Europe Books

This is not close to the first review of this book. Read the other listings for much more detail.

I gave the book 5 stars, but it isn't at that level as a piece of literature. However, it is well beyond that level as an artifact of history. As I write this in late 2003, the Denver Post has almost daily obituaries for the WWII generation. Soon they will all be gone. In another 30 years the Vietnam vets, in another 50 the Gulf kids. Each will leave some worthwhile fragments of their experience, this is one of the better ones I've found from the WWII group.

As a Denver kid that had problems with Denver Pub Schools, sat on the bench for high school football, went off to war in Vietnam, flew in the Navy, I found Stiles' book to be a godsend, to understand MY life, and my relationship with my father's generation. Read it because it is a ROUGH manuscript, obviously not well edited, and it is honest, and for any number of reasons, it seems that honesty comes at a premium and probably always has.

The current President, who had the opportunity to really be a combat pilot and did everything he could to avoid it, now poses on flight decks. The current Governor of Colorado, who never did a day in the military, passed out pictures of himself in a flight-suit climbing down from a aircraft wing to associate himself with a strong defense. What a miserable collection of mutts compared to their father's generation.

The remarkable thing about these kids wasn't that they were courageous heroes, but because they weren't and they still got the job done. One bloody, gut-wrenching day at a time. Spin that.

Not much I can add to what others have written about the Big Bird. I first read the book while in college in the late 1960s. Some years later I lent the paperback to a friend and it went up in smoke during a fire. I was stunned and mad because I liked to go back on occasion and read a chapter or two when I felt I needed to read something from Bert. Now, to make a short story long, after years of trying to find another copy, the internet came along and I started to find out about Bert. I began pulling things up and contacting various folks. I came across one fellow and damned if they weren't having a get-together honoring Bert at Colorado College. I was there. It lasted two days and no more than a handful of old folks were in attendence (at the time I was in my mid 50s and I was the second yougest person there). As I was leaving at the end of the remberance a fellow took hold of my arm and asked if I would like to have a stack of books. They were compiled by friends of Bert's some time long after he had died! Of course I accepted them! There were writings ranging back to his high school days in Denver. Some of the stuff is pretty good, some not so good. But, the short stories (sorry, there is no lost novel) I found had a appeal for the time and demonstrated Bert's growth as a writer.

Yes, I too think Bert was on the brink of becoming a well known writer. He did, by the way, write for a magazine in New York. I have the books and I still return to then when I need a good laugh (Bert was quite a wit) or just want to step back into the late 30s or early 40s. There must be 5-6 of these books (private publisher, sorry). The fellow who organized the 'event' is no longer with us as, I would guess, many of the others aren't. My God, most were in their very late 70s or early-mid 80s. Alas the group is leaving us at an astounding rate.

Okay, I'm done now. The book gets 5 stars and I have been able to give you a very brief look at Bert and some of his pals - though not many. Yes, there are other "books" by Bert and you might just get lucky and find some of them.

I first read this book in 1960 and discovered that Bert Stiles was my uncle-Robert Langford's roommate in "Copilot House". I sent my copy to my uncle who subsequently got a copy (long out of print) from the publisher. He said the story was pretty much like things were. He said Bert Stiles always said he was writing a book but then everybody was writing a book. I have my uncle's copy filled with photos of the "Big Bird" full of holes afer Leipzig. The aircraft never flew again. It was repaired and blew up with the sqadron commander and chaplain aboard on it's test flight.

In 1969 I had the pleasure to visit with Richard White a co-pilot in a B-17 during World War II. His plane was shot down over Berlin in 1944 and he spent some months in a German Stalag. He told me that if I really would like to know how it was that I should read this book. I have read it. It is awesome! It is written in a style that had me totally engrossed from start to finish.

When Bert Stiles wrote this book, the war was still raging across the world. It was 1944, he had just completed a horrific tour of duty as a B17 co-pilot, and the memories were fresh in his mind. Even though Bert seemed to be a somewhat sensitive man, some of his words have a callous feel to them. He talks about the officers and enlisted men forming a baseball team, and "..after the Schweinfurt raid, we had to replace the whole infield"-Simply put, so many men had been killed on that mission, no one was left to play on the team. Bert was an intelligent man, a good writer, but he lacked the experience to know when to back out of the war. Passive, intelligent, creative people do not make good fighter pilots. Bert was killed in action shortly after writing his memoirs.

I bought it as part of a package deal, and it never arrived.

Because I plan to trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway next year I bought this book hoping to read some advice and tips on how to travel the whole trip, where to stay, how much it costs, where to stay etc.

But his book absolutely surpassed all my expectations!! There are not only those tips on trans-siberian rail, but also "travel guides" for cities like Moscow, Irkutsk and even tips on how to get to Mongolia, where to stay in Ulan-Bator and so forth.

I have no idea how I would plan my trip without this book! It's really amazing how much information (and even with tips from other "ordinary" travellers!!) is in that, for instance bus-numbers from Moscow airport heading to the center of the city ...

The book absolutely worth the money.

My friend and I did part of the trip last summer, and the guide was simply invaluable. We were in the major cities decribed in the book, and we took the train Irkutsk--Ulaan Baator. The book was very helpful both when we were planning the trip (has train schedules) and on the spot, directing us to places of interest. Overall, gives you a good idea what to expect. Start reading the guide at least half a year before the planned trip. You'll need good 4 to 5 months to arrange everything.

