Europe Books

Blitz Cat is the love story of a cat and her special person. When Lord Gort, a cat, discovers her special person has left, she goes in search of him. It's WWII and he's a fighter pilot she seeks through psi trailing.

The story reveals the vulnerability a lone cat faces as she traverses across countries. People and other animals can be friends or foes. Lord Gort's determination never waivers and you cheer her through myriad adventures.

Blitz cat is a great and detailed story about a cat who runs away from home during the war to find her true owner. Along the way she meats many friends,has many kittens and brings good and BAD luck to people she meets.

This book won the "Smarty Award" for children's literature in the 9-11 year old age group. If you understand that literary awards are given for political correctness, not literary merit, you'll know what's going on

The book is actually a rattling good yarn about life on the Home Front in World War II. The only problem is that it is written from the anti-war perspective of the 1980s. As a result, it dwells excessively on the horrors of war, especially the war in the air, with great emphasis on the gruesome details of what happens to people on the ground when bombs go off:

" ... the metal was all buckled and shiny where the bullets had knocked the paint off... And red seeped from the holes. A drop fell on his hand, and he licked it and it tasted of blood... "

"... a fireman being led by two others, his face like a cooked steak and his pale eyes unseeing, rolling in all directions..."

"... in the dim light of the distant fire he saw the dried foam around [the horses'] mouths, the tiny burns and wounds from the cinders..."

"... she went up in tiny bloody morsels for the birds to eat off the trees and the telegraph wires..."

" ... the man in the road was blown into eight separate pieces; head, torso, limbs flew up like curving birds..."

Is this the kind of thing you want your nine to eleven year old reading?

I was born in London, less than 4 years after WWII ended. The war dominated my childhood. I grew up with the people who lived through the blitz. And I heard and read story after story of the heroism and courage of ordinary people. Mr Westall chooses, instead, to focus on the ugliness, on the opportunism, on the occasional inevitable breakdown of human decency. Anything to make the politically correct point that war is ugly. Evidently Nr Westall never heard of John Stuart Mill, the rather pathetic english philospher whose one great statement amongst all the rubbish he spouted was

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

Did I enjoy the book? Yes I did. Would I recommend it to mature discerning adults for a slice of reality of life on the Home Front in WWII? Of course! Would I give it to my grand kids to read? Not just "no", but "hell no!!" Not until they're in their twenties!

this book was very good. It was a compeling story of a cat named lord gort who tries to find his way home. He is many miles from home and he makes his way throught many sad and rough parts of the war. On his way he meets many people of all ages and shares his story. I would recomend this book to many people of all ages.

This is one exrodinary book. This book combines the tragedy of WWII with the humor of several odd europeans. The cat is merely another character that joins together the basic outlines of True stories. Even if you aren't a cat lover or aircraft fanatic you can still enjoy the odd (and sometimes drunken) europeans. I am not usually such a book worm, but this book has turned me into such (only for this particular book though). Though I am in only jr. high this is by no means a kids book. It will most adults guessing at the constant flow of long past and forgotten terms and phrases. Yet this book does not include the graphic descriptions often related to wartime stories. The thing that most interested me was that all the stories were based around true ones. Sam

I read this book, here in Brazil.This book is full of correct things, and I must tell you, that this book isn't very biased or ridiculous.This book even has some appendixes about bombers, losts e even one appendix with a letter.
Failures of this book are small.The biggest of them is the fact, that this book has almost nothing, about american bombers and its results.
Even so, this book is good.To example, on page 350 , the author writes:"The two great archivements of the allied strategic air offensive must be conceded to the Americans:the defeat of the Luftwaffe by the Mustang escort-fighter, and the inception of the deadly oil offensive."The British inflicted grevious injurious upon us,'said Milch after the war, 'but the Americans stabbed us to the heart.'

Bomber Command is a great book if you want to know about how bad war can be, and should be read by anyone that thinks there is some glory in war. However, the conclusion drawn by Jerry Saperstein, "as Hastings notes, there was no such thing as an innocent German civilian" is not supported by the text, and is full of hate, and is obnoxious. The statement apparently relates to the rationalization of "strategic" bombing that England the USA chose as being less expensive in US/UK lives, even if more expensive in civilian lives. In fact, at the start of WWII, bombers only got 10% of all loads withing fifty miles of the target, so setting cities on fire and then bombing them made targets that the bombers could find. The rational was that people who live in cities go to work in factories that either produce weapons or produce food, or electricity; something that supports the war effort. If this means that every German was guilty of war crimes, consider these two parallels: (1) Recently Hizboallah was accused by Amnesty International of war crime for firing rockets and aiming some of them cities (Hizbollah did kill more Israeli soldiers than civilians, so they were MUCH better than the British and US in WWII), (2) in August and September (2006) Israeli troops killed 37 children under 18 in Palestinian territory (Gaza, mostly), supported my weapons made in the USA, and by a huge amount of foreign aid from the USA. If Saperstein is correct, every Israeli, every Jew, and every American is guilty of killing each of those children (one was a young boy, killed while playing his own yard. The killing was followed by a call to his parents from Israel telling them to get out of their home). If we are all guilty of shooting children, I want out. Had any number like that of Israeli children been killed, certainly Mr. Saperstein would have found all Palestinians guilty, and it would justify taking more land from them. The facts are, you are responsible only for those things that you can change, millions of Jews/Israelis want Israel to implement UN Security Council Resolution 242, and every German knew that those who stood up the Hitler were soon killed. "Bomber Command" shows, as the war in Iraq has, that a few politicians can make huge decisions without the public even being told the facts, but the public will pay the price, even when they have no control over the actions. Guilt is not something that one person (even a writer) determines, and we have rightly condemned the German army for collective punishment for shooting civilians when they could not find partisans, a lesson we all need to appreciate.

