perfume of your summer sage, kindled memories of other women, dark-skinned and light.

But then, when I dreamt of home, of innocent days unburdened by painful truths, of running like the wind upon Romie's back in pursuit of the mythical buffalo, you pulled tight your sovereign rein and let loose the fury of your winter. You taught me that the true mythology of the buffalo, like the words of the Bible, must not be taken lightly. 'Ask the beasts,' it is written in Job. 'Speak to the earth, and let it teach you.'

Your storm raged around me, the vibration of your anger reaching deep chords. When I dared to open my eyes, you offered me a crystalline world, frosted brilliance glittering from every branch, a chance to start anew.

Like a reprimanded child, I pushed thoughts of former places from my consciousness and let you stake your claim on my no-longer-innocent soul.

It would have been easier had I not sifted your red earth through my fingers - had I not breathed in the musky odor of your mountain asters. I should have turned away from your hideless tipi rings, from your bouquets of dried weeds turned to silver sage, and from the shadows of your buffalo bones before it was too late. But I did not.

And now you will not let me go. You demand an enlightened future - whose very hope lies in the lessons of the past - a past that all our ancestors bequeath to all of us (.pp.240-41)."

It is a rare privilege to read such writing. In Search Of Kinship is to be kept, treasured, and returned to, for the glints and patina reflected in it are soul-enlightening.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

This book is wonderful! Mrs. Lambert artfully weaves the fabrications of her willful imagination and vivid life into a stunning masterpiece. I would reccomend it to any reader who likes to feel the emotional pulling of heartstrings. Read it!

This beautiful book of reflections about rural life, family values, and Wyoming, is a gem. Page Lambert brings grace and wisdom to her pages, as well as an understanding of what it means to live in the rural West. This is a book about love and courage. Both men and women will treasure this book and this author.

The master storyteller, Mark Twain, used his immense talent to create this fictionalized account of Saint Joan's life. Even though it is fiction, it is still very historically accurate and stays true to the story of Saint Joan of Arc. Because it is fiction, Twain is able to bring out Saint Joan's personality in a way that reminds us that she was a beautiful, vibrant, passionate young woman who sacrificed everything to serve God and save her country

I think the very fact that Twain would even choose to write a biography about Saint Joan is a further testament to her greatness. Twain was personal friends with U.S. Grant and could much more easily have written a biography about him. He also lived at a time when some of the greatest military leaders ever lived like Lee, Jackson, etc., so if all he had been looking for was a famous military leader he could have also chosen one of them. Obviously, he was looking for someone even greater to write about. I think his own words probably explain why he chose Saint Joan when he said that: "She was perhaps the only entirely unselfish person whose name has a place in profane history."

Whether you are a Saint Joan devotee or not I think you will enjoy reading this book. It is well written and easy to read and covers one of the greatest stories in world history. If you already know about the life of Saint Joan, I also think you will end up loving this account because of the way Twain brings her to life. Definitely one of the best of all the biographies written about Saint Joan of Arc and considered by Twain himself to be his greatest work. Five stars are probably not enough.

This is probably the greatest novel about Joan of Arc, the author is later revealed as Mark Twain.

Mark Twain wasn't the only pseudonym used my Samuel Clemens. When this book was first serialized in Harper's Magazine in 1895, it was presented as "Freely Translated out of the Ancient French into Modern English from the Original Unpublished Manuscript in the National Archives of France" - a found manuscript with no connection to the famous author. The book presents itself as a memoir by a fictional companion of Joan's written for his family in the final years of life. The narrator claims to be a childhood friend of hers who, being one of the few people of her village that can write, accompanies her and becomes her secretary during her military career. After her capture and imprisonment, he sneaks into Rouen, where she is to be tried, and becomes an assistant to the official recorder of the the events. Thus, the author has established a single voice that can tell the complete history of the brief, miraculous life of the Maid of Orleans.