For passengers on traveling on all or most of the Trans-Siberian Railway and visiting the cities along it, there are only two English-language travel guides. The Lonely Planet guide appeared in 2003 with a second edition in 2006, while Bryn Thomas updates his guide almost yearly and in 2007 it reached its seventh edition. I'm a two-time veteran of the Trans-Siberian, using the 1st edition of the Lonely Planet on the eastbound Trans-Manchurian route, and the 2nd edition on the eastbound Trans-Mongolian. When I recently discovered Bryn Thomas' guide in the local library, however, it struck me as the guide that I wish I had had on the trip.

The Lonely Planet guide and Thomas' have much in common. Both include a history of Russia in the Trans-Siberian era and general information about culture. They both give sightseeing guidance and lodging listings for the cities along the way. The LP sticks to the three traditional routes between Moscow and Beijing or Vladivostok, but Thomas has now added Yakutsk, soon to be accessible by rail) and other possible rail terminus cities like Prague and Hong Kong.

What makes Thomas' guide real special is his enthusiasm for the train journey itself. Unlike the LP guide, he gives timetables for the route, truly equipping the reader to prepare for the trip without having to look for too much information outside the book. Thomas discusses in detail the layout of carriages, specifics of what the carriage attendant can do for those under her charge, and things to look out for at kilometre markers along the way. The LP guide has little about the journey itself, and what little interesting information it did have in the first edition disappeared in the second.

Thomas' tone is also much more pleasant to read than in the common guidebooks for independent travelers. He doesn't try to sell you places you have already decided to visit with an overuse of words like "vibrant" and "spectacular". I also admire that he succeeds in writing for a general audience. While some of the accomodation listings are pricey, it doesn't feel like he is dismissing backpackers like certain sell-out guidebook lines.

I don't think I will ever travel the Trans-Siberian all the way again. While still fairly low considering the distance, fares are rising and I usually have the three free weeks needed to hitchhike from Europe to Ulan-Ude or Vladivostok. Nonetheless, I'd certainly recommend this to travelers planning a trip that is well-worth doing at least once.

I used this book while traveling along the Trans-Siberian railroad and in planning my trip beforehand. It provides a great amount of quality information for planning purposes, but it is not complete. For example, when it lists the time table of trains, please note that it is only a sample of the most popular "tourist" trains. We found hundreds of trains going along the route, leaving at all times of day and night (of course we figured this out once we got there).
The translations were useful if you do not know the Russian alphabet. The pronunciation guide is good.
The best part of the guide was the section which gave you fun facts along the kilometer markings of the railroad. These made up a great portion of our entertainment while riding the train (4 days of sitting and looking out the window, chatting with other travellers, etc.). The little tidbits were very interesting!
The city guides within the book were an okay start to get familiar with the cities, but as with any guidebook which tries to cram it all in, it was not nearly complete.
My only con of the book was the large size of it. It is very thick, but I guess it must be (it has sooooo much info inside!)
I would recommend buying it if you are traveling along the railroad, or just as a great reference!

I've only just begun reading, but so far, it's been quite enjoyable. The author writes with humor. I've some British online friends. I've been able to use tidbits from the book when joking around with them.

I had read Barzini's well known works on the Europeans and thoroughly enjoyed this book on the English.

The approach is academic yet palatable, laden with insightful observations and well deserves consideration as a work of anthropological interest. The author maintains an objective distance and professional methodology which impart a delicious irony; we are conditioned to primitive cultures as the provenance of these studies, she turns the focus upon what some may argue as the bastion of civilization.

As a guidebook to a cultural understanding of the English this work is invaluable. The expose on class is penetrating and amuses as there are unexpected twists; such as decorating your home or garden with a modicum of lower class objects, the inside joke apparent only to the cognoscienti.

Written by an English anthropologist about her own nation's behaviour. There're some interesting explanation on why British ppl are so uneasy socializing, talking about money and may sometimes talking in the opp way (hypocrisy). While many of the explanations suggested by the author are convincing, I found those behaviour not unique to the British, they can be observed in our Chi society as well! So it's useful in understdg ppl's behaviour.

Kate Fox, a social anthropologist and Co-Director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, who has lived in England, America, Ireland and France, takes a revealing look at the quirks and habits of the English people. Being very English herself, she holds a mirror up to the English national character and reveals the most famous traits as well as the most bizarre reflex reactions. She attempts to discover the curious, hidden rules of behaviour that all English people seem to follow, but few are aware even exist. In a separate section consisting of 14 pages she focuses on defining Englishness and attempts to define Englishness in contrast to being British.

Writing with gentle humour and astute perception she portrays the foibles in the English and in herself as well. Kate Fox is immensely perceptive about all kinds of English cultural values, behaviours and oddities. Watching the English falls into two main parts: part one - Conversation codes; part two - Behaviour codes. The first part covers everything from the obsession with the weather through English humour to how people use mobile phones. The second part deals with how the English behave inside their own homes or when visiting other people's homes, life in the workplace, food, drink, eating-habits, sex... and many more topics.

Though the smallish print might irritate some, it's an easy read with good flow and the reader will get much material to provoke lively discussion with anyone interested in the English.

Anthropologist Kate Fox, has forced herself to engage in many humiliating field tests-- like bumping into people on purpose and seeing how many people say `sorry'-- in order to test the common theories about English behaviour. Watching the English is the result of her research. Fox's book displays most of the traits that she points out as representing the English: being sensitive to the tiny signifiers of class status (e.g. the `M&S test', which identifies your class by your shopping choices at that particular department store), it purposely avoids taking itself too seriously and is continuously self-deprecating (of course, this is the `popular anthropology', not the real scientific one). Admitting to being neither, Watching the English is positioned between satire and science.

