Europe Books

I bought this book at the American Book Center in The Hague, Netherlands, a few years ago. As I knew many of the places mentioned in the book, it took on an even deeper meaning for me. I love this book, and I list Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma as heroes. Definitely 5+ stars!

Excellent book. The book is fast paced, exciting and touching.

The risks and sacrifices that the author and her fiance went through for their beliefs and for unkwown people amazed and inspired me. Highly recommended.

The account of the author and her experiences fighting the German occupation of Holland during WWII is harrowing. It is hard to imagine that any human being can display so mush courage at such a young age.

The true story of true Christians, and Dutch patriots, Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma, and their courageous risk of everything to resist Nazi tyranny and hide thousands of Dutch Jews.
True Christians always love the Jewish people and Israel, and true nationalists are opposed to both Communism and Nazism, both the antithesis of national self-determination.
Diet recounts her own life, and experiences and what she saw and heard, as well as her deep faith in G-D, that guided her in all she did and thought.
Diet recounts her experiences in Scheveningen prison, where she describes how Jewish families, who were caught in hiding, were hauled into the prison, mothers, fathers and children: 'On the nights the guards brought Jews in, we always heard the children crying all through that place. It was bad enough for us to have to suffer through a place, like Scheveningen, but it was terrible to hear those poor innocent children crying.'
It is up to true Christians and righteous gentiles to stand by the State of Israel today, in the struggle for her survival and that of her children, against the monstrous Islamic-extreme leftist hate machine.

I have read more than 75 books of this genre depicting this period of history. "What would I have done under the same circumstances?" That is the question I am always asking of myself whilst reading these stories. This is the story of a group of people with the courage of their convictions...Diet's story is inspiring and touching. It illustrates perfectly that the power of prayer is undeniable and when 'all one can do is pray' one has done everything.

This is truly a magisterial study of the Holocaust (Shoah), well deserving of its award of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, and follows the author's earlier volume covering the 1933-1939 period. It runs some 663 pages of text, includes 128 pages of meticulous notes, and 51 pages of bibliographic references. It places heavy reliance not only on contemporary documents, but also on published and unpublished memoirs and diaries (such as that of Victor Klemperer, also reviewed on Amazon). The author has a unique perspective, since he was born in Prague in but grew up in France between 1940 and 1944 during the Nazi occupation. He spent part of this period in a Catholic boarding school and considered converting. His parents were both lost.

There are many fine books on the Holocaust. But Friedlander's work is unique and distinctive in contribution. He does not just recount in graphic detail how the extermination program progressed (although there is plenty of this horror discussed), he explains how it developed. It is not until page 339 that he even gets to the Wannsee conference. Rather, he focuses upon how the Nazi Jewish policy evolved from harasment to racial extermination. The author makes the somewhat surprising argument (to me at least) that the Nazis did not start out at the beginning of the war or earlier to exterminate the Jews of Europe. Rather, the policy evolved as the war developed and various demands encouraged this program to be developed. In fact, it is not until late 1942 or early 1943 that the extermination policy was implemented by the Nazi leadership. Truly an interesting argument to say the least.

Given the author's previous biography of Pius XII, there is much discussion of the Catholic Church's reaction to all this. The author also discusses the Jewish Councils set up by the Nazis and whether they sacrificed the "less valuable" Jews in an effort to spare the more elite groups--another interesting topic. The book proceeds chronologically from 1939 through to 1945. Friedlander is able to balance a large number of topics skillfully as he develops his narrative. Many individual countries and their involvement in Holocaust implementation are discussed. The competing goals of extermination versus the use of Jews as slave laborers in defense industries is also covered. The author also wants to make it explicitly clear that ordinary Germans well knew that extermination was underway. Finally, one of the most surprising aspects to me was the author's explanation of how the determination to complete extermination only increased as it became obvious the war had been lost.

Friedlander could have written an emotional account, given his background. Instead, we see the work of a master historian true to his craft and unwilling to sacrifice professional standards in his analysis of a topic that surely was of the greatest pain to himself. We can all benefit from his professional dedication.

A truly monumental work that simply outpaces many other related literary endeavors appearing over the past 30 years. Reads easily and without the stodgy encumbrances of many history books. A must read for anyone interested in the Holocaust.

