Europe Books

Since I was born in 1945, World War II and the Holocaust had always been history to me. So when I spent five years working in Germany, I constantly wondered about the older people I met--"How did you respond to Hitler's regime? What do you feel now?" Even with Germans of my own generation, the topic was one I felt uncomfortable raising.
I have found Mimi Schwartz's book fascinating because she acknowledges very human conflicted feelings, the need for Gentile Germans to feel they did the best they could to help their neighbors, the deep-seated fear of a Jewish survivor who wants to believe people are basically good, the almost militant fervor of a young German Gentile seeking to discover the darkness of his parents' past. And Schwartz raises timely questions about conflicts between Christians, Jews, and Muslims that trouble this century.
Beyond the topic, I am intrigued with issues of writing memoir which Schwartz's book raises. How much should an author reveal about personal feelings? How does the writer reconcile conflicting memories? Can a writer allow herself to become vulnerable? To be too naive?
I have hardly been able to put this book down since finding it at the library, and now I want a copy for myself to highlight and reread.

In Good Neighbors, Bad Times, Mimi Schwartz writes a highly nuanced account of the Holocaust and how it affected the small German town where her father was born and which he remembered fondly until his death in the 1970s. While other reviewers have suggested this memoir for a Holocaust shelf or course, I recommend it to Christians seeking to understand how religious prejudice can blind us to the humanity of those who worship differently.

Schwartz writes engagingly of growing up in a neighborhood of mostly Jews and longing to break out. She did this by first attending the University of Michigan and later (after marrying her Jewish boyfriend) assimilating into the predominantly Christian town of Princeton, NJ. Schwartz seems to have identified more with her mother, a city girl, than her father, who was born into a cattle trading family and left the village referred to here as Benheim to fight in World War I. As a soldier, he saw how Jews were treated in Russia and when, in 1933, he attended a rally at which thousands of enthusiastic Germans saluted Adolph Hitler, he knew to leave.

While Arthur Loewengart and his brothers came to the United States, other villagers emigrated to Palestine, which was still under British rule. In the end, all but 89 of the village's Jews escaped. They were deported to camps where only two survived. Throughout her childhood, Arthur told Mimi that people in Benheim were different, kinder and more principled than the typical Nazi. After he died, she wondered if what he said was true. She began to connect the dots between survivors in New York and Israel and the German village where no Jews live today.

Her journey both physical and metaphysical is told here. It is a story of small kindnesses (and cruelties) in the midst of unimaginable larger horrors, and how truth is deeply textured but well worth knowing.

"Before Hitler, everyone got along," according to the author of "Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village". This a true story of decency and compassion in a small German village and how its generosity stood in the face of an empire of Nazi hatred. Author Mimi Schwartz recalls tales from her father and goes on a journey that spanned over three continents and a dozen years to get the more complete story of her father's village and learns interesting details about it all from every interview and discussion. "Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village" is highly recommended for Holocaust studies shelves and for anyone seeking a more upbeat account of 1930s Germany.

As those who lived through the Holocaust are rapidly disappearing, this sensitive and open-minded work captures the anguish and inner conflicts of Jews and Gentiles living in a small German village during the Nazi period.
Knowing a number of the people Mimi Schwartz depicts, I can enthusiastically attest to her accurate portrayals.
For those of us born after this time, but still bearing some of its burden, there are important questions: What was the flavor of 400 years of mutual tolerance? How did this harmony disappear? What can we understand about ourselves in reflecting on the daily moral challenges of life lived under an evil regime?
There are no easy answers here, but a moving and true story.

2008 marks seventy years since the tragic events of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. On November 9, 1938, the Nazis unleashed a wave of destruction against Germany's Jews. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed. Mimi Schwartz, author of "Good Neighbors / Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village" wasn't born yet. She would be grow up in Queens, New York, on milkshakes and hamburgers, and her father's stories of life in Germany, a life she had very little interest in. Her father grew up in Benheim (the name of the village has been changed to protect privacy), a little village of Christians and Jews in southwest Germany where according to all accounts Jews and Christians lived peacefully side by side. No allied bombs fell on Benheim during WWII so much of it is still preserved. The synagogue which was attacked during Kristallnacht is still there, now as an Evangelical Church. One can still visit the Jewish cemetery with 946 old graves.