Warmly recommended for anyone from another culture, who tries to survive living in Britain, or live among the English abroad. People working in international teams with English members or bosses would have many aha-insights through this book.

As an American social scientist who has an English partner and has visited the UK multiple times, I found this book engrossing for many reasons. Kate Fox does the miraculous: she makes fascinating reading out of chapters on tea, queue-jumping, arrangements of knick-knacks, incessant talking about the weather, and myriad other English characteristics that so charm, frustrate, and baffle we non-English of the world. Moreover, her writing is hilarious - she has a droll, tongue-in-cheek, utterly English sense of humor that had me laughing through every chapter.

The book is incredibly useful, too. I read it after my English partner recommended it to me, saying he had never read anything that captured the English so well. The insights in the book clarified several things to me and greatly reduced the quantity of cultural faux pas on my part. It also gave my partner a great deal of insight into his own personality as well as his interactions with Americans. Plus, it led to many, many fascinating discussions between us about (among other things) the markers of class and attitudes about it, the nature (and point) of politeness, and how it is that societies can make us who we are.

The only shortcoming of the book is that I still don't understand Vegemite, but I think that may just be beyond comprehension.

Figes had already established himself as perhaps the preeminent historian of modern Russia before this book came out but with its publication he has confirmed that claim many times over.
When reading about the years of Stalin's tyranny it is easy to become inundated by the scale of the suffering inflicted on so many people with such murderous persistence. There is a tendency to become removed from the enormous numbers and see it all in a rather academic light.
Figes succeeds brilliantly in preventing that by giving each victim a name, a family, and a story while still being able to convey a very vivid sense of the scale of the crimes committed in the name of The People.
Strange as it may seem, this is a book that speaks with warmth and humanity on every page - the humanity of the victims, those who fought and fell, as well those who continue to fight against their memories and suffering. And also the humanity of a writer able to convey their stories with such astounding sensitivity and compassion. Highly recommended.

This is a terrific book, providing a very personal look at a terrifying and challenging time of Soviet history. By examining the history through diaries and personal stories, with illustrations of houses and photographs of families, Figes takes a difficult subject that could easily be treated through numbers or made very distant, and turns it into a narrative that provides a strong understanding of the mindset and lifestyles and goals of everyday and privileged people living through the revolution and terror. If you are interested in Soviet history, you should definitely add this to your library.

Even though the book is quite long, I wished it were longer.

Over the years I've read many books about Russian and Soviet history, from Roy Medvedev's "Let History Judge"to Montefiore's "Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar," with significant stops along the way for Solzhenitsyn's magisterial polemic "The Gulag Archipelago." Orlando Fige's "The Whisperers" is one of the best single-volume studies of life in Soviet times I have read. It is a fairly long book, but very engaging: I found myself reading 30 to 50 pages at a stretch. There is a cast of characters as long as in one of Tolstoy's great novels, but these are all real people, describing or recollecting their experiences in Stalin's Russia. It is a tribute to Mr. Figes that he arranges the narratives in such a way that this reader was never confused following the threads of so many lives over the course of such turbulent decades. In addition, Figes provides short accounts of the ideological, political and economic shifts in the Kremlin which directly influenced the lives of the people in the chapters which follow. For conciseness, clarity and readability, his narrative is outstanding when he writes about the NEP, Stalin's anti-Kulak campaign and collectivization of the countryside, the rapid rise of the Gulag and slave labor as a mainstay of the Soviet economy, and the malign influence on family relations of the1930s propaganda cult surrounding Pavel Morozov. Figes includes information in this book which I've simply not seen in histories before. He shows floor plans of communal apartments which makes clear how little privacy many urban dwellers in Moscow and Leningrad had at home, and how Stalin's regime nurtured malicious watchers as well as whisperers. The diary and letter extracts in "The Whisperers" can be deeply moving. There is a photo in the book of Nikolai Kondratiev's letter to his daughter Elena, written from a labor camp. It shows a drawing he'd done illustrating a fairy-tale in verse he'd written for Elena entitled "The Unusual Adventures of Shammi." The drawing is simple, the verse is charming. It makes one think of how many millions of times in different times and places parents have entertained their children by spinning stories. But the circumstances here are grotesque: Kondratiev was one of millions of innocents imprisoned under Stalin. And the outcome is tragic: in 1938 he was shot by a firing squad. This is just one example of the dozens of different accounts of lives of ordinary people warped or crushed by this monstrous regime. The sum of such narratives creates a very rich mosaic of a society and its time which even those of us who have visited Russia in the recent past have difficulties understanding.

In the long essay which follows the fictional story of War and Peace, Tolstoy first developed the concept that armies are not just regiments of men following the will of their commander, but individuals who have individual consciences. History isn't just the deeds of Napoleon and Alexander, but of each aristocrat, tradesman, artisan or peasant who fought in the Napoleonic wars, and of their families back home. Each of their lives is as worthy of examination as that of any Tsar or Generalissimo. Because of this, I think Tolstoy is properly the godfather of oral history. Orlando Figes has done a great job gathering and editing the accounts of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people living during the cruelest years of Stalinism. He also conveys the sense of freedom and comradeship experienced by many during the worst days of the second World War (which the Soviets hallowed as the "Great Patriotic War"), a mistaken sense of freedom which landed Solzhenitsyn in the Gulag. For all these reasons, I think old Tolstoy might be pleased in literary heaven could he only read these accounts of real lives and real consciences played out in the pages of "The Whisperers."