Bomber Command is a great read, full of facts that will amaze you by their brutality, but any theory of common guilt was a rationalization to support collective punishment, just as Israel has recently done to Lebanon. Just as the bombing did not work in Lebanon, it did not work in Germany. Destroying people's homes does not make them stop supporting war, it leaves them with no alternative but fighting. If you are a war buff, or just want to know why Churchill put off invading Europe for so long, this is a must buy.

In this era of political correctness and "sensitivity," it may strike many as repulsive that hundreds of thousands of German civilians were the target of tons of bombs night after night from British aircraft. But the reality is that the campaign was intended to terrorize the German populaion into demanding that their leadership end the barbarous war they started. Ultimately, as Hastings notes, there was no such thing as an innocent German civilian. Each in their own way contributed or supported the slaughter and enslavement of millions by German soldiers and bureaucrats.

Hasting's contribution is to strip the British effort down to its barest essentials: its beginnings as the only effort the otherwise defeated and defenseless British could muster to the excesses of the bombing in the last few months of the war when almost everythng that could be destroyed had been destroyed.

Hasting has a wonderful approach, weaving general history into individual stories of the bombers, the planners, the civilians and soldiers.

For everyone with an interest in accurate history, "Bomber Command" is essential reading.

Jerry

It is simple really to understand. The Germans started the war, enslaved milllions, killed multi-millions, displaced millions, experimented on thousands and euthanized thousands. Why are the apoligists 60 years later saying that we should not have bombed German cities back to the stone age? In the context of that era what other resolution could there have been? Innocents on both sides were slaughtered.

First of all, it is easy to see how this work won the 1980 Somerset Maugham Award for Non-Fiction. I was totally riveted throughout. After reading the book in nearly one sitting, I felt exhausted and numb. The book is an indictment against the entire theory of strategic bombing in WWII and the wholesale slaughter of civilians specifically. While Max Hastings devotes much time to "Bomber" Harris who conducted the night-air campaign without reflection or apologies, his sharpest barbs are for those politicians (Churchill included) and senior military planners that made policy. These hid behind an unspoken but widely understood policy that wide-area terror bombing was the only avenue available to Bomber Command for most of the war but refused to discuss the subject honestly in the public arena in the hopes that they could maintain some sense of moral superiority over their enemy. Hastings also correlates Bomber Command's policy and operations with that of the USAAF, who he writes also hid behind a pretense that collateral casualties were a regrettable but unavoidable tragedy of war. Of course the hypocrisy of this position was laid bare following the continued slaughter of unprotected German cities in 1945 long after everyone knew that the bombing would make no difference to the outcome or even pace of the war, it became bombing just for bombing's sake, or in the case of Dresden, showing the Soviets what Anglo-American air power could do; slaughtering refugees fleeing from the advancing Soviet horde. In fact, the Associated Press reported in February 1945 that the Allied Air Chiefs had embarked on a terror campaign against the German civilian population, but Hastings points out that this news scoop was 3 years late (it had of course been policy soon after the British realized they could not hit specific targets at night). The most mind numbing account is late in the book in which Hastings describes in detail the bombing of Darmstadt. The Allied armies were within 100 miles of Darmstadt and the civilians were under the mistaken impression that they would be spared. In September 1944 Bomber Command made Darmstadt its next target for destruction. As Hastings makes the point, the horror is not that the attack was particularly special or difficult, it was the routine of it all that made it so terrible. The entire process reminds me of the banal evil more often associated with the murder of the Jews; being led into the concentration camps were "the system" would process and prepare them for organized and efficient death. Such was the case of German cities by late 1944. The Luftwaffe had nearly run out of aviation fuel and could only put up a meaningful defense on occasion. The Anglo-American armies had overrun the Luftwaffe's radar belts, so even when fuel was available, the Luftwaffe night-fighters could receive no warnings or directions. The "system" identified a German city for destruction, the bombers went up, everyone did their job and went home. Numbers were difficult to come by, but perhaps 10,000 died in that raid. 1 out of every 5 was a child under 16. 1.81 women for every man (at this stage of the war most men away from the war fronts were elderly). The casualties inflicted upon the citizens of Darmstadt were less than that of many larger German cities, but demonstrates that no German city regardless of size or importance was immune to terror bombing. In fact, Hastings describes how several German cities were identified for destruction not because they contributed to the German war effort, but because they could be easily destroyed, as in the case of medieval cities with a preponderance of wooden housing. Hastings describes the eventual unspoken shame that the wholesale slaughter of the German civilian population left in the minds of the British royalty and government. After the war, Churchill tried his best to distance himself from it and declined to secure a peerage for "Bomber" Harris (a reward given to many with lesser responsibilities). The Bomber Command aircrew were not awarded a Campaign Medal, though the Luftwaffe night-fighters and flak crews inflicted between 72,000-73,000 casualties on British Bomber Command alone. "Bomber" Harris himself emigrated with his family to South Africa soon after the war, shunned by those that used him to conduct their own policies. Hastings makes clear that nobody wanted to take credit for the terror bombing policies of Bomber Command after the smoke of WWII cleared. Hastings does not fault the young aircrew themselves and has nothing but admiration for them. Even so, during his research for the book, he interviews a surviving pilot who became a teacher after the war. The former Bomber Command pilot asks Hastings if others he interviewed complained of nightmares. Perhaps something for the young to think about the next time their government orders then to bomb civilians. Does a state of war really justify the killing of defenseless civilians? Does it really matter that the other side did it first (though in fact many give credit to Churchill for having a German city bombed first in the hopes of redirecting Luftwaffe focus from the RAF airfields to British cities, giving the RAF a new lease on life at the height of the Battle of Britain. This strategy proved successful). Regardless who bombed who first, can killing nearly a million German (and thousands of French) civilians be morally justified? There seems no doubt that the western Allies gave up much of the moral superiority they seem so fond of taking for granted. The biggest irony of all is a point Hastings makes again and again, would not the war have been conducted more efficiently had the resources lavishly spent on Bomber Command been used to assist the British armies and Royal Navy instead? The morale of the German civilian population and their industrial production levels never faltered throughout the day (USAAF) and night (Bomber Command) bombings, only when the German war machine ran out of manpower and fuel did Hitler's armies finally fall back and eventually become overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. It seems quite probable that the horrors unleashed on the civilian populations did little to actually win the war.