The events of the book have been simply summed up in a paragraph in WIKIPEDIA's entry on the Hundred Years War as follows:

By 1428, the English were ready to pursue the war again, laying siege to OrleansTheir
force was insufficient to fully invest the city, but larger French forces remained passive.
In 1429, Joan of Arc convinced the Dauphin to send her to the siege, saying she had received
visions from God telling her to drive out the English. She raised the morale of the local
troops and they attacked the English redoubts, forcing the English to lift the siege.
Inspired by Joan the French took several English strongpoints on the Loire. Shortly
afterwards a French army some 8000 strong broke through English archers at Patay with heavy
cavalry, defeating a 3000 strong army commanded by Falstaff and John Talbot, 1st Earl of
Shrewsbury. The first major French land victory of the wars, this opened the way for the
Dauphin to march to Reims for his coronation as Charles VII. After Joan was captured by the
Burgundians in 1430 and later sold to the English and executed, the French advance stalled
in negotiations.

Clemens presents, through this memoir form, a story of a small group of Joan's friends from her village of Domremy who are caught up in her vision and quest and follow her into battle. They see how this poor, unschooled girl has the wisdom to convince the learned men of the Catholic Church and the French government of her mission, how she was able to raise an army and bring it success in battle despite the reservations of her generals, and how she was able to inspire the people of France to believe in their collective selves, the country of France, in spite of their foreign occupation and poor leadership. Through this approach, we the readers get a wonderful insight into the miraculous influence that Joan had on France at the time.

One might expect the irreverent Mark Twain, who wrote many scandalous pieces to be somewhat satirical in presenting this biography, but that is not the case. While his writing in this book is critical of church and state, his approach to the personal character of Joan puts her above reproach. He could find nothing in her life that was suspect, and he studied the records for 12 years. While he seems unsure about the nature of her voices, he shows Joan as firmly believing that they were real and of divine origin.

This is a mature Clemens who is married with a daughter Joan's age, and he seems happy to have found a human hero who didn't have ulterior motives when closely examined. He liked this best of all his work, yet the critics didn't share his feelings. The original Harper edition ran to almost 600 pages and was issued in two volumes. The story moves slowly with lots of asides about the infighting and rivalries of those around Joan. This may bother some readers since these are obviously fictional characters and not part of the historic record. Also, Clemens was not a scholar of the 15th century and his characters sometimes act more like 19th century Americans than French peasants. Yet these are minor flaws in a story that is an incredible introduction to the life and accomplishments of a truly remarkable person. I, personally, was disappointed that he didn't get closer to his subject Joan of Arc. He gives us the viewpoint of someone who was there and saw everything, but he never gets you inside the mind of Joan. Maybe that is the best we can hope for when reading about such an extraordinary person.

A paean to the bravery and spirit of Joan of Arc, this novel by Mark Twain is also his most scholarly, having taken twelve years to write. Clearly fascinated by Joan's "voices" and her sense of mission, Twain delves into her religious passion and her belief that God has chosen her to free France from England and restore the Dauphin to the throne. Often focusing on the arguments and trials in which Joan participates throughout her life, Twain shows her childhood attempt to "save the fairies," her struggle to become general of France, and ultimately, her defense against heresy and sorcery. Through these, Twain attempts to reconcile her spiritual commitment with the tumultuous temporal world in which she is engaged.

Born in Domremy in 1412, seventy-five years after the beginning of the Hundred Years War, Joan, an Armagnac, supports the isolated Dauphin, son of Charles VI; another faction supports the Duke of Burgundy, allied with the British. When Joan is fifteen, her angelic voices tell her she will lead God's armies, win back France, and restore the Dauphin. By the time she is seventeen she is General-in-Chief of France. After lifting the siege of Orleans, achieving many victories, and finally, standing beside the Dauphin at his coronation, she is, however, captured by the Burgundians and ultimately surrendered to an Inquisition in Rouen for trial as a heretic and sorceress. At age nineteen she is burned at the stake.

Twain creates a fast-paced story about this tumultuous period, creating a series of repeating characters who anchor Joan's story from the time of childhood until her death. One of these characters is Sieur Louis de Conte, a childhood friend, supporter during battle, and mourner at her execution, who narrates Joan's story many years later. Rare comic scenes provide occasional changes of mood, and the last section of the novel--Joan's trial and execution--is dramatic and moving. With the focus on Joan and the arguments she promotes to advance her cause and facilitate her actions, Twain explores the phenomenon of religious passion and the lengths to which a "chosen" person will go to fulfill divine will.