One small caveat: Kirill Simonov was a very successful writer in the Stalin literary establishment who came of age during World War II. Because of his public life of letters and his colorful personal life he occupies many pages in "The Whisperers." As was the case with many successful people in the Arts world under Stalin, Simonov was morally compromised. (I'm paraphrasing Lev Kopelev, but that writer has a pithy quote that "Every society has bad people who do bad things. But under communism, good people were encouraged to do bad things." This describes Simonov.) For better or worse, and because he wrote so much and was so active for all the decades from the Thirties until the Seventies, Simonov emerges as the main "character" in this book. This has its merits, but it also throws into harsh relief the fact that many of the less-lettered accounts in this oral history don't always seem as real, or as present, as Simonov. Because this is a history and not a work of fiction I'm not sure this imbalance could ever have been effectively redressed, but the imbalance is there.

A final word of praise: I've travelled to Russia several times since the overdue demise of the Soviet Union, and seen life change radically not only because of the introduction of Russian-style market capitalism, but because a generation has grown up without memory of life under communism. Figes points out that young people in Russia have no great interest in what to them has also become the story of an alien life lived by grandparents and great-grandparents during the 5-year plans. The people who do remember are old, dying out, with failing memories. "The Whisperers," and the archives on which it is based, is commendable because it helps to save so many of these survivors' accounts to historical memory.

I learned about the book The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia, by Orlando Figes due to Amazon.com which linked it with my memoir (Family Matters and More: Stories of My Life in Soviet Russia, by Sol Tetelbaum) that was published recently. My first thought was that a person like me, who was born in Soviet Russia in the middle of the thirties, read a lot of about Stalin's time could hardly find much new in The Whisperers.

I left Soviet Russia at the end of 1988 and had witnessed many events, some of which were described in Orlando Figes' book. I was able to find and read a few books that were prohibited in the USSR. I didn't know the author of The Whisperers, never read his books before, and doubted that a foreign writer would be able to find many unknown details about this gloomy tragic time. Nevertheless, I decided to read it for the sake of curiosity.

I was hugely impressed; the book literally overwhelmed me. The author has done an incredible job interviewing thousands of people - victims of many years of terror. Those people were among the lucky few who managed to survive. I must say that the author recreated the forest while paying attention to each tree.

Telling about the fates of individual people and their families, the author shows what was going on in the Soviet Union behind the Iron Curtain. Living in the USSR over 50 years, I knew and had read a lot, but reading The Whisperers I felt indescribable pain and horror. Fates of hundreds of thousands, even millions of Soviet people were possible to describe with the same four words: falsely accused, arrested and shot. And what was even more horrible, all of this became habitual.

Recalling that not very remote time, I think about one more phenomenon: despite everything that was going on in the country, people wanted to live a normal life. In the daytime, they worked, entertained, attended theaters, movies and were busy with other activities. But at night they could learn that they, or their relatives, or their friends, or people they knew for a long time, all of a sudden, had become "enemies of the people," and were arrested, disappearing forever.

Orlando Figes in his The Whisperers showed very truthfully, through the tragic lives of many thousands of victims, one of the most awful political systems - totalitarian power. I would like everybody to read this book, both supporters and opponents of democracy. The opponents vividly will see that the totalitarian system is deadly for all, and the supporters one more time will be convinced that democracy is weak; it is needed to be defended.

In his book, the author of The Whisperers described in detail the years 1917 to 1956. Stalin died in 1953. It was the time when I began to understand events and the difference between slogans and reality; I began to realize that the Soviet power was killing in people everything human. The author showed great insight and deepness describing those times. But most importantly, he noticed that the fear of Great Terror penetrated deeply into Soviet people's souls and didn't disappear. He wrote that the KGB " had access to a huge range of draconian punishments ... and its power of surveillance...instilled fear in anyone...who could be seen as anti-Soviet." I still remember that paralyzing fear, but I also remember that despite that fear, people were
dying to have a human life; Soviet power wasn't able to kill in people everything and this could be seen as a victory of humanity. "Human spirit cannot be destroyed" as Mr. Tsitrin wrote in his review." I would be extremely glad to see this topic as Orlando Figes' next project about Soviet Russia.

I would like to emphasize the actuality of Orlando Figes' book, especially now, in Putin's time when, according to the author, "the restoration of authoritarian government encouraged many Russians to return to their reticent habits."

I strongly recommend everybody to read the book. Nothing should be forgotten because what is forgotten has a tendency to be repeated.

Sol Tetelbaum.

Just a superb work. Extraordinary historical research and excellent writing. Haunting and essential. Quite simply the best work of this type about the Soviet Union.

Figes had already established himself as perhaps the preeminent historian of modern Russia before this book came out but with its publication he has confirmed that claim many times over.
When reading about the years of Stalin's tyranny it is easy to become inundated by the scale of the suffering inflicted on so many people with such murderous persistence. There is a tendency to become removed from the enormous numbers and see it all in a rather academic light.
Figes succeeds brilliantly in preventing that by giving each victim a name, a family, and a story while still being able to convey a very vivid sense of the scale of the crimes committed in the name of The People.
Strange as it may seem, this is a book that speaks with warmth and humanity on every page - the humanity of the victims, those who fought and fell, as well those who continue to fight against their memories and suffering. And also the humanity of a writer able to convey their stories with such astounding sensitivity and compassion. Highly recommended.

This is a terrific book, providing a very personal look at a terrifying and challenging time of Soviet history. By examining the history through diaries and personal stories, with illustrations of houses and photographs of families, Figes takes a difficult subject that could easily be treated through numbers or made very distant, and turns it into a narrative that provides a strong understanding of the mindset and lifestyles and goals of everyday and privileged people living through the revolution and terror. If you are interested in Soviet history, you should definitely add this to your library.