My wife is of Calabrian descent -- via both grandparents -- and I bought the book for her. She is delighted with the gift, and reads for a while in bed at night before retiring. She is engrossed in stories of where and how her ancestors managed to stay alive with so little.

Every Italian American should read this book to understand why our forfathers and mothers came here!

This story is more than a tale of a Calabrian family's fortunes and misfortunes, it is an accurate look at a culture during a period of hardship that would eventually lead to great change. The author adds depth to the characters through more than just words, he gives them life through their thoughts and actions. An excellent book for those interested in a true picture of the times and events that shaped the people of southern Italy.

You really feel what it's like to know you will starve once the food you are growing runs out. That overwhelming insecurity was the life of many of our parents and grandparents. The story is fascinating and truly holds your attention. It illuminates our emotional inheritance while it entertains. I want to give this book to all the people who go on about how hard life is these days.

This is a heart-rending story of triumph over tragedy. The characters come alive and invite the reader to see how determination of the human spirit lives on through their valiant lives. Ths story unfolds with a trip through this part of Italy and its history.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT OUR BRITISH ALLIES, HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE JEWS? IN THE 19th CENTURY THERE WAS A LARGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND OF "CHRISTIAN ZIONIST". WINSTON CHURCHILL WAS THEIR ALLIE AND SUPPORTER. BRITISH POLICY REFLECTED THIS PRO-JEWISH ATTITUDE AT VARIOUS ERA's OF POLITICAL CHANGE. AUTHOR MARTIN GILBERT, WHO IS EMINANTLY REGARDED AS BRITISH HISTORIAN OF WWII, RELATES THE AMAZING POLITICAL LIFE OF WINSTON CHURCHILL, BEING IN THE FOREFRONT OF BRITISH POLITICS & POLICY; AND THEN REMOVED FROM POLITICAL LIFE, ONLY TO BE REBORN AS THE SAVIOUR OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. HE NEVER ABANDONED WITH "CHRISTIAN ZIONIST" AFFILIATIONS THROUGH ALL THE TURMOIL OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER.
AMPLY ILLUSTRATED, HOWEVER, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ADDED BONUS TO A TRUELY HISTORIC NON-FICTION BIOGRAPHY, THAT GIVES EVERY READER AN INSIGHT TO THE CURRENT STRUGGLES OF ARAB AGGRESSION AGAINST WESTERN (JUDEO-CHRISTIAN) SOCIETIES.

I began with a prejudice. Winston Churchill is one of my greatest heroes.
Another prejudice. Martin Gilbert is also one of my favorite authors. Gilbert writing on Churchill could be nothing but wonderful.
The book was up to my expectations, and then some. I have read volumes and volumes on the life and activities of Winston Churchill, but found many new facts in insights. I was totally pleased and highly reccomend this book to any one . Admirer or critic.
Herschel Sennett

The 20th Century produced many astounding men, many of them evil. One of the few great democrats of the age was Winston S. Churchill. Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Churchill, has produced one enthralling volume after another.

Churchill's involvement with public life and, more importantly, his impact upon it never ceases to amaze. To read of everything Churchill was involved with - some of the most momentous events of the century that still reverberate today - staggers the imagination.

In this volume, Gilbert examines Churchill's relationship with Jews in general and his involvement with the Balfour Declaration, Zionism and the creation of the State of Israel.

Churchill's first 'political involvement in Jewish concerns" occurred in 1904 when he stood for election for Manchester North-West, where a third of the population was Jewish.

From that point on, Churchill's career often came into contact with Jewish concerns or, conversely, concerns about the Jews. He long supported the aspirations for a Jewish homeland. He protested mistreatment of the Jews by the Russians, Germans and others. He was deeply offended by the radical Jewish terrorists who sought to hasten the creation of Israel. He believed there was a need to turn Jews toward Zionism and away from Bolshevism.

Churchill, indeed, considered himself to be a Zionist.

Churchill's humanism, tolerance, foresight, classic liberalism and just plain decency are all on display in this wonderful volume. By concentrating on this one small aspect of Churchill's many interests, the magnificence of the man is brought into sharp relief. Others, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ernest Bevan suffer in comparison to Churchill in this particular area.

All in all, this is a wonderful book, typical of Gilbert's skill as a researcher, historian and writer. It is also necessary reading for anyone who wishes to be more fully informed about the seemingly intractable problems we face in the area today.

Jerry

From the vast materials that he has accumulated about Churchill, Sir Martin Gilbert has now selected material relating to Churchill's relationship with the Jews. Throughout his life, Churchill was a staunch supporter of the Jews and of the Zionist cause. His father had many friends among the wealthy leaders of Anglo-Jewish society - Lord Rothschild, Sir Ernest Cassel, Baron de Hirsch - friendships which his son inherited. Churchill entered Parliament in 1901, where he strongly opposed both the Conservatives' Aliens Bill of 1904 and the Liberals' Aliens Act of 1906. At the 1906 General Election he had become MP for North-West Manchester, where a third of the electorate was Jewish (and where he first met Chaim Weizmann, who had settled in Manchester in 1904.) Long before the Balfour Declaration in November 1917, Churchill spoke up in favour of Zionism, and he was of course an enthusiastic supporter of that document. When he was made Colonial Secretary in 1921, he became responsible for Mandate Palestine.

At that time Arab opposition to the Balfour Declaration and to Jewish immigration into Palestine was already very strong, and in Britain also there were second thoughts about the wisdom of the Declaration and attempts to undo it. Churchill vigorously opposed these, admired the contribution the Jews had already made to Palestine, and insisted that the Arabs would themselves benefit from this. He had no intention of limiting immigration or of allowing any representative institutions to Palestine as a whole because the Arabs would have a majority there. The Churchill White Paper of 1922 reaffirmed this policy, but also said that `the Jewish National Home in Palestine is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole'. Gilbert quotes from a letter of gratitude from Weizmann soon afterwards, but does not mention that actually many Zionists, Weizmann included, felt let down by the White Paper, because they in fact hoped that Palestine as a whole would eventually become a Jewish State. But Churchill, now in opposition, attacked the Passfield White Paper of 1930, which recommended restrictions on Jewish immigration into Palestine.