As interesting as this book is, historically and thematically, it lacks the unity of some of Twain's other novels. Joan of Arc is so heroic in stature that one feels little emotional connection to her, and Twain's dialogue is so wooden that the other characters fail to come alive, except as mouthpieces for background or philosophy. On several occasions, Twain explains the historical background (how the war began, and later the Five Great Deeds of Joan of Arc) though these delay the action. A serious attempt by Twain to depict a character with whom he was obviously fascinated, this novel is full of biographical and historical detail, but Joan remains an enigma. Mary Whipple

Mark Twain: Four Complete Novels
The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions)
Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race
Mark Twain: A Life
The Innocents Abroad: or, The New Pilgrims' Progress (Modern Library Classics)

Excellent and interesting, not stuffy at all. Easy to follow with practice lessons at the end of every chapter. Good essential information for the beginner investor, not just for online traders. Covers the "how-to's" of analyzing stocks and mutual funds to add to your portfolio put in easy to understand and fun terms. By: Ellen Hochman

This is a very detailed book which covers all aspects on online investing. Most people can skip chapter 1 which shows basic Internet browsing and navigation. The rest of the book shows web pages you can look at. I like this book because the authors highlight and explain the different parts of each of the web pages. At 400 pages, this book is short enough so that you won't get bored and long enough that the author just don't explain a concept in a sentence or a paragraph. The authors give enough detail so that you can understand and profit.

"Teach Yourself Investing Online", by Thomas S. Gray and Claire Mencke, is the ideal book for online investors, both novices and old-timers. The information is easy to understand, easy to read, and very interactive. There are sites to visit, quizzes and worksheets to fill out, and pages and pages of screenshots and sidebars and intriguing reading. This book can be used for quick reference or for straight-forward research. Very up-to-date and needed in this fast-paced Internet world, with online catalogs and stock trading sites, this book is your manual to succeed in this day in age. The book covers such subjects as stock quotes to saving for your child's college fund to shopping online. I was clueless and, frankly, frightened of the stock market and Internet investments before I peeked at these pages -- now I'm hooked, making extra money, and learning how to budget my finances. This book is for young and old investors alike, and it's easy to follow, with clear language and straight-forward visuals. It was obvious to me that these authors know what they're talking about. A must! If you think you could never make it in this busy online investing economy, you need this book! If you think you know all there is to know, you need this book! Finally, I read something I needed so much!

This book was very good back in the "buy and hold years" of 1998-2001. It's still a good read and very enjoyable.

These days, in my opinion, a trader needs more practical and up to date strategies especially if he wants to start day trading online on a regular basis.

Stock trading is all about making buy and sell decisions. When you make a trade either your going to lose money or your going to make money, and some other times you will break even. When you win some body else will lose and so forth, but that's NOT what's important.

The most important aspect of day trading is the "know-how" strategies you employ to make your buy & sell decisions. There are many "surefire" systems outhere, but you need to test them in order to discover which ones help you the most. That's part of your homework as an online stock trader. Test, test and test again.

Complicated systems that rely on a truck load of technical analysis indicators can make you slow, and being slow in this game can be as dangerous as not knowing what to do in the first place.

I think the worst thing that can happen to a beginner trader is to get information OVERLOAD. It's better to go step by step, and test a simple trading system that can show you how to focus on concrete ways to profit day in and day out.

Fortunatly there are some good sites on the web today that can show you how to trade in a practical and effective way. One of those sites is Smart Day Trading (SmartDayTrading com)

In the end, day trading is all about buying and selling according to your knowledge FILTER. Once you master and follow youre proven filter parameters like a clock, you can expect to start making serious amounts of cash on a consistent basis.

This book was written by a union soldier from a Michigan unit, as the subtitle indicates. He wrote this as a "Defense of Major Henry Wirz." Unlike many of the books written about incarceration in southern POW camps, this soldier was rather positive in terms of the treatment he received by Confederate soldiers during his inprisonment at Belle Isle and Andersonville. He had several personal interviews with Major Wirz, the Commandant of Andersonville prison, petitioning for better conditions for his fellow prisoners. He claims that the Major was as gracious to his requests as the limited supplies of the Confederacy would allow, considering the Union blockade of all supplies including medical. He also includes some information in what appears to be transcripts and letters relevant to Major Wirtz's trial that led to his hanging, which are quite revealing in terms of Secretary of War Stanton's, vendetta against Jefferson Davis and other prominant leaders of the defeated South.