This is a magisterial book, as one of the critics defined it. Not only does it contain an exhaustive research, poignant diarists' quotations, and a vast collection of amazing facts (such as the refusal of the Hungerians to surrender their Jews to Hitler, or the indifference of starving and desperate parents to the deportation of their children), it also, and most importantly, "nails" the Nazi crimes and criminals as no other book has ever done. In the presence of this book, Holocaust deniers will be forever silenced. Furthermore, I can hardly imagine the pain Prof. Friedlander, a Holocaust survivor whose parents were murdered by the Nazis, had subjected himself to in writing this tome of a book. It is a brave, sacrificial work.
I agree, though, with some of the critics' complaints that the book, although riveting, is at times a difficult slog. Maps and pictures would have helped. Also chapters' titles would have helped. In the notes section, printing the chapter #s and the pages #s at the top of the page would have helped a great deal. But isn't it the function of the editors to notice such things? My most important criticism, though, concerns Friedlander's omissions. The Nazi evil sears the pages, as it did the Jews, and the victims' cries for help plow like an ax, as Kafka would put it, in the frozen sea within us. One cannot forget those screams, cannot take the ax out and toss it to oblivion. The bystanders, too, are revealed in their shame and cowardice, like thousands and thousands of shadows crowding the gladiatorial arena. But one group of people is noticeably missing: the heroes who risked their lives to save Jews. Wallenberg is given a brief mention in half a sentence; the Danish rescuers are mentioned in a mere short paragraph; and Schindler and Hannah Senesh are not even mentioned. Thousands of heroic gentiles are listed in the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., but Friedlander has found no room for even some of them in his book. If an act of courage is mentioned, it is disposed of quickly, as if it did not matter. But it did, and it does. Granted, Friedlander's subject moves in a different direction, but his omitting of the heroes does them--and all humanity perhaps--a grave injustice.

Nazi Germany and the Jews is a two volume set on Nazi Germany's satanic persecution and murder of six million Jews. Volume I deals with the years of persecution suffered by the Reich's Jews from Hitler's takeover of the state in 1933 until the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.
Saul Friedlander is a survivor of the Holocaust growing up as a Jew in occupied France.Friedlander teaches the Holocaust at UCLA. His second volume "The Years of Extermination:1939-1945" is destined for classic status as one of the essential books on this most lamentably horrible time in European and human history. The book is over 700 pages in length and reads quickly due to the author's abilities to tell the tragic story with clarity and dispassionate reportage.
With the conquest of Poland the Nazis established countless concentration camps in conquered territory. By 1941 with the Nazi's invasion of the Soviet Union and the entry of the United States the final solution decision was made to kill all of the Jews in Europe. Himmler and Heydrich of the SS with their underlings such as Eichmann began to put this murderous and ungodly plan into execution. Millions of Jews, Gypsies, POW's, political dissidents, Communists and others died in the gas chambers of hellholes such as Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Treblenka and Sobibor. I learned from this book that at the end of the war the Nazi marched almost one million Jewish prisoners Westward causing more untold murders and savageries. This book will boggle your mind with horror and make you aware of the heart of darkness which beat in the heart of the merciless mechanical beast known as Nazi Germany.
Friedlander teaches us that Europe was an Anti-Semitic atmosphere but in Germany Hitler used this prejudice to seize power. Hitler believed the Jews were behind Communism and was a rabid amoral leader who would brook no mercy for Jewish men, women or children. We see the cruel Nazi night seize the light of life in every occupied nation from France to Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Scandinavian Countries, Greece & the Balkans and any place Jews could be found.
Rather than a dry recounting of facts the author also includes poignant diary entries from Jews who suffered the persecutions and in most cases death at the hands of the Nazis. The most insightful diaries, in my opinion, were those of Anne Frank in Holland and Victor Klemperer who was married to an Aryan German woman. Friedlander also includes first person reports of atrocities by German soldiers, civilians and top Nazi figures such as the Mephisto Joseph Goebbels the master of Nazi Propoganda.
Friedlander's book is not perfect. Maps and illustrations would add greatly to future editions. One prays that such an event will never take place again. This book is a testament and witness to the shoah victims whose six million voices speak through the words of an excellent historian of a black chapter in our race's time on this earth.