Schwartz was in a village in Israel when she saw an old Benheim Torah and was told that "the Christians of Benheim rescued the Torah for us during Kristallnacht." That story sent her on a quest to discover all that she could about this little village, to determine if, like her father had always told her, Benheim was special in that the people there got along and would do anything to help one another.

In "Good Neighbors / Bad Times" Schwarz interviews many old Benheimers, some in Israel and some in America. She also visits Benheim several times, a village which now has no Jews. The Jews that were there either escaped in time or were killed in the concentration camps. Only two Benheimers who were interred in the concentration camps survived. The other eighty-seven were murdered. On her journey, Schwarz discovers a series of individual stories and individual perspectives which each tell part of the whole story. She discovers both the Jewish and the Gentile perspective on what happened. She struggles with knowing what everyone knows now versus what people knew then. There was a large swastika that had been erected in the town in 1934, but as one Benheimer stated, "It was not important; no one knew what it would mean." She learned of other kind deeds that occurred in Benheim and of a second Torah that was saved and is now located in Burlington, Vermont. She learned of how good people struggled to live through such difficult times, of people too scared to take a stand and the punishments that came to those who did. She learned of children being indoctrinated with hate in the local school and parents who struggled to fight against it.

"Good Neighbors / Bad Times" is a valuable work of social history. It is so important to preserve the stories of those who lived through these tragic events. In the end, Schwartz decides that Benheim was special, that decency managed to prevail there despite the Nazi hate that infected the land. As Schwartz states, "decency is often such a solitary act; it's evil that draws a noisy crowd." "Good Neighbors / bad Times" is recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about Jewish / Christian relationships during the World War II era. It would also make a wonderful text for a college course on the topic.

Well written and wonderfully informed, this well designed book presents a comprehensive review of the appearance and use of the great cathedrals and abbey churches built across the middle ages in France and England. It also includes a wonderfully precise presentation of the social, economic, and political order of the time, and it discusses how the great buildings were built and what is known of their builders. Overall, it is the best general introduction I know of, easily accessible to non experts and a wonderful review for the better informed.

This book is both a wondrous introduction to Gothic Cathedrals for those who are newly curious about them and a concise but thorough resource for those who have long admired and read about the Gothic Cathedral. The author often takes a personal approach in his narrative, which seems quite appropriate given the personal impression these buildings were designed to make (and have made on most who will read this book). The book is both well-researched and easy to read, a difficult achievement. Its description of the elements of Gothic architecture, for example, is one of the most complete and clear treatments I have read.

The broad perspective taken (historical, intellectual, religious, architectural, sociological) helps bring together into one coherent whole the many different faces of the cathedral. Even those who may know the historical and intellectual origins of the cathedral will learn much about its other aspects here. For example, some of the details on construction techniques and parts of the discussion of "sacred spaces" within the cathedral were new even to someone who has read many books on the subject.

Medieval intellectual history and its relationship to the cathedrals is explored, and the coexistence of the potentially conflicting reason and faith in a single building is explained. Some discussion of how the cathedrals and their attached schools gave rise to the medieval (and hence the modern) university would have been helpful.

Overall, though, the book provides an excellent introduction to the topic and a comprehensive explanation of the "why" and "how" of Gothic Cathedrals (in addition to the more mundane, but still important, "who", "when", and "where").

Before this book, one would have to read many volumes to get such a complete picture of the Gothic Cathedral. This book is appropriate for anyone with an interest in the subject. It is the book that I'm sure many Gothic Cathedral enthusiasts wish they had written.

I would highly recommend Robert A. Scott's new book, The Gothic Enterprise. Although many books have been published on the topic of Gothic Cathedrals, Scott has approached his subject with a new perspective. He asks the reader to think as much about the "why" of cathedral building as the "how." The reader will still find lots of information about the practical aspects of cathedral building, most helpfully enhanced by a discussion of the social, political, economic, and even climatological factors that complicated such long and challenging construction projects. But above and beyond this, Scott is interested in the people who conceived, designed, and built these great churches. What motivated them? How did hundreds of people with varying and often conflicting interests work collectively over long periods of time? What did an individual or a community expect in return for their contribution to such a bold undertaking?

Scott answers these questions and more. In turn he challenges the reader to see the cathedral in a new light, not only as an example of great architecture, but as tangible evidence of the commitment, creativity, hope, and faith of the people who, against great odds, undertook such a bold and difficult enterprise.