James Madison Page was my husband's great grandfather and we own a copy of the original edition. Mr. Page went on to be a Montana pioneer and surveyor. The book was very controversial when it was published, but to his dying day Mr. page stood by what he had written. It is quite a contrast to the generally accepted view of Andersonville Prison. Possibly, the prison conditions were not uniform at all times or in all places of the prison. The rather antiquated, but clear, prose alone is reason to read the book and get a taste of the past.

Lt. James Madison Page was captured by Confederate forces in 1863 and eventually was shipped to Andersonville Prison. There he observed Major Henry Wirz firsthand as well as life in this famous Confederate prison for Union prisoners of war. After the war, Major Wirz was tried by military tribunal, found guilty of "war crimes" and hanged. Forty years later, in 1908, Page wrote his memoir to tell "the true story of Andersonville," which was quite different from the popular view, namely, that Wirz and those in his command were deliberately cruel to their captives. Page explains how the prison was designed to hold, at most, 10,000 prisoners at any one time, and then only temporarily while awaiting prisoner exchange. When the exchange was stopped, the prison population quickly swelled to 30,000 prisoners, overwhelming the South's ability to feed, clothe and house the Andersonville prisoners. Although the North advanced many self-serving reasons for stopping the exchange, the real truth was later admitted by Ulysses S Grant in his memoirs, i.e., that the Union POWs were expendable, and that exchanging them for Rebel soldiers would prolong the war by reinforcing the Confederate army. This was a legitimate and understandable strategy of war, one that undoubtedly brought the war to a faster close. In 1865, however, it would have been political suicide to tell the truth to grieving families, that their sons and husbands and fathers were not exchanged because they were considered expendable. The story as Page saw it, was that Wirz was made a scapegoat to appease the wrath of the Northern people over the Andersonville dead (13,000 POWs died out of 45,000 prisoners due to disease and diet).

Page tells how many Northern myths about Andersonville simply aren't true, e.g., that the Confederate guards would get a 30 day furlough as a reward for shooting a prisoner, or that the reason the prisoner exchange between North and South was stopped was because of the North's protest against the South's refusal to exchange black Union POWs -- the truth was that blacks were a miniscule number of Union POWs and the exchange was stopped before there were any black POWs.

Page describes the trial and the accusations against Wirz, and refutes them convincingly. The trial, as described by Page who was there, was a sham. The prosecution could call any witnesses it wanted, but the defense could only call witnesses approved in advance by the prosecution! The prosecution's key witness was a perjurer who claimed to be former Union POW "Felix de la Baume," but was actually a deserter from the 7th NY infantry named Felix Oeser who was paid off for his false testimony with a job in the Dept of the Interior. Oeser had never even been to Andersonville.

James Madison Page's book closely jives with Confederate sources, like the memoir of Confederate guards and officers, who say the same things. Page ends his narrative with "I am just as committed to the preservation of the Union today as I was in 1861, but after forty years we can at least afford to tell the truth." This book wasn't popular in 1908 nor will it be popular in 2001 with those who don't want to hear it.

I gave this book a 5-star rating only because I have to take into account the writer's opinion at the time. I agree that the trial of Henry Wirz was deplorable, however, the writer's account of his stay at Andersonville is questionable. Perhaps he was one of the "chosen few" that did receive special treatment. This I am assured of based on his writings alone. I liked this book because it gave a different perspective of life as a POW in the Civil War. I would highly recommend you read the book but would also recommend you read "Sarah Morgan: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Woman", along with "Mary Chestnutt". There are quite a few discrepancies as to how the Northern prisoners were treated. After reading this book and those mentioned, it leaves us to draw our own conclusions as to fact or fiction.

The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook by George Beahm is a superbly presented, fan-centered guide to the fantasy world of Middle Earth, a magical land originally envisioned by celebrated author J.R.R. Tolkien in his famous trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" and his other thematically related writings. Featuring information about Lord of the Rings merchandise and collectibles, books about Tolkien, computer software, Tolkien-themed websites, and other online Tolkien related resources, The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook is highly recommended (indeed, an essential reference) for anyone seriously interested in learning more about the fan-culture surrounding this epic and enduringly popular literary saga.

George Beahm's love for Tolkien's work shines through every page of The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook.