Even though the book is quite long, I wished it were longer.

Over the years I've read many books about Russian and Soviet history, from Roy Medvedev's "Let History Judge"to Montefiore's "Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar," with significant stops along the way for Solzhenitsyn's magisterial polemic "The Gulag Archipelago." Orlando Fige's "The Whisperers" is one of the best single-volume studies of life in Soviet times I have read. It is a fairly long book, but very engaging: I found myself reading 30 to 50 pages at a stretch. There is a cast of characters as long as in one of Tolstoy's great novels, but these are all real people, describing or recollecting their experiences in Stalin's Russia. It is a tribute to Mr. Figes that he arranges the narratives in such a way that this reader was never confused following the threads of so many lives over the course of such turbulent decades. In addition, Figes provides short accounts of the ideological, political and economic shifts in the Kremlin which directly influenced the lives of the people in the chapters which follow. For conciseness, clarity and readability, his narrative is outstanding when he writes about the NEP, Stalin's anti-Kulak campaign and collectivization of the countryside, the rapid rise of the Gulag and slave labor as a mainstay of the Soviet economy, and the malign influence on family relations of the1930s propaganda cult surrounding Pavel Morozov. Figes includes information in this book which I've simply not seen in histories before. He shows floor plans of communal apartments which makes clear how little privacy many urban dwellers in Moscow and Leningrad had at home, and how Stalin's regime nurtured malicious watchers as well as whisperers. The diary and letter extracts in "The Whisperers" can be deeply moving. There is a photo in the book of Nikolai Kondratiev's letter to his daughter Elena, written from a labor camp. It shows a drawing he'd done illustrating a fairy-tale in verse he'd written for Elena entitled "The Unusual Adventures of Shammi." The drawing is simple, the verse is charming. It makes one think of how many millions of times in different times and places parents have entertained their children by spinning stories. But the circumstances here are grotesque: Kondratiev was one of millions of innocents imprisoned under Stalin. And the outcome is tragic: in 1938 he was shot by a firing squad. This is just one example of the dozens of different accounts of lives of ordinary people warped or crushed by this monstrous regime. The sum of such narratives creates a very rich mosaic of a society and its time which even those of us who have visited Russia in the recent past have difficulties understanding.

In the long essay which follows the fictional story of War and Peace, Tolstoy first developed the concept that armies are not just regiments of men following the will of their commander, but individuals who have individual consciences. History isn't just the deeds of Napoleon and Alexander, but of each aristocrat, tradesman, artisan or peasant who fought in the Napoleonic wars, and of their families back home. Each of their lives is as worthy of examination as that of any Tsar or Generalissimo. Because of this, I think Tolstoy is properly the godfather of oral history. Orlando Figes has done a great job gathering and editing the accounts of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people living during the cruelest years of Stalinism. He also conveys the sense of freedom and comradeship experienced by many during the worst days of the second World War (which the Soviets hallowed as the "Great Patriotic War"), a mistaken sense of freedom which landed Solzhenitsyn in the Gulag. For all these reasons, I think old Tolstoy might be pleased in literary heaven could he only read these accounts of real lives and real consciences played out in the pages of "The Whisperers."

One small caveat: Kirill Simonov was a very successful writer in the Stalin literary establishment who came of age during World War II. Because of his public life of letters and his colorful personal life he occupies many pages in "The Whisperers." As was the case with many successful people in the Arts world under Stalin, Simonov was morally compromised. (I'm paraphrasing Lev Kopelev, but that writer has a pithy quote that "Every society has bad people who do bad things. But under communism, good people were encouraged to do bad things." This describes Simonov.) For better or worse, and because he wrote so much and was so active for all the decades from the Thirties until the Seventies, Simonov emerges as the main "character" in this book. This has its merits, but it also throws into harsh relief the fact that many of the less-lettered accounts in this oral history don't always seem as real, or as present, as Simonov. Because this is a history and not a work of fiction I'm not sure this imbalance could ever have been effectively redressed, but the imbalance is there.

A final word of praise: I've travelled to Russia several times since the overdue demise of the Soviet Union, and seen life change radically not only because of the introduction of Russian-style market capitalism, but because a generation has grown up without memory of life under communism. Figes points out that young people in Russia have no great interest in what to them has also become the story of an alien life lived by grandparents and great-grandparents during the 5-year plans. The people who do remember are old, dying out, with failing memories. "The Whisperers," and the archives on which it is based, is commendable because it helps to save so many of these survivors' accounts to historical memory.

I learned about the book The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia, by Orlando Figes due to Amazon.com which linked it with my memoir (Family Matters and More: Stories of My Life in Soviet Russia, by Sol Tetelbaum) that was published recently. My first thought was that a person like me, who was born in Soviet Russia in the middle of the thirties, read a lot of about Stalin's time could hardly find much new in The Whisperers.

I left Soviet Russia at the end of 1988 and had witnessed many events, some of which were described in Orlando Figes' book. I was able to find and read a few books that were prohibited in the USSR. I didn't know the author of The Whisperers, never read his books before, and doubted that a foreign writer would be able to find many unknown details about this gloomy tragic time. Nevertheless, I decided to read it for the sake of curiosity.

I was hugely impressed; the book literally overwhelmed me. The author has done an incredible job interviewing thousands of people - victims of many years of terror. Those people were among the lucky few who managed to survive. I must say that the author recreated the forest while paying attention to each tree.