Churchill - out of office in the 1930s - early saw the danger that Hitler's accession to power represented; and among the articles he wrote and the speeches he made on the subject, the Nazi persecution of the Jews was always among the items he singled out. It led to an increase in Jewish immigration, which in turn contributed to the Arab Revolt of 1936. The Peel Commission in 1937 eventually came out with a Report recommending that no more than 12,000 Jews should be admitted to Palestine in any one year. Giving evidence before it, Churchill thought that it would be wise for tactical reasons temporarily to limit immigration somewhat (later in 1937 he proposed a figure of between 30,000 and 35,000 a year - comparable to the increase of the Arab population); but in principle he maintained that Britain should admit as many Jews as possible, and he envisaged the possibility that one day in the distant future they might indeed be the majority in Palestine. He expressed some contempt for the Arabs, and some of his answers to the questions he was asked (unpublished at the time) make for crude and intemperate reading today for anyone who is not an insensitive Zionist. The Peel Commission also proposed the partition of Palestine between an Arab state and a tiny Jewish state about a third of the size of Israel of 1948. Weizmann reluctantly accepted this, but Churchill, siding with Jabotinsky, vigorously opposed it on the grounds that such a small state could not defend itself against Arab attacks. And he made a blistering speech against the government's adoption of the MacDonald White Paper in May 1939 which effectively was a repudiation of the Balfour Declaration.

When Churchill became Prime Minister, he pressed repeatedly for a change of policy embodied in the MacDonald White Paper: for arming the Jews in Palestine, for admitting illegal immigrants, for ignoring Arab objections; but he could not get this through Cabinet against the stubborn resistance from the Foreign Office, and the War Office and the administration in Palestine. Only in September 1944 did he get his way to the extent that the War Office agreed to the formation of a Jewish Brigade with its own Star of David flag.

There were Zionists who had long regarded the British government as hostile to their aspirations, and, with the MacDonald White Paper still in force, the fact that the British prime minister was personally pro-Zionist cut little ice with some of them. The Irgun and the Stern Gang fought British troops in Palestine, and in November 1944 the Stern Gang assassinated Lord Moyne, a personal friend of Churchill's. (A month later, during the trial of Moyne's murderers, it even considered assassinating Churchill himself.) But Churchill remained committed to the Zionist cause, in the teeth of his Cabinet's opposition, which, to Weizmann's despair, made it impossible for him to abolish the White Paper immediately after the surrender of Germany and the liberation of the concentration camps.

But then he lost office in 1945 and had to watch the events in Palestine from the sidelines. From the Opposition benches he continued to make powerful speeches against the `squalid' war which the British were fighting against the Jewish militants; rather than that, he suggested the surrender of the Mandate which in due course the government was forced to do.

Right at the end of his second premiership, in 1955, Churchill supported the idea that Israel might join the Commonwealth; and when, soon after his retirement, the Suez War broke out, he publicly supported the actions that Eden's government had taken and justified the participation of Israel, which had acted `under the gravest provocation'.

Throughout this comprehensive account, the superb eloquence of Churchill sparkles magnificently against Gilbert's sober prose.

Winston Churchill, for as long as he can remember, has been connected with Jews. Coming from a family with close Jewish ties, though not through blood, he has always had friends from this ethnicity. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill was often rebuked by the English aristocrats about his many Jewish friends. Learning about the biblical characters in his school, he was often fascinated with their stories and with their lives.

Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, draws on letters, speeches, newspaper articles and other resources to provide a clear depiction of his friendship with one of the most persecuted races in the world: the Jews.

Reading this book was very eye opening. I have always heard about Churchill through his famous quotes often featured at graduations and other ceremonies-and through those I had developed a certain respect for him. However, after reading this book, I consider him one of the greatest men who ever lived. Sure he had faults; he would be the first to admit that. But what set him apart was the fact that he was willing to stand up for what he believed in, even when popular opinion was against it. He was an ardent supporter for a Jewish state and played a key role in bringing that to pass. Many considered his love for Jews one of his major faults; however, he was not swayed by what others thought him.

Martin Gilbert's portrayal of Churchill and his relationship with Jews is very enlightening. It explores this often-neglected topic, captivating the readers from the very beginning as it traces his first Jewish friendships to his Jewish friends he had during the time he was Prime Minister. I really enjoyed this book that also includes photographs that chronicle his relationship with them.

Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended to any history buff!

Williams does a remarkable job of blending jazz, gender, and history into what I see as an absolutely unforgettable novel. If you thought you knew something about the Holocaust, think again. Williams, in his trademark manner, has a way of telling through fiction the factual history that others are to busy or racist to acknowledge. Certainly one of the best in his oeuvre.

A very interesting construction of a diary kept by a fictitious gay black American jazz pianist, Clifford Pepperidge, incarcerated in Dachau leading up to and during the Second World War, but driven by real events. Upon arrival at the concentration camp Clifford is recognised and selected as a house servant by SS Captain Dieter Lange, a former pimp and low life acquaintance of Clifford's, who is not only interested in the pianist's musical abilities, but also as potential for his own sexual outlet. The strange and dependant relationship that develops between Cliff and Dieter Lange, and Lange's wife Anna, becomes ever deeper as they learn each others secrets.
The diary is very revealing about life in a Dachau, and brings home the horrors of the suffering and struggle for survival of the inmates; how circumstances changed as war broke out and progressed, and the desperation of both inmates and captors as the war was clearly coming to, for Germany and possible for the inmates, a disastrous end.
While I am in no position to confirm the authenticity of such a fabrication, the accuracy concerning the fact that in addition to blacks, and Jews, dissidents, criminals, gypsies, gays etc, from very early on Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps (something rarely acknowledged), and their unique position (their potential freedom was in their own hands), leads me to assume that the John A Williams has carefully research all his facts, supported by the usefully included bibliography.
All in all it makes for a captivating, moving and informative read.