Having visited dozens of cathedrals, I think Scott is right on target. A cathedral is more than an amalgamation of stone, timber, and glass. If we look closely, we can still see traces of the contributors: in a mason's mark, the carved face of an 800 year-old effigy, a bishop's ring, or an irreverent carving high in the rooftops. It is the collective presence of these long-dead individuals, as much as the grandeur of the architecture that makes a cathedral so memorable, so tangibly the result of a collective human enterprise.

Scott's book is beautifully packaged with many photos and charming illustrations. It would be a handy guide for a traveler visiting cathedrals or a great read for an armchair traveler. I suspect the reader of The Gothic Enterprise will never see a cathedral in quite the same way again.

Author Robert Scott had much the same the experience at Salisbury Cathedral as I had - a sense of awe and wonder, and a desire to learn more about it, not just as a place, or as an architectural wonder, or as a place of worship, or as a cultural icon. Scott wanted to get at the heart of the idea of the Gothic enterprise as a whole - a trained sociologist, Scott knew that the bigger picture is sometimes lost by too narrow a focus on particular details to the exclusion of others. The sociology background also gave Scott a sense of wanting to understand the hearts and minds of the people involved.

While the principal focus of Scott's travels started with Salisbury Cathedral (in full, the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Salisbury), Scott draws examples from the breadth of the Gothic cathedrals, churches and other buildings. There are literally thousands of such dotted across the European and European-influenced landscapes. Each building has its own unique characteristics, but they share a common spirit.

Church building in particular was 'big business' in Christendom for a long time. Scott quotes estimates of that there are nearly 19,000 ecclesiastical buildings in England and Wales, nearly half of which date to the medieval period. The first Gothic church was the Abbey Church of St. Denis, just north of Paris, built under the direction of the 'founding father' of Gothic style, Abbot Suger.

Scott's first major section looks at how cathedrals were built, in terms of materials, architectural design, settings, and workforce. With regard to the workforce, the numbers were large and the division of labour highly specialised. In the records of the construction of Westminster Abbey, there were fifteen different categories of workers listed in 1253. Workers were often local, but supplemented by those who traveled, particularly if special skills were needed. Construction was often suspended in winter months, not just because of the cold, but because the number of daylight hours greatly diminished (in England, there can be fewer than 8 hours of daylight in the winter months).

Scott's second major section explores the history involved. The Gothic enterprise grew up out of the feudal system as it was trying to define itself in a sea of shifting political structures. It is no mistake that the Gothic ideal was born in an Abbey rather than a Cathedral; bishops had become increasingly involved in secular and political matters, while the monasteries remained closer to the common people and closer to the spiritual ideals of the church. 'Monasticism was a continuous effort to surmount sense perception and intellectual understanding to achieve knowledge of God, to experience communion with God, and by so doing to reveal the divine mystery and achieve special favour in the eyes of God.' Still, the particular abbey of Gothic's foundation, the Abbey of St. Denis, had a particular attachment to the French monarchs, and for a time the Abbey enjoyed a supreme reputation, 'from 1124 onward the Abbey Church of St. Denis became the religious and, in an important sense, the political capital of France.' From this place, the influence of Gothic style spread through the Paris region, then outward into France and beyond.

In the third section, Scott highlights some of the classic details of what the Gothic look entails. There is a geometric symmetry involved, which, 'when followed consistently, gives Gothic cathedrals their characteristic organic unity.' There is a logic and harmony built into the design. High vaulted ceilings, flying buttresses, pointed arches are other features. However, the key element in Gothic design is light, and it is in aid of this aspect that the other elements are enlisted. Gothic cathedrals in comparison with the dimly lit Romanesque predecessors are flooded with light. Be it clear or stained glass, the incorporation of windows and lighting techniques hitherto not done makes the Gothic space a brighter surrounding. Heaven would be a place of light, and the Gothic cathedral is intended as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

The fourth section explores the religious experience in Gothic structures, and how liturgies and worship are carried out, how they serve as temples of the imagination in addition to being the centre of worship, and how they become a repository of history. Part of this history was the incorporation of the memory and power of the dead into the fabric of the cathedrals - many became pilgrimage sites or burial sites; royal and other notable society figures also became part of the structures of cathedrals and churches. According to Scott, the cathedrals provided the saints with a focal point of veneration, and the saints in return provided a steady income (from the pilgrims) for the buildings to be completed.