This massive work is a disappointment in style. The writer's prose seems calculated to make the reader's work difficult, and there is no excuses for one who knows the pitfalls of academic writing to quickly breach the first rule of research-based treatises - don't burden the language by turning three or four sentences into a single one. The book is constructed from language so cluttered, with sentences so convoluted, that the narrative is weakened and folowing the exploration of causality (the real point of the book)becomes more and more frustrating. The tangled prose is one thing. Another is the self-referencing ("as we shall see," "when we previously met them in an earlier chapter," "later,this will be exlored in full") which somehow got past the subs. The only memorable prose is the searing quotations of those who were consumed first by hopelessness and then by the machinery of murder. One cannot help but recall Primo Levi's assertion that the best witnesses of the Holocaust were consumed by it.
At the end of reading this book, it is difficult to recall lines of thought, apart from the public nature of Hitler's determination to wipe out European Jewery, and the nature of the Vatican's indifference, which bordered on complicity. But this has been covered elsewhere and to better effect. So I found it hard to warrant the claims made by some reviewers that the book contained revelations. If you are looking for clearly expounded research that provides a memorable reading experience, this book is not the last word.

The All American All The Way is the best book I ever read!!!
There is no foul language that I remember. It takes you through training to Berlin.
The 82nd Airborn Division stood and hooked up to jump the first mass combat jump in history, on July 10th 1943. Badly scattered on the drop,they looked at their maps to see if they knew where they were. Finally they arrived where they needed to be and in do time were fighting a small band of forces so they thought, but turned out to be tanks accompanied by infantry.
If you want to know more about the 82nd Airbore buy this book!

My father served in the 82nd with 504th parachute regiment from its inception to the war's end. He talked very little about his experiences. Mr. Nordyke's marvelous book, with its accounts by the men who fought the battles, helped me to know my dad better. It will help anyone to understand what combat is really like and the great heroism of these ordinary Americans - almost all of them mere boys. Highly recommended.

I've just finished reading "All American All The Way" and I must say that this book is by far the very best book written on any WWII unit that I have read. With many veteran accounts, Mr. Nordyke takes the reader along from airborne training, the formation of the division, and the actions that the division participated in from Sicily through Germany.

One can almost hear the roar of battle as the author, and the veterans describe fighting in the hedgerows in Normandy, or street fighting in Holland. I very highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in WWII history.

What can I say... This is one of the best works of military non-fiction, I have ever had the joy of reading. At first sight of the book, I was a little daunted by it's size. However, due to the fluidic quality of Phil's excellent writing, I found it to be an effortless read. The research involved behind this book is immense, and it thoroughly gripped me, all the way. I've not read such a book of this calibre, in a very long time. The action and information contained within, left me feeling that I had personally been fighting along side with these brave men, all the way!

This book provides a superb, first hand, graphic insight into the life and hardships of the 82nd Airborne campaigns, throughout the European theatre of operations. Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland, Belgium and the German `Siegfried' line, breakthrough.

It's difficult to find criticism, other than the accounts of life while they were camped in England, during 1944, are a little vague. And my interest in the Division stems from the fact that the 80th Anti-Tank and the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment were billeted only a mile or two, up the road from me, in Leicester. However, this doesn't detract from the fact it's an excellent read.

The quality of this hardback it of the highest, along with the inclusion of excellent maps illustrating the campaigns, and many archive photographs from the time.

I'm now at a loss as what to read after this book. This book's a tough act to follow. It's clear, exciting and most thought provoking. A must read for anyone interested in the 82nd Airborne Division, and the European theatre of operations during the Second World War.

This is a very extensive, impressive and total history of the 82nd airborne division, what was called by Generals in WWII as the greatest division of the time (of course the 101st airborne would probably argue that). The scope of this book is amazing. In its 776 pages (yes, it is long but very interesting), it lays out all the campaigns fought in WWII including Sicily, Salerno, Italy, Normandy, Netherlands, the Bulge, and Germany. And, the book tells the story at the individual unit (down to company and platoon) and individual level. It is told in the words of the heroes who fought in the 82nd during the war. As mentioned in one review, this should become the standard for not only this division but for any division for laying out the story of the heroism and the tragedy of this war.

I bought the set years ago (actually decades ago) and got through the first two before I gave up. I was "done in" by all the Henrys, Edwards, Eleanors, etc. that my head spun. However, being bullheaded, I started again (since I love history) and this time I went straight through.