Beahm starts with the Lord of the Rings books themselves and their various editions, from "the most elegant edition" to "the cleverest packaging." From there he branches out to chronicle related works by Tolkien and about Tolkien and LotR, and of course he examines the visual adaptations. He is both reverent and critical. He has harsh words, for instance, for the "full-screen" version of The Fellowship of the Ring, which is "severely cropped to fit the conventional television screen," and warns that the binding of one lavish edition "will not hold up after repeated readings." Audio adaptations, printed products, book- and movie-related collectibles, ring replicas, games and miniatures, websites...these and more fall under Beahm's Sauron-like all-seeing eye.

Then there's Chapter 11, my favorite, that delves into Tolkien-inspired art. Illustrations by Colleen Doran, Tim Kirk, David Wenzel, Steve Hickman, and Donato Giancola enhance an informative chapter on Tolkien artists from the Hildebrandts to Michael Whelan. Doran contributes a number of lovely and delicate full-page illustrations to the book and also provides spot art and illustrated chapter headings, elegant touches that give evidence to Beahm's genuine love for the subject matter.

For fans of Middle Earth, George Beahm's The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook is just that...essential.

George Beahm's new book takes a long overdue look at the world of JRR Tolkien: not the world of Middle Earth itself, but rather the extraordinary industry which has grown up around the writer's creation. Upon perusing this book the Tolkien fan, both expert and novice, will find a wealth of information regarding just how much is available to them. Beahm provides clear and concise reviews of all manner of Tolkien books, art, games, DVDs, collectibles and merchandise; and provides details of various rare editions which the true fan may want to track down.

All this is backed up with in-depth interviews with the best of the Tolkien artists, including Michael Whelan, Tim Kirk and Colleen Doran. Indeed, Doran provides a host of new drawings especially for this book - and magnificent they are too!

For the Tolkien fan wondering where to go next, this book is a must.

A heartfelt memoir. Thank you to the Author. The book provides an honest and hopeful journey through the highs and lows of being diagnosed with cancer.

I couldn't put this book down until I was finished. I found myself laughing and crying and identifying with so many of the same feelings the author had. This book is sure to be a great source of encouragement and inspiration to patients as well as to their family and friends. It was also interesting to read about treatment at a major research facility (Michigan) and to "meet" some of the people who develop new treatments.

If this were fiction, it would be an excellent story. The fact that it's true makes it all the more compelling. If your life has ever been touched by cancer in any way, you will laugh and cry through this book and find a great deal of support and encouragement. This is one of the best memoirs I have read.

Even after countless movies and documentaries, nothing has personally ever made me direct as much attention to the tragedy of the holocaust than these young writers' words written in ghettos and in hiding places. Their optimism is heartbreaking when you learn of their fates, you see their struggles with hunger, fear of an uncertain future, their grief over losing loved ones and identity. But you also recognize their strength in troubled times and end up appreciating their courage to write, because you know it is essential that they should be known.

This collection provides 14 generous excerpts from journals of young people during the Shoah; the earliest diaries are from adolescents who got out before or just as things were getting bad, but as we go further on, the diaries get more intense in scope, moving from adolescents who weren't quite sure what was to come, to people who had some inkling but weren't quite sure the rumors were true, to finally young people in ghettos, young people who therefore knew how bad things were, although they didn't yet know what their final grisly fate was to be. Before each excerpt we also get a generous introduction to the author, his or her surroundings, what generally happened to the Jews of that particular city or town, and the diarist's final fate. Some of these young people survived, others perished, and still others' fates are unknown, though they are presumed to have perished. There's also an appendix detailing a number of other young diarists from the Shoah, some information on them, their fates, whether the diary is in a private collection, a museum, if it's been translated into English, or was published for the general public whatever language it's in. A lot of these young diarists were very literate and intelligent astute young people; it's incredibly sad how some of them died so young and therefore didn't get a chance to possibly become great writers. My only small complaint is that Poland is a little overrepresented; while it's true that at least half of the murdered came from Poland and that Poland was the nation that lost the greatest percentage of its prewar Jewish population by far, it would have been nice to have some variety in the locations, like maybe include more diaries from Germany, France, and Belgium, or ones from Holland, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, and Greece, for example.

i highly recommend this book. it is not only for those with historical interests. the diaries are so moving that this book will appeal to all. the writing is very vivid and the diarist's voice will stay with you for some time. zapruder has done an impecable job of introducing each entry. she sets the scene with such biographical and cultural detail that you feel at one with diarist before delving in. i was really moved by this book and encourage all to read it.