The final section looks at the community that surrounded the Gothic enterprise, be they parish churches, abbey churches or cathedrals. Scott explores the living standards of the time, the stratification and specialisation of people in the different roles in society, and the questions not only of how the communities built the churches, but how the churches and cathedrals in turn built the communities. 'We might ...imagine that the long time required to build Gothic cathedrals added to the depth of the collective identity they engendered.' Indeed, in some regards, the building of a cathedral was never supposed to be completed. Spanning generations (sometimes, as in the case of Canterbury Cathedral, nearly 400 years) such enterprises defined the community in ways that no building project in modern times could approach.

Scott ends with a small essay regarding Stonehenge, not too far from Salisbury Cathedral, showing some similarities and differences in the way people built and found identity then.

Scott quotes Samuel Johnson as declaring Salisbury Cathedral 'the last perfection in architecture'; however, it is clear that there is much perfection to go around when it comes to all things Gothic. Scott's passion for the material and love of discovery is apparent on every page. A good writer, he serves as teacher, tour guide, and co-discoverer of ideas with the reader. This is a wonderful book.

The people who reviewed this book before me did a great job of describing this wonderful book, so I'm not going to repeat their observations. However, one aspect of the work I personally appreciated was the way Scott examined the cathedrals as architectural responses to the cultural context. His analysis is clear and straightforward. Excellent book!

This was a fascinating read that gives a perspective on WWII that you seldom, if ever, hear. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII history. I have come away from reading it with a broader understanding of topics that tend to be taught from only one point of view. This is a valuable asset, and I'm glad I had the oppotunity to read it.

Mr. Knapp has presented a unique look into the mind of a dictator and how such a person was able to affect an entire population. Mr. Knapp is able to convey that not all citizens were negativly influenced by the Nazi propagnada machine. The reader is struck by the fact that the young Mr. Knapp is able to maintain both his humanity and dignity throughout a most difficult period in his life. This book is quite relavant in that similar regimes exist today, often without national boundries. A factinating read.

The book gives a new insight into every day life under Hitler through the eyes of child. It is truely absorbing and I could not put it down until I completed reading. I thank the author for this excellent book.

The book gives a new insight into every day life under Hitler through the eyes of child. It is truely absorbing and I could not put it down until I completed reading. I thank the author for this excellent book.

The book gives a new insight into every day life under Hitler through the eyes of child. It is truely absorbing and I could not put it down until I completed reading. I thank the author for this excellent book.

Probably the best in its field. No other work contains so much important information on galleys and naval power in the age of gunpowder and on the history of Mediterranean warfare of the period. It is also a must for anybody interested in the modern struggle between Islam and Western World. Just like now when only the modern Empire (USA) can save our civilisation, so in the 16° century only the superior Venetian technology at Lepanto saved Europe from the same barbarians.
Indeed an outstanding book.

I've read the older printing more than once. Author John Keegan once described it as one of the best 2 or 3 military history books he'd read. This research didn't become popular until years after the printer was done. I've seen used copies selling for $150 or more. Since Prof. Guilmartin wrote this, more reserchers have produced quality work on galley warfare, but this original needed very little improvement. I still get benefit every time I read it. There's just so much thinking in here, even passing remarks expose me to new trains of thought. Even if you're not greatly interested in galley warfare, I think you can be exposed to a lot of potentially valuable analysis in historical work. Gunpowder and Galleys examines 16th century Mediterranean warfare. This period saw a climax in fighting between the Moslem Ottoman Empire and countries of Catholic Christian Europe. If you ever thought the Battle of Lepanto was a simple brawl between violent armed men at sea, you'll learn a more intersting tale here. The Christians won, but very narrowly. Much of the arguing and complaining after the action can provide a vehicle for appreciating the skill and nerve that the flotilla commanders provided. For example, Gian Andrea Doria (a Genoese mercenary in the Spanish fleet) earned much criticism for his conduct in the battle. However, I tend to think he placed victory in Don John's hand by keeping Ottoman admiral Uluj Ali out of the fight just long enough. If you read this, there's much opportunity to learn about a fascinating period of history. (Information: Guilmartin was kind enough to mention me in his introduction)

I received Gunpowders and Galleys as a Christmas present and I am immensely pleased. This book deserves its reputation as not only a topnotch work of naval history, but history, period. The depth of scholarship, originality, good sense, readable style, and careful interweaving of multiple sources of information makes it a superb book that ought to provoke thought outside of the narrow field of galley warfare.