English and French history can be extremely difficult for someone new to that period of time. There are a lot of players with the same name (Isabella, the most hated queen of England and wife of Edward II; Isabella of Spain, Henrys I, II, III, IV, etc., not to mention the Henrys (Henris of France). However, plugging away is definitely worth it and reaps great rewards because what could be more fascinating as the truth (as far as it can be told after hundreds of years after the fact). John is more famous as being forced to sign the Magna Carta, not for the fact he murdered one nephew and imprisoned his niece as being threats to his throne while Richard III gets pilloried for his "supposed" murder of this nephews. It was John who had the country excommunicated a few times for his actions (no burials, no communion, no marriages, etc.) until people realized that nothing terrible happened. And it was when I came to the last part and reach about Richard III and the difference between the "real" character and Shakespeare's Richard III when I decided to pursue the case further and then read Josephine Tey's famous book on Richard, The Daughter of Time, that started me on the road to becoming a Ricardian. Eleanor of Aquitaine, the first (to me) feminist.

Great history and worth reading and pursuing if you don't manage it the first time. It's worth the effort. (A genealogical chart would be helpful.)

Costain writes 4 history books about the early British Royal Families.The books are very clear, nicely written, and follow the history of England.

The title of the book led me to believe that this book would encompass the entire "conquering" family of Normandy as they became the rulers of England. However, I was disappointed that the actual conquest was bypassed and the book opens with introduction of the first Plantagenets and not with William the Conqueror as I incorrectly assumed from the title. The book is very thorough where the author choses to be. For example, he can hit a few highlights of history and move the story along very rapidly and then suddenly spend page after page on one segment of one chapter of one person's life. I know I bought the book used, but the original publication date of 1949 and the republication in 1964 seemed obvious in the authors style and tone. I think the book is very informative, and if you are interested in the Plantagenets, it is something you'd enjoy. Just be aware of the "late" start of the book. The actual Conquest is over before this book begins.

These are some of the words that come to my mind when describing this work, but I am speaking of the entire 4 volume set - not just The Conquering Family by Mr.Costain who is a blest and gifted authorin my opinion. I first bought the 4 Volumes in paperback and after reading them cover to cover, I bought the hard cover set because I feared I wouldn't be able to get them later - they might go out of print or become more expensive. I have reread all of them 3 times and I would advise anyone interested in World History or an Anglophile to purchase all 4 Books because they are a must for your library. Each volume is thoroughly researched, full of dates, characters, events, battles, but at the same they are an easy read - never boring or drawn out and tiresome - you just want to keep reading and reading to learn more.

I am writing here for all four books instead just the Conquering Family. Its easier that way since most people who read the first book will definitely end up reading the rest of the three books.

This series by Thomas Costain have been around for a long time. Its one of the easiest to read written history on ruling family of the Plantagenats who ruled England from Henry II to Richard III. That's nearly 300 years of English history. Costain's story telling skills mixed with great history make this series one of the best set of books in introducing anyone to mediveal English history.

Having said that, it should be warned that Costain's history isn't exactly very scholarly. The author does take few liberties with the facts, even putting in few liners here and there to advanced the story. Even some events which may be more mythological then true, have been told as if they may be true. Costain also have his own bend to certain views and his sympathic views on certain events and personalities may not reflect history's. (The series almost does read like "historical fiction novels" and has been mistaken for such by the uneducated. Especially by those who worked in bookstores.)

But Costains' creative inputs should not distract from the fact the most of what written in his four books proves to be very entertaining and accurate history. Even those who may not care for mediveal history have enjoyed it since I have recommended this series to several friends who regards such subject as one of the most boring subject next to watching dust bunnies grow. By the time they were done with my books, they were ordering their own set.

This book is the journal of Rosemary Langheldt who left her job and home in San Francisco to serve with the Red Cross in London and then Germany. The story is told through letters home and journal entries, and both are highly informative and well written missives. Mrs. Norwalk recreates what it was like to live in England during the last year of the war. She is an empathetic observer of the many tens of thousands of men (boys) who stop briefly at her Clubmobile for a donut and a cup of coffee after disembarking in England and re-embarking for the fight on the Continent. Once Rosemary is transferred to Germany, she sees firsthand the near destruction of many German cities. Her writings are true to the time: these people were our enemies a short time ago and they tried to kill the boys who I helped serve. It also offers an honest appraisal of the Occupation where the black market made many Americans rich. This book will be of interest to anyone who wants to know about life in England after the Allied landings in June 1944 and the early days of the occupation in Germany.