Telling about the fates of individual people and their families, the author shows what was going on in the Soviet Union behind the Iron Curtain. Living in the USSR over 50 years, I knew and had read a lot, but reading The Whisperers I felt indescribable pain and horror. Fates of hundreds of thousands, even millions of Soviet people were possible to describe with the same four words: falsely accused, arrested and shot. And what was even more horrible, all of this became habitual.

Recalling that not very remote time, I think about one more phenomenon: despite everything that was going on in the country, people wanted to live a normal life. In the daytime, they worked, entertained, attended theaters, movies and were busy with other activities. But at night they could learn that they, or their relatives, or their friends, or people they knew for a long time, all of a sudden, had become "enemies of the people," and were arrested, disappearing forever.

Orlando Figes in his The Whisperers showed very truthfully, through the tragic lives of many thousands of victims, one of the most awful political systems - totalitarian power. I would like everybody to read this book, both supporters and opponents of democracy. The opponents vividly will see that the totalitarian system is deadly for all, and the supporters one more time will be convinced that democracy is weak; it is needed to be defended.

In his book, the author of The Whisperers described in detail the years 1917 to 1956. Stalin died in 1953. It was the time when I began to understand events and the difference between slogans and reality; I began to realize that the Soviet power was killing in people everything human. The author showed great insight and deepness describing those times. But most importantly, he noticed that the fear of Great Terror penetrated deeply into Soviet people's souls and didn't disappear. He wrote that the KGB " had access to a huge range of draconian punishments ... and its power of surveillance...instilled fear in anyone...who could be seen as anti-Soviet." I still remember that paralyzing fear, but I also remember that despite that fear, people were
dying to have a human life; Soviet power wasn't able to kill in people everything and this could be seen as a victory of humanity. "Human spirit cannot be destroyed" as Mr. Tsitrin wrote in his review." I would be extremely glad to see this topic as Orlando Figes' next project about Soviet Russia.

I would like to emphasize the actuality of Orlando Figes' book, especially now, in Putin's time when, according to the author, "the restoration of authoritarian government encouraged many Russians to return to their reticent habits."

I strongly recommend everybody to read the book. Nothing should be forgotten because what is forgotten has a tendency to be repeated.

Sol Tetelbaum.

Just a superb work. Extraordinary historical research and excellent writing. Haunting and essential. Quite simply the best work of this type about the Soviet Union.

It has been more than 60 years since the Holocaust occurred, yet there can never be enough written about this tragedy, especially so since many of the survivors are diminishing in numbers. In Witness: Voices from the Holocaust, we are able to learn about this human tragedy of epic proportions that was the Shoah based on actual testimonies of survivors.

The book is very well-organised and is divided into chapters, i.e. Life in Europe in the 1930s, The Outbreak of War, The Ghettoes, Escape, Hiding, and Resistance, Deportation and Arrival, The Camps, Death Marches, Liberation and Aftermath. Apart from the compelling eyewitness testimonies [not just by survivors, but also in some cases Gentiles], there are also pictures that depict the lives of European Jewry before, during and after the war.

A compelling addition to Holocaust literature and though the stories themselves aren't lengthy, the horrors that they evoke is enough for us to reflect upon.

This great, compelling story of historical drama and is told from many points of view from that time in history, the 1940's. The book is set all over in Germany and is told by many different characters. I really liked how the authors described in detail what they felt when,they were being taken to a concentration camp or taken away from their loved ones. This book is a collection of many autobiographies of the survivors in the Holocaust. I loved how this author put together these autobiographies in chronological order, so it was easy to follow. Witness does a great job of telling about the memories that the survivor's in the Holocaust have had for many years. It also helps you understand what is was like for the Jewish citizens and the huge impact the Germans had on people around the world. This book is for every person that wants to know what it was like in the life of a Jewish man, woman, or child during that horrible time in history.

This great, compelling story of historical drama and is told from many points of view from that horrible time, the 1940's. The book is set all over in Germany and is told by many different characters. I really liked how the authors described in detail what they felt when,they were being taken to a concentration camp or taken away from their loved ones. This book is a collection of many autobiographies of the survivors in the Holocaust. I loved how this author put together these autobiographies in chronological order, so it was easy to follow. Witness does a great job of telling about the memories that the survivor's in the Holocaust have had for many years. It also helps you understand what is was like for the Jewish citizens and the huge impact the Germans had on people around the world. This book is for every person that wants to know what it was like in the life of a Jewish man, woman, or child during that horrible time in history.

I read this book several years ago and it had a profound affect on me. It is divided into three sections: life before, life during, and life after the holocaust for Jewish survivors. All the accounts are first-person narratives by the survivors themselves. I believe they were all interviewed on tape for a documentary. And then they put it into print to create this book. Something that surprised me was how prevalent anti-semitism was in the years before the Holocaust. Sometimes we think Hitler suddenly arose out of nowhere with his anti-semitism. But he was actually just "riding a wave" of hatred of the Jews. The Polish people were in particular very hateful of the Jews. It really surprised me how much they had to endure before WWII even began! This book was a compelling read - true accounts directly from those who survived the greatest horror of the 20th Century.

As opposed to earlier commentators I do not come from a background rich in readings on the subject of the Holocaust and therefore Witness came as a unexpected mine of memories of people that had experienced the unimaginable.
My knowledge of the events of the Holocaust were almost exclusively from video documentaries and those documentaries had left many unanswered questions: questions about the Transportation, about the Marches after the camps closed late in the war, about the closing of the ghettos, about the long-term hiding, about the massive anti-semitism that greeted the survivors after the war upon returning "home" and finally the Jewish guerrilla bands that sprang up throughout eastern Europe.
The remarkable thing about this great exercise is the broadness of the interviews that compose the book: the authors assembled a very wide ranging collection of these interviews that spoke about all the topics that I had only heard snatches about in the video documentaries. It was all the more remarkable because these were all primary sources-they were not what somebody had interpreted but the memories of the people that lived the experience and because of this the book had an enormous impact on this reader.
I am a slow reader and the book absorbed me totally and I finished it in a matter of days.
If you read no other book about the Holocaust-read this one.