If only half of what is published were half as well crafted. By the way, the Kirkus Review at the top says this is Williams's first novel. But this is John A., the author of The Man Who Cried I Am, right? Does Kirkus have him confused with another John Williams?

It took me twenty years to finally pull Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel, Shosha, about Jews and the Holocaust from my bookcase and read it. One week later I had finished it and moved on to read Clifford's Blues. Two compelling and distinctive plys coil together to offer up complementary perspectives on the rise of Nazism in Germany. Singer puts a face on pre-World War II European Jews, richly depicting what it meant to be a Jew in western Europe in the years prior to and during the Holocaust. For most modern Americans this is a fairly familiar story.

Williams offers up a tale much less familiar. He introduces us to Clifford Pepperidge, a gay, black, American jazz musician who spends a dozen years incarcerated in Dachau prison, one of the many labeled undesirables who were captured as the Nazis rose to power. While other prisoners suffer the misery of prison barracks and captor abuse, Clifford sits in the comfortable home of a gay Nazi officer and his bovine German wife. There as a servant, Pepperidge allows himself to be used sexually and musically by both husband and wife, the price of survival. In his daily interaction with other prisoners he sees that good men, those with the character and ethics to stand up for their fellows, rarely survive long. It is those who capitulate, who sink down into the muck, who lose their humanity, who will endure.

Williams provides us with a fascinating picture of how people react to power and influence, even when it clearly is evil. We see the German burger who blinds himself to the fate of those caught up in the hungry trap of Nazism. The German officer who grasps at every opportunity to accumulate wealth and power. The many who stumbled forward in step with a horror that grows ever larger and more malignant. Where Singer presents a picture of people desperately trying to hold onto their hopes and dreams even in the face of rising oppression, Williams shows us the convolutions that strip away humanity in both victim and oppressor.

The writing is strong, and Williams clearly took the time to do the necesary research to bring his story to life. Richly developed characters hold the reader's interest. It is not a book to be quickly forgotten. Williams holds a mirror up and asks us to look at ourselves and think about how we can be shaped and influenced by people and events. His darkside tale underscores the possibility of our own tumble into inhumanity and evil.

I read this book a year ago and it haunts me still.

John A. Williams has crafted here a story so compelling, so engrossing in its depiction of life lived on a razor's edge, that you loathe putting it down; you may feel chills when you've finished it. It's that disturbing, and that good. CLIFFORD'S BLUES affirms that Williams retains his gifts (fresh as ever in his mid-70s!) and mastery of his craft.

Clifford Pepperidge is triple-crossed: condemned as "decadent" - for being American Negro, jazz musician, and active homosexual (especially impolitic when he's caught in bed with a prominent white man) - and interned "indefinitely" in a German concentration camp by Nazidom as it rises to power in the early 1930s.

This is a historical possibility we'd not thought of. Yet Williams, no stranger to historical fiction (see, for example, his novel CAPTAIN BLACKMAN), footnotes his text with incidences of real life black jazz musicians detained by the Nazis prior to the outbreak of World War II; I'd never heard about this.

John A. Williams has been publishing books, mostly novels, over 40 years. His heroes have tended to be "manly" black men: uncompromising, heterosexual, hard-loving, hard-drinking and cigarette-smoking urbane sophisticates. I've always taken them to be stand-ins for the author himself; perhaps they represent the image of manliness of a day not quite gone by.

Stepping out of his usual bounds and into Clifford's skin, however, Williams exhibits an even greater sense of manhood, an empathetic virility. Clifford may not fathom how he managed to get himself into such a mess, but he doesn't make excuses. He's as resolute about his sexuality as his racial and artistic makeup, though all combine to make him particularly alienated - and vulnerable - as he faces down brutal imprisonment with other Nazi-dictated "undesirables" (Communists, gays, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews and gypsies) for twelve long years. He lives to see, almost veritably, the walls of his dungeon shake, practical escape, the possible passing on of his testimony - but at what cost?

I can say, with modesty and with pride, that I've read all John A. Williams' published novels. This is, for my money, his most powerful, arguably his greatest book since THE MAN WHO CRIED I AM.

Williams has always been a thinking person's writer and a darn good storyteller. In this extremely well written and deeply felt book he's rendered the poignant story of a character he made me truly care about. Clifford Pepperidge could be the long-feared-lost-or-dead relative whose tattered diary of surviving hell on earth has just been plopped down in your living room. How can you embrace all of what he's been through? What if it were you? The really eerie question is that, given history, or the record of human events, it's apparent that no one has a corner on inhumane depravity - we're each just as likely or capable of being captor or captive when, if, we allow a new holocaust. But when you look in the mirror, do you recognize the humanity within and extending beyond yourself? Will we remember?

Ann Milholland Webb's THE CONNEMARA BUS is one of those intimate epics that hooks a reader and just doesn't let go. It spins fascinating tales and adventures involving two people, their two cultures and countries and families, and the themes of heartbreak, loss of love and innocence, discovery and hope are not just universal, they become more personal as you read on. This is a ride well worth taking, beautifully told. Truly an intimate story of epic proportions!

I visited Galway, Ireland in June of this year and met Hugh and Annon the Connemara Bus which is now a tourist bus. They were great people.

I highly recommend this book to Irish Americans like myself who are interested in their ancestry and finidhing their relations.

The Connemara Bus is a beautifully well written autobiography which will hold the reader captivated from start to finish. The author describes her childhood, her close relationship to her father and her association with Hugh Ryan and his family. Accompanied by her brother, Dennis, Ann Milholland Webb while on tour in Ireland on The Connemara Bus, chronicals her personal "coming to terms" with the deaths of both her husband and her father in a way which makes the reader feel like they, too, are passengers on the bus and witnesses of her experiences. I am very much looking forward to a sequel of The Connemara Bus by this very talented author.