Rosemary Norwalk left ardent swains and professional position to become a "doughnut dolly" with the American Red Cross. This University of California graduate and San Francisco native brings a disciplined eye to the social climate and
the broad spectrum of Americans thrown together by World War II. Following training in Washington, D.C. where she had to be restrained from sitting in the back of the bus, to commentary on the bravery of the ordinary Londoner under the buzz bombs, to experiences managing the large operation at a major port, she is insightful and forthright. Her many letters home are tied together with good historical notes on military operations and progress of the war. Mistitled a love story, it is instead a story of women who dared to step up and take on great responsibility for providing troop support both departing and returning through Britain. An example: A new"girl" arrives and one of the current Red Cross "girls" rushes to Rosemary with misgivings over her attitude and different looks. " The new girl announces: I'm Lil...I'm a Jew and I'm from Brooklyn and I don't like to take orders.' It was a challenge, not a greeting. I took a deep breath in the silence, then stuck out my hand and smiled. I hoped cordially. 'Welcome, Lil. I'm a gentile, I'm from San Francisco, and,' I groped for the right words, 'I don't like to give orders, so we ought to get along fine.' "

I picked up "Dearest Ones" in a discount store and didn't expect much. There's a certain sameness to the World War II diaries of young women: young woman from small town bucks convention, kisses parents good-bye, and runs off to get liberated. She has some very mild adventures, makes a lot of friends, says "gee golly whiz" a lot, and swans on home at the end of the book. A postscript informs us that she settled down with a man named Bob or Hank or Earl, of whom we heard absolutely nothing in the course of the book except for a few mentions of "letters from So-and-So in the South Pacific," and is living somewhere in the midwest near her three grown children.

Boy, was I surprised, and pleasantly so. Perhaps it helps that Rosemary Langheldt was older, in her mid-twenties, and already a career woman when she applied to join the Red Cross overseas. It also helps that she seems to have been a very curious and thoughtful person. As other reviews have mentioned, she takes notice not only of the glitz and fun of work abroad, but of Britain's sometimes stifling class distinctions, American racial prejudice, and the difficult moral compromises involved in the occupation of Germany. There is also plenty of romance, fun, and gee-golly-whiz adventure, but one never gets the sense that Rosemary lost track of her primary reasons for being in the Red Cross or saw her job as a mere means of adventure. Rather, she was there to work and the adventure happened along the way.

She was keenly interested in other people, making this book a pleasure to read-- it can be incredibly frustrating to read a diary when the only "character" the diarist is able to make three-dimensional is the diarist herself. She had a skill for interacting with people (I get the sense that I would never in a million years have been able to handle her job) and trying to understand them, and that curiosity and interest in humanity permeates the whole book. (I also feel compelled to mention, as a reader, that I really appreciated the narrative cohesiveness of this book. If someone is introduced, then they will be around until a reason for their departure is given. A lot of diaries suffer from people and events appearing, disappearing, reappearing, necessitating either a lot of head-scratching or awkward footnotes. This book doesn't have that problem. Rosemary was a really excellent correspondent.) This is really a stellar example of the genre, probably one of the best I've read.

This is a wonderful book that I enjoyed the entire time I was reading it. It is one of those treasures of American history that should be read by anyone interested in WWII history. It is valuable look at the war from the perspective of an American Red Cross volunteer stationed in England. Not a nurse, as the author points out as the usual assumption, but one of those moral boosting "doughnut dollies" that sometimes were the last friendly female face a soldier would see before embarking for the battlefields of Europe.
Mrs. Norwalk was a wonderfully skilled writer at the time she wrote the letters and journal entries that make up the book. And the book is equally well crafted and edited, giving a detailed look at the work of the Red Cross workers on the docks of Southampton, England, their everyday lives and yes romances as the subtitle implies. It also includes personal photographs taken at the time.
An interesting item on page 99 is a list that explains the code used by the Red Cross to communicate the number of ships arriving or leaving, their sailing dates, and the number of soldiers to expect so they would be prepared and have enough volunteers, coffee, and doughnuts for them.
My sincerest thanks to Mrs. Norwalk (now deceased)for sharing this personal history with us, it reminds me very much of the letters my father wrote my mother during WWII that I have published into a book entitled: All My Love, Forever: Letters Home From A WWII Citizen Soldier. - Dale Lane

I came across this book at a local bookstore and thought it was a very touching and well-written account of love during wartime. As the author lived in my area, I was able to meet her and have her sign my copy. I'm so glad I did as she passed away August 22, 2002. What a great keepsake for her family and a wonderful book for the rest of us. So if you've been meaning to write your memoirs, don't put it off! It may not ever be listed on Amazon but it would probably mean a lot to your loved ones.