I have never read anything by Saul Friedlander before. I'm not really a Holocaust historian, though I've read a few books on the subject. I tend to be more of a student of World War II history in general, and of the military aspects of things in particular. This book, however, attracted me because it won the Pulitzer, and frankly it doesn't disappoint: it's well-written, judicious, and very intelligent and comprehensive, and the author does an excellent job of putting everything in context and explaining what occurred.

The book begins with the start of the War, and discusses first the various efforts to resettle Germany's Jews, the dilemma the regime encountered when they conquered Poland, and finally the solution that they came up with to deal with the issue: extermination. The author discusses each period fairly objectively, frankly more objectively than I would have thought possible. Objectively, of course, Hitler and the Nazis wind up being described as insane mass-murderers. The author moves seamlessly from the discussion of various measures that were taken towards extermination with the diaries of various Jews who were caught in the Holocaust, and of various German soldiers and civilians who commented on how the Jews were treated.

This is a very very good book. It's hard to imagine saying you enjoyed reading it: it's a chronicle of mass murder, after all. But the book is extremely well-written and documented, and the facts are remorseless in their clarity. The author puts to bed two hoary old myths that have troubled me for years: most of the German population had at least some idea what was going on, and there was no propaganda or cynical aspect to the Nazi ideology: they were really that anti-semitic, and would have been even if opposed by the populace.

I would recommend this book to almost anyone interested in the Holocaust or 20th Century history.

well this book willbe along the work of maybe raul hillberg book published along time agoone of the great reference work on this turning point in twentieth century history. but a couple of pictures would have made this book more interesting for the average reader

A beautiful book about monstrous beings. I have read many works on that terrible period of our earth; Friedlander's is one of the best. This is another list of warning signs for us. It contains data on what to guard against to retain sanity amongst us; but, there are reasons to suspect the signs are again surfacing, this time in our country.

"The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945" is the most thorough, complete and scholarly book on the Holocaust that I have read. In an effort to try to understand why and how the Holocaust occured, I have read extensively about the conduct and activities of the Europeans as well as non Europeans (governments, organizations and people)during this awful period. Friedlander puts it all together for me, and as a result I have a much better understanding of these terrible events. I highly recomend this book to those who want to read an in depth study of the Holocaust.

William R. Cohen
Herzlia Pituach, Israel

I have nothing negative to state in a review of Friedlander's latest book; its organization, research, and presentation all seem to me faultless. And there is fresh perspective, too--which is a rare find in a Holocaust text. Friedlander is completely in control of his wrenching subject matter. Bravo.

Quite simply as my review title indicates, every Division or unit that served in the Normandy campaign, deserves an author of Mark's calibre. I am a working tour guide of the D-Day battlefields, and I wish that every unit was covered in the same incredible detail as Mark Bando covers the 101st Airborne in his books. If you want to really get "under the skin" of a WWII combat division and hear true and verified stories of young men in combat, then this book is a must have. The only danger is that after reading this author's books, works by other authors on other units will seem dull and lifeless in comparison.

If you have gained an interest in the 101st because of computer games or a TV series, then BUY THIS BOOK. There is nothing to compare for personal stories of the men who jumped into the area behind Utah beach on D-Day. Unlike other books, these are not re-hashed anecdotes relayed third-hand from other works, these are fresh, exciting, gripping and moving accounts from the author's 35 year hobby of interviewing and more importantly befriending the veteran Screaming Eagles.

Using the mixture of photography, facts and quotes, 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles At Normandy, can serve as a great historical document. Within the pages of this great book, eye-catching photographs bring to light those events from World War II and the Normandy Invasion. The actions and reactions of the soldiers that fought in that war are caught forever through the historical eye of a camera, through famous and infamous quotes and accounts of the heroes from World War II.

The pages show the heightened moral and anticipation of the men prior to the invasion. Then the reader is brought into the middle of the battle with stories and quotes not just eye-opening photographs. This technique brings you side by side with the people of the villages and into the ranks of the soldiers marching off to fight another battle. I believe one of the best chapters is the true story of the movie ýSaving Private Ryaný. This chapter, Saving Sergeant Niland, shows the true-life drama of a man that Hollywood has made famous.

The book brings to light some of the things that are never seen in movies and footage of events of the war. I am sure that this book, as well as its predecessor The 101st Airborne at Normandy, will bring back memories of the way it was behind the lines during that part of the war to those who served. Even though there is a predecessor to this book both stand independent of each other.

When my uncle past away last year, my aunt showed me the 101st Airborne in Normandy, a book by Mark Bando. In the section on combat experiences, the first soldier profiled was my uncle Manny Gesulga. Manny was part of the 101st paratroop drop behind enemy lines at Normandy and his combat exploits read like something out of a GI Joe comic book. After living his harrowing experiences in Normandy, he went to fight in Operation Market Garden (wounded by sharpnel) and the Battle of the Bulge (wounded by sniper fire) and came out to live a full, productive life. He never mentioned his role in WWII but I am glad Mr. Bando gave credence to him and other heroes of the 101st. This book is a must read for all history buffs and really brings home the sense of duty and committment to freedom that is the legacy of the young men of America.