In particular, his insistence that the galley is intrinsically bound up with the economic, cultural, political, geographic, technical, tactical, strategic, and religious context is a powerful antidote to narrower and more regimented approaches to the study of history. Not to mention, it also helps to shed light on current events. Our current dilemma in Iraq would benefit from adopting Guilmartin's approach by broadening our sources of information and deepening our understanding; failure to do so runs the risk of winning the war and failing to achieve our goals.

In short, Guilmartin's book not only teaches us about its topic, but provokes us to think holistically about many historical and modern events.

Guilmartin's book offers an excellent fusion of military history and history of science. His wide-ranging work of course offers a thought provoking argument about the adaptability of traditional Mediterranean galley based naval warfare to gunpowder weapons,(which he finds initially effective but ultimately a technological dead end).
But there's a lot more to the book than that. His work challenges traditional thinking in a variety of areas,ranging from bronze metal cannon-casting, to the applicability of Mahanian ideas about sea power to the Mediterranean world,to the passing of the Asiatic horse archer. Although Guilmartin's conclusions have been challenged, Gunpowder and Galleys remains an outstanding work, which sets the bar very high. It's a pity that it is no longer in print.

For this reader, Gunpowder and Galleys is as much about the American Failure in Vietnam as it is about the 16th century. Read between the lines and you'll see.

The publisher owes it to the public to reprint this wonderful volume.

This was an excellent, intense account of a unique king's biography. I read this book to get more info on William the Conqueror, but now I'm obsessed with Harold II. A must-read for history buffs.

In terms of English history,not much is ever really said about Harold. Those who are looking for an informative and surprisingly entertaining work on the Monarch should look no further.

Ian Walker has left no stone unturned in the telling of Harold Godwineson and his family. Starting from his grandfather and father and ending with his grandson becoming the prince of Kiev.
After reading the book, you come away with a sense of the time that he lived in and more importantly a sense of the man. Walker is also very good at surmising how certain decisions and choices that were made having an effect on the people at the time. Case in point the effect of how Harold's contemporaries veiwed his oath breaking to William. Few historians are able to do this.

The author does love his dates and locations, but he is very thorough when it comes to extended family. Also and most importantly, he writes with a point. Instead of going off on a half page tangent, Walker writes in brief and consise paragraphs. When a major player such as William, Tosti or Harald Hardrada comes along, he writes a full chapter.

I have been looking for a book on this king for long time and this has surpassed my expectations. A definite "must-have" for English Monarch and Anglo-Saxon enthusiasts.

Everyone who takes English history probably remembers 1066, William of Normandy, the Battle of Hastings, and King Harold; essentially the date, the location and the leaders of the combatant armies. Some may remember that the fight was over the right of succession to the throne of England after the heirless death of King Edward the Confessor. A few may even remember that Edmond Halley's famous comet made an appearance just beforehand, creating great consternation that was immortalized in the Bayeux tapestry. For most, Harold's reign seems almost a foot note, hardly more than an intermission before the main event of the Norman conquest. With William and his successors come castle building, classic knighthood, feudal society, all the "romance" of the middle ages. Harold is so often treated as a cipher to all of this that the true drama of this transitional age is often lost on the student. Harold is just "the loser."

Ian Walker's book brings this period more into focus. He approaches his subject by examining, not only Harold's own life and career, but that of his grandfather and father, creating a sense of the venue for the events of the Conquest. Harold is no longer just "the loser." He is a powerful and intelligent warrior, dealing as often in diplomacy as in bloodshed, able to play the chess game of power politics in a very turbulent time. He was in fact "the last Anglo Saxon king," and his time, like the withdrawal of the elves from Tolkien's Middle Earth, is the end of an era. His predecessor Edward was the last of the line of Alfred the Great, the king who had wielded the tiny Anglo Saxon kingdoms into the one kingdom of England. William and his successors would turn the island into a developing nation state striving for a place in a world among other rising nation states.