My 10 year old daughter loves all four of the Melanie Martin books. She cannot put them down. Not only is she entertained, but also has learned a few things about other countries. As a teacher, I highly recommend the Melanie Martin books. I sure hope Mrs. Weston keeps adding more to this series.
Melissa Lombardo

The Diary Of Melanie Martin is a book about a young girl called Melanie. She flies to Italy with her family on an airplane when she had never been out of the U.S.A. She loved the thought going to a foreign country, but things didn't turn out how she expected... I liked this book and all the characters in it. My favorite part of the book was when Melanie just went back home to the U.S.A. She had realized a lot about her family and learned some important values. Melanie inspired me to be nicer to my sibling, as she did in the book. I definitely recommend this book to anybody who has a sibling, or who has never been out of his or her country. In this book, she gives the lesson about trying new things and taking risks. I am sure that anybody who reads this book will learn some useful information about life! Enjoy!

Having traveled to Italy with my family when I was twelve, The Diary of Melanie Martin called back dozens of similar memories of all the museums which were endured with the promise of gelato and of the delicious food which Weston describes to mouth-watering perfection. Reading this book, I kept on wishing it had been around for my family vacation so that my brother and I could have played "Point out the Naked People" during our museum tours; now I can only wholeheartedly recommend it to every member of a family planning a trip to Italy or just looking for a funny and truthfully-written book too perfetto to be missed.

I read melanie martin, and it was sensational!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I wanted to learn about Italy, and she helped me learn about it. Read this book, and you'll wanna read the other three book too.

A must read with the monalisa, sistin chapel, and boots the cat. Also it has ton of poetry. The book makes your mouth water for more.

When Hitler was asked about the possible negative consequences of the "final solution" in gassing all the remaining Jews in the world, he is reported to have responded by asking the question of "Who remembers the Armenians" who were killed by the "young Turks" at the end of the Ottoman Empire. While the numbers are in dispute, the reality is that over a million were killed outright or died of hunger during the campaign to exterminate the Armenians. But the real hidden holocaust took place over a decade later, when the Communist jackals running the "Evil Empire" in Moscow set about to eliminate the Ukrainians by systematic starvation, in far greater numbers than Hitler was able to accomplish with his ovens in concentration camps all over Europe.
Whoever Miron Dolot is, since he wrote this under a pseudonym for some reason, he lived a horror for many years that is incomprehensible for normal human beings. His description of the day-to-day struggle to exist under a system so evil that it boggles the imagination was very eloquent. Dolot talks about the neighbors who starved to death, families who engaged in cannibalism in order to survive, mothers committing suicide after the last of their children had died from malnutrition, frozen bodies stacked like firewood, roads littered with the remains of those who died trying to find a kernel of corn to ingest, and many other horrors that bring tears to your eyes. The Soviets did everything they could do to kill their opposition, including killing dogs and cats to keep them from becoming the last remaining food source for farmers who had no other option to stay alive. Even birds were shot from the trees to keep them from the starving peasants. But it was not limited to the Ukrainians; just ask the relatives of the millions of Chechens, Ingushetian's, and others who wanted independence and were rewarded with death in Soviet concentration camps called Gulags. Most of this story deals with a small Ukrainian village, but it is a microcosm of what happened in the Communist utopia under Stalin. Some of the stories from those who returned to the village after the horrors of being transported in cattle cars and escaped from the gulags are no different than the pictures of the same form of transport shown in many Holocaust movies.
But this story is far better than many of the holocaust films we have seen from Hollywood that concentrated on the one committed by Hitler. And why have we not seen this book on film to put all of the holocausts committed in the last century in context? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that McCarthyism still exists in its original form, when the communists controlled Hollywood in the 30's and apologists like Walter Duranty of the New York Times, who carries the label of "Stalin's Apologist" won a Pulitzer prize for his misreporting from Moscow about how great Stalin was. Ken Billingsley and his masterful book "Hollywood Party" shows that the real "blacklist" existed when loyal Americans veered from Moscow's party line, and explains Ronald Reagan's contempt for the communists who controlled his union until he won election to rid the union of these lice.
This is a great book. Hopefully someone like Mel Gibson will convert this to film for those who do not read, but are mislead by the Hollywood elite who condemn the USA and would have lasted two minutes under the Stalinist regime they glorify.