This is a superb work about greif bearing,roots, and the splendid man Mr. Ferguson. A look at the Connemara Region in times forgotten by many or rather unknown to more. A region of natural beauty not to be missed when you go to Galway. You will consider a tour on the Connemara Bus a bargain. If for no other reason, you will have had the company of Mr.Hugh Ryan, the driver, for an afternoon. Buy the book if you go or not. Ann Milholland has a lot to say in her first book.

Life is full of missed opportunities. How many of us have lamented over that moment of hesitation when we didn't seize the opportunity to speak to an intriguing stranger or take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity? Fortunately there are also those serendipitous moments that can change the whole course of your life. For Missouri native, Ann Milholland Webb, that moment came when she stepped on the Connemara Bus in Galway City. Bus owner and tour guide, Hugh Ryan, offered Ann much more than a tour of the Connemara landscape and history. He provided a glimpse into a simpler time when his grandfather, Andrew Ferguson, used the original bus as a means for women, especially, to come to the city to sell their wares and visit the world outside the narrow confines of village life. For Ann the journey served several purposes, not the least of which was a means of coming to terms with the death of the major figures in her life, her husband and her father. In addition, she found a sense of belonging and acceptanace within the Ryan's close-knit family. Even more surprising, she found a sense of purpose in life and a reason to go on by developing a cottage industry in the Connemara countryside which benefits the local inhabitants. Travel along with Ann on this trip of healing and renewal in the Connemara Bus. It is a journey well worth taking.

and How it Ended up Creating the World as We Know It_ could have been another title of this superb book that is written with cogency, urgency, and a real desire to get across the reader what the author has to say. The synopsis of the story is as another reveiwer has already described below: namely that the kick-off of modernity with Descartes' "I think therefore I am" was not something that popped out of the blue of his profound brain but a working hypothesis in search of a foundation of certainty---to be applied to theology promarily so as to end the sort of savagery that was devastating Europe in the name of religion during his lifetime (the 30 Years War).

Toulmin contextualizes Newton's discovery and Hobbes' political philosophy (briefly but enough to make the connection) in the light of this quest for certainty that held so many of the best minds in Europe spellbound for all these years. With a pace that won't let up, Toulmin takes you on a tour of Europe's social and intellectual transformation: going from poverty and social schism and a sense of doom in 1610 to a confident, unquestionable, and unquestioned, established cosmopolitical paradigm of order that was foisted onto social and political (thus also art) agendas.

So far so good but it sounds like something you've heard before doesn''t it? That's when this book takes off:
Toulmin digs at the 'subtexts' of these common-knowledge events to show you some very interesting presuppositions (seemingly innocuous at first) inherent in these great scientific discoveries that could not but lead to the institutionalization of racism, sexism, and nationalisms that had such traumatic consequences in the 20th century, with continuing severe after-shocks today.

Looking back, we might smugly click our tongues at the insanity that gripped post-Montaigne Europe, and wonder what the fuss was all about. But Toulmin makes his thesis pressingly relevant to us today by drawing parallels with events and situations that are still with us today.

The author rounds out his argument by giving a brief but clear accounting of the major players (French and German) today who are redefining the concept of modernity from mutually opposite ends.

Toumin's assessment of the legacy of modernity--however it may have got started--is one of of hope and optimism as he reminds the reader that in making the distinction between 'power' and 'force' (Hobbes) there is also this thing called ' moral influence' which, he hopes, will serve as the engine of renewal and humanization of 'modernity' in all its possibilities.

Maybe this is not the best or the most comprehensive account of the origin of post-modernism and/or its tendencies, but the book does give you about a 120 degree panorama--through a powerful telescope. Isn't that enough in a book?

The book is a inspiring discussion on modernity and basic aspects of our view of world. It's an essential book in time of the pos-modernity challenge.

Wow! Toulmin takes the reader on an exhaustive tour of the modernist program, tracing the roots of modern thought way, way back to the 16th century...and before. He makes a compelling case, with some interesting side trips, that modern thought grew out of the religious wars of the early 1600s and the desire for non-sectarian certainty that those wars created. If that doesn't make sense, you should read this book. Fascinating history, and a broad sweep of science and philosophy make this book quite readable, though neither short nor easy. Still, it goes a long way toward explaining why the ground seemed to shift under our feet around 1960. It was an earthquake that was as inevitable as it was overdue. I highly recommend this book to any serious student of culture.

This book is very useful for anyone who tries to understand the phenomenon of modernity, it origin, and its weaknesses.

Cosmopolis brings it all together! Dreary and disconnected readings of Aquinas, Montaigne and Descartes take on new significance with Toulmin's "revised account" of Modernism. By contextualizing prominent figures, Toulmin provides the novice reader with the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the philosophical contribution to the historical idiom. His witty, often humorous discourse is essentially readable and familiar. Philosophy can be tedious and intimidating, Toulmin proves it both fundamental and accessible.

One of the most famous - and infamous - letters in all of literature, De Profundis is a strange little piece of work: either much more than it appears on the surface, or much less. It is something I think everyone should read, if only for its insight into the human character, particularly that of one under great personal suffering. Wilde wrote this extraordinarily long letter from prison to Lord Alfred Douglas, his friend, lover, and the man who - by all accounts - was the reason Wilde was in jail in the first place. Despite repeated assertions in the first few pages alone to the contrary, Wilde seems reluctant to blame himself. He clearly blames Douglas to the hilt, and harbors a certain bitter resentment towards him. And yet... he clearly still hold much dear affection toward - and even loves - Douglas. He still seems to be asking for forgiveness - despite the fact that, by all accounts hardly excluding his own, he was the man wronged. It is quite clear from reading this letter that, desite the view history holds of him, Wilde was clearly a man of very high moral character. Certainly, one would not put Wilde atop a pedastal as the zenith of ethics - he himself says that morals contain "absolutely nothing" for him, and clearly admits - and is proud of - his having lived the high life to the hilt during his youth - but Wilde was a man of principles, and he stuck to those principles to the tragic, bitter end. Perhaps you might say he carried them too far. One gets the sense in reading this letter - or a biography of Wilde - that, not only could he have stopped his immiment imprisonment, but could have severed his ties with Douglas completely - had he wanted to. Apparently, he had his own utterly compelling reasons for not doing so. Whatever the case, Oscar Wilde is one of the most fundamentally and perpetually interesting characters in the whole of history. A self-described man of paradoxes - Wilde was subsequently the true essence of his time, while also being far ahead of his time - De Profundis makes for required reading by one of the most endlessly fascinating individuals you'll ever read about, and also provides a startling - indeed, perhaps too much so - insight into human nature.