I found particularly interesting the author's approach to the period as one of a family biography. Harold was not just a famous figure in history, he was a member of an ambitious extended family. Like the Borgias in a later time and place, Harold's father and his grandfather played major roles in English political life during the years preceding the Conquest, as did he and his brothers in their own time. Walker follows these careers, because it is the net created by their liaisons that defined the period. Pull out any of these lynch pins, and the history of the era would have been vastly different. Interesting too were the careers of Harold's children, who went on to carry the family into succeeding generations of international leaders. I have often wondered what the fates of descendants of famous people have been. What did happen to Cleopatra's surviving children for instance? At least in this instance, more is documented about Harold's children which gives a sense of closure to Walker's book.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative study.

This book has enough detail and judicious use of sources to be of great use to the academic historian, while the author's lucid writing style and the sensible structure of the book will no doubt make it accesible to the interested layperson. Well done!

This is a great book for anyone interested in the mysterious and obscure events of England in the year 1066. Walker does a great job, trying to bring Harold Godwinson to life.

An excellent addition to the literature on Yugoslav and Serbian history. A must for anyone who would like to learn more about the region. Concise and easy to read. The entries on events and important individulas and institutions have not been burdened by the subjective interpretations and judgements. Highly recommended reading for general public and Yugoslav scholars.

Prof. Suster's book is a well documented and highly sophisticated work on history combining first-hand information, clear presentation and reliable analysis on many until now partially or wrongly interpreted historical phenomenons from troublesome Balkan history. Comprehensive in its analysis, the book is based on new historical literture and balanced in its historical judgments. Both biographies and historical analysis are based on scholarly literature from West and from local historiography. The emphesis is, as expected on contemporary history, covering all important facts of the last decade, but the most important historical phenomenons are, some for the first time in English,presented without any prejudice. In all respects this book will be an essential guide for everyone, from university professors and students to general public, tending to learn more on history and politics in Serbia, Montenegro and their neighbors.

Finally, a comprehensive and coherent volume on Yugoslavia from a Balkan expert and an IPE scholar. The post-Cold War literature on international relations of Yugoslavia's demise, in its substance and method, for the most part, has not discriminated between truth and opinion -- between what is true objectively and rationally, supported by evidence and illuminated by reason, and what is only a subjective judgment, separated from the facts, unrealistic, and informed by prejudice.

Regrettably, information and knowledge about Serbia, Yugoslavia, and the Balkans have often been created and distributed by media generated and / or by media forwarded pictures, reports, and commentaries. This type of evidence has largely been based on leaks from known and unknown sources. Therefore serious readers, scholars, and policy makers engaged in the Balkan affairs and U.S. foreign policy should pose several questions.

(1) Has the so-called "advocacy journalism" based on the reports from conflict stakeholders -- past, current, or prospective clients and proxies -- provided information or disinformation?

(2) Has the advocacy journalism cultivated (a) ignorance and cognitive closure about causal links and their effects; (b) stirred input-output discrepancies that led to cognitive dissonance and suppression of reasoned judgment; or (c) has it enhanced our understanding of causes and consequences of internal conflicts and interstate wars?

(3) Have we improved our learning skills, and advanced our knowledge with briefings, statements, and judgments provided by bureaucrats, staff members, and policy makers in a ministry or agency?

Answers to these questions and the outcome of such a research and management of international affairs have been adverse for history, theory, and policy. We have discovered ex ante and the ex postfacto fallacies and errors in the intelligence process, and planning. We have had to contend with policy advocacy and implementation that stem from these fallacies and errors. Serious and much needed research to discourage the use of fallacies and to avoid costly conceptual and policy errors, so far has been insufficient and inadequate.

Suster's Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the English-speaking world has long been overdue. Since the end of the Cold War, the public was satiated with the literature on ethnic and regional conflict. This literature, with few exceptions, lacked the precision and depth required for serious social research. Academic and policy discourse has been in need of a discriminate and balanced evidence and inference. We make history and theory synthesis possible through this intellectual production of discriminate and balanced evidence and inference.

Zeljan Suster's book fills the large factual and analytical gap that exists in the contemporary literature on Yugoslavia. Besides the comprehensive lexicon of the names, events, and processes, the book's introductory chapter provides a concise but inclusive analytical background for the main period covered in the book. This analysis is refreshing and stimulating. It makes prospects for serious research on this and similar topics important and feasible. The Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should be a standard reference for scholars, students, and policy makers.