In 1929, Joseph Stalin ordered the collectivization of all Ukrainian farms. During the resulting upheaval, some seven million Ukrainians died of starvation. But, while it ended with mass starvation, the Soviet program of oppression started with property confiscation, arbitrary arrests, judicial and extrajudicial murder, and a whole constellation of unspeakable mistreatment.

One of the survivors of this holocaust was a young Ukrainian boy, who survived the conflagration and World War II, and succeeded in escaping to the United States. Written under the pseudonym of Miron Dolot, this heart-rending book tells the story of what he saw throughout the holocaust, and what he felt and thought.

I originally picked up this book because my own family, who were Russian Mennonites, left Ukraine before this time, but all of the relatives that stayed were annihilated to the last man, woman and child. Even so, I dare anyone to read this book and not be moved. The author does an excellent job of bringing the heartless insanity of this holocaust home to right where you live.

So, if you are interested in Russian or Ukrainian history, then I highly recommend this moving book to you.

This book is a record of what some daily life was like in the Ukrainian villages during the Great Famine.
It is his memoirs, so it cant really be judged for facts and such, but it seems very intresting to read, and accurate.
The numbers couldt be a tiny bit too high, but it might actually have been that, but we will never know due to the destruction of any documents concerning mass death in The Famine.
I say its a good book, but would only recommend it too people intrested in Russian History specifically, because its such a specific and narrow read on a subject, from a first hand account, which usually dont know everything. There are better academic books out there documenting the famine well, but this is nontheless a good read and history.

Excellent first hand account of the attempts of collectivization under Stalin; attempts that met with little or no success. I earned and received a Bachelor of Arts in History and this subject was never covered as well as it should have been. The "less hidden" Holocaust always seems to take center stage in this society. I became interested in the subject due to the flight of my paternal grandparents from the affected area prior to the full onslaught being felt.

It seems impossible that, in a place comparable to the American Midwest for rich soil, that the people who live there, millions of them, starve to death in spite of the bounty of their land. But their Ukrainian farms are collectivized by orders from faraway Moscow. The food is shipped to wherever the authorities decide it will go. This is not a dry history of bushels shipped and numbers of private farms collectivized, but a compelling depiction of lives progressively ruined as an ideology takes over. Families who resist collectivation are demonized as dirty, selfish kulaks, and are punished. The promises to the communities sound good, early on, but the resulting devastation of the Ukrainianian people that results ultimately reveals that there was not much in it for the people who worked the land.

Compact, great pictures, well indexed. It won't scream "TOURIST" when you pull it out of your bag. I got this one and the Paris book. Used them exclusively. Barely opened the other ones I got.

This books gives you the 10 top sites to see and itineraries. I like the itineraries (10), because it's very simple. It reminds you that your on vacation and you don't need to be running around town to enjoy London.

This is one of the best guides out there, very detailed & full of photos of things worth seeing & comes in a neat, small size so you can easily throw it inside your back-pack.

This book is compact and easy to carry around and has all pertinent information for daily use. Maps are good and the top 10 seemed to agree with my assessment.

My wife and I love the Top 10 series. We always buy a Frommers or Rick Steves book for the trip's planning, but the Top 10 is a must for the trip itself. It'll fit in a pocket (a long one), and will provide quick and easy references to the most important sights, as well as maps and public transportation routes.

Just like Ricky Gervais said, "I've seen him blossom from an idiot into an imbecile." Karl has such a different way of viewing the world and it's like no other. Maybe it's because he's borderline retarded, yet extremely observant and curious. This book is HILARIOUS!!!

P.S. WE'RE ALL WAITING FOR SERIES 4 OF THE PODCAST, KARL. HURRY UP AND FIX YOUR DAFT BOILER AND GET BACK IN THE STUDIO WITH RICKY AND STEVE.

Great book. Karl IS a genius, Ricky is the idiot, I know this cos im a genius and if Karl isn't one then im not, but I am, so he is, so there. Love it!

Karl is the king, but he has become a lazy king, and his subjects are getting restless. MORE PODCAST NOW YOU ORANGE HEADED MONKEY FREAK!!!!

...And there better be new monkey news included in the podcast...I'm just sayin'....