De Profundis, though long for a letter, is not a long work in the conventional sense. Consequently, as many editions of Wilde's collected works are available, buying this on its own may be deemed questionable. I highly reccommend purchasing a Collected Works of Oscar if you have not done so already - it's well worth the price - but, should you desire to have more compact editions of specific works, an edition such as this will be privy to your needs.

This is a very moving account of a heartbroken man who was betrayed by a person he loved dearly. The pain, the trauma, the love, the anger, the frustration is evident in every single well-written sentence. This book is not only a window into the mind of one of the best British writers of the late 19th century. It is also a timeless lesson on what can happen when one falls in love with someone who doesn't truly appreciate what they have before them. Of course there are other lessons to be learned in this book but rather than point them out here, I'd much prefer you pick up a copy of "De Profundis" as soon as you can.

Not actually a "letter," though it had to be originally presented as such for him to be allowed to write it while in prison, *De Profundis* is Wilde's masterpiece--one has to have really lived and really, really suffered to have written it and it's amazing that he achieved it.

I only very recently read it--and "got" it. It rings true to me, and is very, very moving and "profound." It ain't summer beach reading.

Wilde is still and will probably always be best known as a "Personality"--that and the author of a couple of decent period plays, a short novel, a few stories, and lots of forgettable poems and such. But THIS--THIS is IT.

He really WAS a great writer, it turns out, after all.

So many people concentrate on De Profundis' accusations cast towards Alfred Douglas. Yes, it's true that the letter was written to him and that Wilde is ruthless in letting Douglas know exactly what he thinks of him but that's not why De Profundis is a great piece of work. It is great for three reasons. Number one - It contains the best account of the life of Christ. Christ as the romantic artist is the only account that has moved me to tears and the only account I can personally embrace. Number two - it is chock full of the Oscar Wilde voice and wit and as a result it reverbates as a true work of art and number three - It is ultimately a work that celebrates the things in life worth feeling - failure, love, injustice, strength and forgiveness.

Don't waste your time with the accusations towards Douglas. He is unimportant. Oscar Wilde is what's important and De Profundis is Oscar Wilde bare.

Ah, me...one doesn't know which to be more irritated
and exasperated with: whether it be Walt Whitman doing
his dissembling shuck-and-shuffle about the children
he had sired (to throw off a probing, serious John
Addington Symonds) -- or Oscar, in this "j'accuse," which
he should have spoken while looking in a mirror, rather
than writing it on paper to Lord Alfred.
This is without doubt a fascinating, horrifying,
and yet in places humorous, "piece de Miserere mei"
(to combine a bit of French with Latin).
If one chooses to believe Oscar, his only fault
was weakness in "giving in" to Lord Alfred. Oh,
come now. Blinded by Eros, reason flies out the
door...if ever reason was in control. There are
some sentences which are devastatingly revealing,
but Oscar doesn't seem to see it. "The trivial in
thought and action is charming. I had made it
the keystone of a very brilliant philosophy expressed
in plays and paradoxes." Ye gods, and little fishes!

And this man dared to call himself a "Classicist?!"
Yikes!!!
The best exercise for the reader is to just take
many of the things which Oscar accuses Lord Alfred
of, and turn them toward the self-blind, self-
justifying Oscar, to see their devastating hitting
of the mark. Never having met the young man, but
only having the "benefit" of hearsay (mostly from
Oscar's literary defenders) Lord Alfred seems to have
been calculating, temperamental (using anger to get
his way), manipulative, etc., etc., etc. The best
description of him may be Wilde's referring to him
with the lines from Aeschylus' play AGAMEMNON,
about the lion cub being raised in a house and
being let loose to wreak havoc and ruin.
But Oscar bears his share of blame -- more than just
that of the "sin" of weakness which he constantly falls
back upon in his own justification. Even in the midst
of what purports to be some sort of penitent cry from
the depths of hell...Oscar still is ever the poseur:
"And I remember that afternoon, as I was in the railway
carriage whirling up to Paris, thinking what an impossible,
terrible, utterly wrong state my life had got into, when
I, a man of world-wide reputation, was actually forced
to run away from England, in order to try and get rid
of a friendship that was entirely destructive of everything
fine in me either from the intellectual or ethical point
of view...." Er, when was the last time that the
"everything fine" had last seen the light of day?
Was Oscar an "Artist," as he consistently claims?
Was he the wronged, harmed Artist? Perhaps only the
reader can decide that for himself. Without doubt
he was witty, acerbic, funny, cute, clever, perhaps
even charming (to some -- sort of like a Pillsbury
Dough Boy with flair and a clever tongue), perhaps
stylish (in a frumpy, velveteen sort of way). Was
he wronged by a predatory clinger and manipulator,
and a hypocritical social prudery and class power
play (Oscar is no Socrates--that's for sure!)? He
hardly seems worthy, in some ways, of being a poster-boy
for Gay Pride parades. More likely, he is a better
warning poster boy for the self-excusing, and never
take-responsibility-for-your-own-actions crowd.
But this is an incredible piece to read and think
about. There is some of it that is mordantly hilarious.