Boban S. M. Pesic, University of Pittsburgh

Finally, we have a comprehensive and coherent masterwork on Yugoslavia from a Balkan expert and an IPE scholar. The post-Cold War literature on international relations of Yugoslavia's demise, in its substance and method, for the most part, has not discriminated between truth and opinion. It has not discriminated between what is true objectively and rationally, supported by evidence and illuminated by reason, and what is only a subjective judgment, separated from the facts, unrealistic, and informed by prejudice.

Information and knowledge about the Balkans, Yugoslavia, and Serbia,have often been created and disseminated through uncorroborated reports and teleological research prone to errors: accepting a (policy) claim when it was false, rejecting it when it was true, or solving the wrong problem instead of the right one. Serious readers, scholars, and policy makers engaged in the Balkan affairs and U.S. foreign policy, therefore, should pose several questions:

(1) has the so-called "advocacy journalism" based on the reports from conflict stakeholders -- past, current, or prospective clients and proxies provided information or disinformation?

(2) has the "advocacy journalism" cultivated (a) ignorance and cognitive closure about causal links and their effects; (b) stirred input/output discrepancies that led to cognitive dissonance and suppression of reasoned judgment; or has it enhanced our understanding of causes and consequences of internal conflicts and interstate wars?

(3) have we improved our learning skills, and advanced our knowledge with briefings, statements, and judgments provided by bureaucrats, staff members, and policy makers in a ministry or agency?

Answers to these questions suggest that research and management of international affairs, so far, have been adverse for the study of history and policy. We have discovered fallacies and errors in the intelligence process and planning ex postfacto. We have had to contend with policy advocacy and policy application that stem from these fallacies and errors. Serious and much needed research to discourage the use of fallacies and to avoid costly conceptual and policy errors,so far, has been insufficient and inadequate.

Suster's "Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" in the English-speaking world has long been overdue. Since the end of the Cold War, the public was satiated with the literature on ethnic and regional conflict. This literature, with few exceptions, lacked the precision and depth required for serious social research. Academic and policy discourse has been in need of a discriminate and balanced evidence and inference. We make history and theory synthesis possible through this intellectual production of discriminate and balanced evidence and inference.

Zeljan Suster's book fills the large factual and analytical gap that exists in the contemporary literature on Yugoslavia. Besides the comprehensive lexicon of the names, events, and processes, the book's introductory chapter provides a concise but inclusive analytical background for the main period covered in the book. This analysis is refreshing and stimulating. It makes prospects for serious research on this and similar topics important and feasible. The "Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" is a standard reference for scholars, students, and policy makers.

S. B. M. Pesic, University of Pittsburgh

This book, which is both detailed and accessible, is a valuable contribution to the recent body of literature on the former Yugoslavia. As a who's who and a what's what on the region's historical and contemporary figures and events it is an excellent starting point for the student, researcher and even the casual reader who will certainly have been exposed to a lot of media coverage of the region, but who may have found that the media explained only a little.

The alphabetic listing format is easy to use, and the extensive bibliography and chronology provide reference points for the reader to find out more on the many interesting aspects of the history and culture of the Balkans.

This affordable paperback edition of Volume V of Charles Oman's definitive study of the Peninsular War covers the turning point of the conflict. In early 1812, Napoleon withdrew some of his Imperial troops from occupied Spain for his ill-fated invasion of Russia. The dispersal of the remaining French troops to hold down Spanish insurgents coincided with a buildup of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, enabling Wellington to go over to the offensive with an experienced and well-trained force. The bold seizure of the Spanish frontier fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz opened the way for Wellington's magnificent victory of maneuver over Marshal Marmont's French Army at Salamanca. Although Wellington overreached himself at the siege of Burgos and was forced to retrench on the Portuguese frontier over the winter of 1812-1813, the French had lost the initiative in the Peninsular War for good.

Oman brings out how Napoleon's attempts to run the Peninsular War from Paris and Wellington's superior ability to gather intelligence contributed to French defeats. Oman includes a brief but fascinating account, perhaps particularly relevant for modern readers, of the challenges faced by the British Tory government in supporting a long and expensive campaign to dislodge the French from Spain and Portugal. The Whig Party, in opposition, decried every expense and every casualty in favor of an immediate peace treaty with Napoleon. Such a treaty prior to Napoleon's defeat in Russia would have ceded control of Continental Europe to the French Emperor. The Tory government withstood Whig opposition and internal dissension to perservere against Napoleon, trusting Wellington to fulfill the mission of his command.