Outragous book, my father was in this book and I had to call him to recount the details to me first hand. Because of this book, I now know more of the war my father fought in.

Mark Bando, the author of this exposition of the bigger-than-life adventures of the fabled 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" at Normandy, is an old acquaintance and comrade from the Detroit Police Department. We spent time together years ago as writers for our police patrolmen's union newspaper, the Tuebor. We have happily renewed our acquaintance of late, and while I remember Mark as an astute and accomplished writer, my less-than-passionate interest in military affairs had, until recently, kept me from reading this fine book. Now that I have finally done so, I deeply regret that I waited so long.

"101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles At Normandy" is a marvelous work on several fronts:

It is beautifully bound and presented; the layout and format are perfect for the subject matter; the photographs (many of them rare and quite beautiful) are heartwarming or bone chilling, as the case may be; the narrative is painstakingly researched from personal interviews of old soldiers and authentic military records; and, most importantly, the writing is masterful...accurate and careful as from a shrewd reporter's practiced and skeptical eye...loving and lyrical as from the pen of a writer of first rate fiction. I suspect Mark's experiences in "combat" on the dangerous streets of Detroit over the years have engendered in him a unique capacity to understand the special sensibilities of the combat veterans depicted in his book. Quite simply, "101st Airborne" is an astonishing accomplishment, worth reading more than once, and worth buying as gifts for the whole family, whether students of military history or not.

Mark has been very kind in his assessment of my own work elsewhere on this website. I am only sorry that I took so long to offer my heartiest endorsement of this first rate book. Get it. Read it. You'll be very happy you did.

Very good book. Provided enough in the way of historical facts, maps etc to be informative but not dull. I cared about the main character and was always wondering what was going to happen next. I thought I was generally aware of the horrors of WWII but this was an education of how the victimizing and victimazation was dealt and endured back and forth by many different people of many different nationalities and how scary it is that under certain circumstance all human beings are capable of the very best and very worst treatment of one another. Makes me think twice about when I think I'm having a "bad day."

This is a captivating story about WWII told by an adult as she lived through it as a nine year old child in East Prussia, Germany. The author gives vivid pictures of the horrors of war on the innocent. It also gives a history of how countries get involved with demonstrating inhumane behavior. You will become totally enthralled and have a hard time putting the book down.

I bought this book having no idea how engaging it would be. I received the book yesterday afternoon, and today, the next day, I have finished it! I could not put this book down. This is an interesting book on a relatively unknown subject for most people. This is a part of history that many don't want to believe and have tried to sweep under the carpet. I would highly recommend this to anyone!

This is a superb memoir of a child who struggled by herself and against great odds to survive in Germany and Poland during World War II. Written in simple, elegant prose, the author makes us see and feel the ravages of war and their awful impact on the innocent. Too often, those in America--certainly including this reader--have labled all Germans as Nazis in World War II and have failed to comprehend the horrors that were the tragic lot of Tannehill and others like her. She tells her story with such power and conviction that readers think they are at her side as she copes with unimaginable adversity. This is a superb memoir and particularly well-suited for book groups since every reader will want to discuss it with others. It offers a rare window not only on the lives of innocents who struggle in wartime, but also on ourselves.

Abandoned and Forgotten is an amazing tale of survival during the last years of WWII in East Prussia. Told through a child's eyes, the author Evelyn Tannehill takes us on a journey showing us the horrors of war and the absolute cruelty that humans are capable of doing to fellow human beings, yet the compassion that we're capable of, as well. This book totally gripped me and broke my heart to read what this poor girl went through and survived. I met the author at a book signing and found her to be a lovely, gracious woman, so open to sharing her experiences.......no self-pity here. This book is a gift to us all and I highly recommend it

Do you like murder mysteries? If the answer is yes than this is the book for you. This book starts slow in 1533 with13 year old Grace in her bedroom writing in her journal. On the night of her Valentines Day ball she sees a sight no child should ever see. The next day she is forced to figure out who murdered one of her suitors. I give this book 4 stars because it is exciting and unpredictable.

-Acacia

this book is a fantastic novel that is not to short but not to long if you like mystries and blood shed this is the book for you.
Also the other books in the series are also fantastic and i would reccomend the books to 10 and above as it does have words that are hard to understand as i started to read them when i was 9.
Basicly to cut it all short ABSOLUTLY FANTASTICLY GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book was captavating! I absolutely could not put it down! The very first sentance swept me away to a place far back in time, where mystery and drama in the World's finest court, the court of Enhgland, unfold. Lady Grace's brave heart must choose between being the ideal "little lady" (that Lady Sarah!) or being herself, helping her friends, and being loyal to the queen. When malicious mischief strikes, disguises unfold, death enters the court. When her engaged fiance is convicted for a murder he did not do, Lady Grace must uncover the truth. Could it all be a scheme to steal the lavish estates of the Cavendish's? This book is one of the best!

I loved this book! It's very exciting and it has a lot of history from that time.

Lady Grace Cavendish is a Maid of Honor for Queen Elizabeth. The Queen offers her three suitors to pick from to marry later. Then, one suitor is murdered and another is under suspicion.

It's very exciting and easy to get through!

Lady Grace is a brilliant mystery book and it keeps you on the edge of your chair right the way through. It is a diary and its about a maid of onner and she works for the queen but that is not it.There is a mystery in evry book and lady Grace goes under cover to try and find out who did it. It is set a long time a go and she goes to the extrem. Her friends masu and ellie try and come with her but sometimes they are in trouble.
this is a brilliant book and I advise reading it. i cant wait till the next one comes out as i am a big fan and have read all the books so far.