But about the book....Great book. Karl's an idiot, but strangely, his book creates a very enjoyable read. I esp. liked when he talked about the squirrles in Carmel, CA. I live by there, and I've seen those squirrles, and I want to go back and see if they've been traumatized by meeting Karl.

Steps to making your own Karl Pilkington doll.

Step 1. Get an Orange and draw two eyes, a mouth and a nose. No need for hair.

YOUR VERY OWN KARL DOLL!

Karl Pilkington: World's roundest head.

I loved this book full of Karl's cretinous observations, but Karl, mate, it's time to start doing podcasts again. Auntie Nora enduring 5 minutes of wind is more work than you've done since this book was published. The poster campaign is in full swing. I've got Karl's little roundy head on the t-shirt I'm wearing to the Mall of America this afternoon. You can't hide in a jam jar like an octupus, you walking Pez dispenser. Ricky, we await further instructions.

I read a lot of books in my life but no jokes, this the funniest book i ever read. wow. this petit nicola is awesome. I recomend that u have a little french background so u can easily understand it. I love it. Every body that speaks french should get one

book arrived 5 days earlier than expected. book is very cute and simple. good for children who speak french or french students.

This is one of a series that I have found helpful in bettering my spelling, sentence structure, and overall confidence in the French language. Reading French goes a very long way to establishing and maintaining grammatic skills, and reinforces the many diverse ways that a new language differs from one's native tongue. I have no real teacher, and am grateful for resources like this that are keeping me moving forward.

It would be hard to overstate the charm of these wonderful stories. Like many others, I picked up this book to help with my project of trying to teach myself French. Not only does it serve that purpose, but it is so engaging that it has held me on course when the inherent difficulty of the language and some cross-cultural exasperation has tempted me to chuck the whole project. No way could I ever write this little dude and his copains out of my life.

Although hilarious, the Nicolas stories also touch you in a much deeper place. He is a little boy full of life and good humor, but he and his friends are also filled with every possible anxiety about growing up and finding their manly places in the world. They are charmingly obsessed with their status and their dignity.

One of my favorite stories is "Louisette," which recounts the visit of a young girl who comes with her mother for tea. Nicolas is pouty from the beginning as his mother dresses him up, in his view, like a clown. And maman assures him that if he doesn't show that he is well raised, he will have an affair with her!

Although Nicolas is always filled with explanations that burst forth in run-on sentences, this traumatic visit brings him close to tears more than once. In Nicolas's world, not crying is one of the main imperatives. Another is assuming a male's naturally dominant [irony] and superior role over young girls, who, after all, cry all the time.

Louisette starts off telling Nicolas that he looks like a monkey and things go downhill from there. She is so much more quick-witted, not to mention athletic, that she repeatedly leaps ahead and distracts him just when he is deciding whether to give her a punch in the nose or to pull her hair. And it is Louisette who is landing all the successful coups on Nicolas. Meanwhile, Louisette is always batting her eyelashes at the mamans and impressing them with what an adorable innocent she is!

As with the "Louisette" story of a young boy having to deal with a very formidable young girl who does not fit into his template defining his superior place in the world, all these stories are filled with such very real anxieties of male childhood. Let me say again, though, they are very, very funny! You love this kid.

How easy/difficult is this book for a student of French. My feeling is that previous reviews have made it seem a little easier than it is. There are definitely difficult bits such as when Nicolas is playing cowboys and describes all the various cowboy accoutrements that he and his friends have hung on themselves. Often, too, sentences are very run-on, mimicking Nicolas's overflowing emotions and self-justifications. And the mannerisms of his speech are realistic and more difficult than the dry dialogue of textbooks. But this is worth a little difficulty - I just want to caution against expecting a child's book to be extremely easy. It is manageable, but not in the first few weeks of studying French.

I also have a two-CD set of these stories read in French which I ordered from Amazon.fr. The CD set is a dramatic reading and it is an absolute delight. But it is considerably more difficult than the book. Those run-on sentences are read in rapid bursts, as intended. The reading wonderfully captures the charm of the book but definitely does not make it any easier.

My only exasperation with the Nicolas books is that I can not share them with my English-only friends. They touched me so much and made me laugh so hard. I hope I have inspired someone here.

I use Le petit Nicolas in my French classes. The book is divided into short chapters that students enjoy. The syntax can be challenging, but it also prepares them for more authentic literature in French 4. I highly recommend this book (and others in the Nicolas collection) to students, teachers, and French-lovers looking for a funny read.