"Divides Lives" tells the stories of woman living a in a real life "twilight zone" during the Third Reich. Dr. Crane brings her characters to life and the reader is swept into their confusing and frightening world. I am not particularly enamored by Holocaust literature. I have had my fill of books, articles and movies which portray the horrors of the camps. However, this book is different. These stories would stand by themselves regardless of the setting. The implications for our modern world, alluded to in the author's musings, are staggering. Anyone who enjoys short stories or biographies will absolutely love this book. I can hardly wait for Dr. Crane's next work.

Unlike Schindler's List, in Divided Lives, a book by Cynthia Crane, the reader is able to put a face with a name and learn about personal experiences before, during, and after the war. No longer are these people just statistics, but they are actual people who had a life that was turned upside down by the Holocaust. Divided Lives is the type of resource that could be used in schools, especially high school, to show the truth about what Holocaust victims went through day after day and the effects it had on the rest of their lives. Divided Lives not only shows students about the uniqueness of this period in history, but children can also connect on an emotional level and learn an appreciation for their own lives and the human race.

I remember reading a poem back when I was a boy about the poet's life in the segregation era south that his father white and his mother black and being subjected to bigots both black and white. Somehow the meaning felt true while reading this book.

From the little boy who was beaten by nazi teachers because his father was Jewish, to the little girl whose Jewish father fled to America but sent divorce papers to his gentile wife, the stories here are in many ways far from pleasant. But not all the perpetrators are from the same group. A husband kicked out of the nazi party because of his wife's heritage, balanced against that of a girl kicked out of the BDM because of her heritage, only to discover after moving into in her new town the local BDM leadress telling her she was going to be in the BDM whether she liked or not 'unofficially'. A girl whose policeman father was driven mad by the stress and murdered by the T4 fiends to the loss of so many Jewish relatives by each, this is a very insightful book.

Life was not happy for these women when they were girls. Being prevented form joining the BDM because of their heritage or kicked out if the BDM found out. Being kept out of many things. Being stuck in the middle of nazi germany with less than politically correct heritage under allied bombs. Somehow they survived to tell their stories.

I didn't think it was up the the standards of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, but that book drew from a larger pool of individuals.
But within its small scale, it's pretty good.

After reading this accumulation of sensitive and very private stories by the subjects still alive in Germany, I recommended to the author that this book should be required reading in high schools across the USA.
The women who dared have their stories told survived an unbelievable period in German history in the 1930s and 40s. Reading the painful recollections of the personal experiences of the subject Jewish women under the domination of the Third Reich reveals an awful human experiment too horrible to fully understand, but important that it be revealed.
Readers will not be disappointed in the revelations extracted by the author, who has a personal connection to this period in history. Her father was a fraternity brother of mine, and I only recently learned of the humiliations he suffered before he escaped to the United states at age ten. Humiliations that have affected him ever since.
The author learned why her maiden name isn't the same as her father's original last name. And that triggered the quest to learn more, and thus the research in Germany and this book.

Many of the mischling women interviewed in this book state that the young people of today, especially Americans don't have any feeling whatsoever for what happened in WWII. Sadly, they are correct in that we learn about the war, but we don't learn about real life during the war. Facts and technical outlines of battles can only give one the surface of the struggle. To dig deeper, you need to read first person accounts such as the ones given in this book...stories of persecution and oppression that will make the war seem all too real. The paper thin line of distinction between Germans and Jews comes to life here with the children of Jewish/Christian parents who are ranked according to the amount of Jewish blood they carry...first degree half-Jew or second degree quarter-Jew. Most are saved from the concentration camps by their affiliation with their Aryan (German) family, but all suffer some amount of anti-semitism and persecution under the Third Reich. This is a revealing portrait of the fate of the mischlinge, a people who are often forgotten in the gruesome and humiliating saga of the holocaust.

This book was a real departure for James Norman Hall, and demonstrates Hall's ability to create a series of unified but stand-alone short stories, each with a tongue-in-cheek ability to tell a (usually~!) believable story. Well, let's face it, they're all lies, but they're such INTERESTING lies!

F. Dogbody, Surgeon in the Royal Navy, has lost a leg- and each of his stories that he related in the cozy Plymouth inn as how he lost the leg is as entertaining at the last. If you're a fan of Jack Aubrey novels (as I am), you will like these stories.

The introduction about James Norman Hall is as interesting as the book. Hall, an American, fought in the trenches in World War I before America joined the war, then fought as an American fighter pilot- and was the commanding officer of America's leading ace, Eddie Rickenbacker.

Get two or three copies of this nice little book and share with your friends. They'll love you for it.

Doctor Dogbody was a navy surgeon who spent most of his life at sea on sailing ships. As long as people can remember he has had a wooden leg. Whenever old mates gather around the fire with a pint in their hand and long to hear a tale, they anxiously await the tale of how the good doctor lost his leg. The tale is never the same twice!

This is one of those rare books that you keep on your bookshelf for re-reading. I have read "Doctor Dogbody's Leg" at least 20 times. I made the mistake of letting somebody borrow it and it
has disappeared. Guess I am just going to have to buy another copy!

A beautifully written and conceived collection (or is it one continuous tale?), this book will grab anyone who appreciates great humor and skillful writing. A true test of a book's greatness, this one I was truly sorry to see end. Grab a tankard of ale, or a glass of Port Royal, and settle down by the fire at the Cheerful Tortoise. You'll roar with laughter and gasp with astonishment at the good Doctor's tales.

A must read for any and all O'brien fans. This is one the funniest books I have ever read. The good doctor spins increasingly outragous yarns and somehow makes it all seem plausible. The writing is first rate and the characters are vivid and real.

This book was a change of pace for the author, who was the co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty and other books. It is humorous light reading, with the tales set in the Cheerful Tortoise, as Dr. Dogbody, Royal Naval, meets with old acquaintances and tells tales about how he lost his leg. It sometimes rambles a bit, as tales might if told by an old-timer reminiscing. Overall, it is a good collection of stories that could probably be shared with children. So get a pint of ale, and sit down in front of the fire at the Cheerful Tortoise while Dr. Dogbody relates his adventures.