Oman's command of his subject in volume V is masterful. His narrative is mature and confident. While the focus is on the operational level of war, Oman provides descriptive and ocassionally thrilling vignettes of the critical battles. The footnotes provide much additional context.

This volume and series are highly recommended to serious students of the Napoleonic Wars. The casual reader without background of the conflict may find this volume a very challenging read.

Volume V of Charles Oman's definitive study of the Peninsular War covers the turning point of the conflict in the Iberian Peninsula. In early 1812, Napoleon withdrew some of his Imperial troops from Spain for his ill-fated invasion of Russia. The dispersal of the remaining French troops to hold down Spanish insurgents coincided with a buildup of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, enabling Wellington to go over to the offensive with an experienced and well-trained force. The bold seizure of the Spanish frontier fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz opened the way for Wellington's magnificent victory of maneuver over Marshal Marmont's French army at Salamanca. Although Wellington overreached himself at the siege of Burgos and was forced to retrench on the Portuguese frontier over the winter of 1812-1813, the French had lost the initiative in the Peninsular War for good. Oman brings out how Napoleon's attempts to run the Peninsular War from Paris and Wellington's superior ability to gather intelligence contributed to French defeats. Oman includes a brief but fascinating account, perhaps particularly relevant for modern readers, of the challenges faced by the British Tory government in supporting a long and expensive campaign to dislodge the French from the Iberian Peninsula. The Whig Party, in opposition, decried every expense and every casualty in favor of an immediate peace treaty with Napoleon. Such a treaty prior to Napoleon's defeat in Russia would have ceded control of Continental Europe to the French Emperor. The Tory government withstood Whig opposition and internal dissension to persevere against Napoleon, trusting Wellington to fulfill the mission of his command. Oman's command of his subject is masterful; his narrative is mature and confident. While the focus is on the operational level of war, Oman provides descriptive and ocassionally thrilling vignettes of the critical battles. The footnotes provide much additional context. This volume and series are highly recommended to serious students of the Napoleonic Wars. The casual reader without background of the conflict may find this volume a very challenging read.

Sir Charles Oman's comprehensive seven volume history of the Peninsular War is the yardstick by which any other history of this theatre must be measured. It is exhaustive in detail and in breadth of coverage. If it happened, it is in one of these volumes. Napoleon may have considered Spain a side show, but as results turned out it was a bleeding ulcer. French losses here, combined with the 1812 campaign, placed a strain on the Empire which could not be overcome by even the best generalship. Any true student of the Napoleonic Wars should find these books and read them. They are essential to a complete understanding of the conflict.

Sir Charles Oman's comprehensive seven volume history of the Peninsular War is the yardstick by which any other history of this theatre must be measured. It is exhaustive in detail and in breadth of coverage. If it happened, it is in one of these volumes. Napoleon may have considered Spain a side show, but as results turned out it was a bleeding ulcer. French losses here, combined with the 1812 campaign, placed a strain on the Empire which could not be overcome by even the best generalship. Any true student of the Napoleonic Wars should find these books and read them. They are essential to a complete understanding of the conflict.

This wonderfully affordable paperback edition makes available Volume V of Charles Oman's definitive history of the Peninsular War, which covers the turning point of the war. In early 1812, Napoleon withdrew some of his Imperial troops from Spain for the ill-fated invasion of Russia. The dispersal of the remaining French forces to hold down Spanish insurgents coincided with a buildup of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, enabling Wellington to go over to the offensive with his experienced and well-trained force.

The bold seizure of the Spanish frontier fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz opended the way for Wellington's magnificent victory of maneuver over Marshal Marmont's French Army at Salamanca. Wellington would later overreach himself at the siege of Burgos and be forced to retrench on the Portuguese frontier over the winter of 1812-1813. However, the French had lost the initiative in the Peninsular War for good.

Oman includes a brief but fascinating account, perhaps particularly relevant for modern readers, of the challenges faced by the British Tory government in waging an expensive six year campaign to dislodge the French from the Iberian Peninsula. The British Whig Party, in opposition, decried every expense and casualty in favor of an immediate peace treaty with Napoleon. The effect of such a treaty prior to Napoleon's defeat in Russia would have been to concede control of Continental Europe to the French Emperor. The British Ministry withstood both Whig opposition and internal Tory dissension to persevere against Napoleon and to trust Wellington to fulfill the mission of his command in Spain.

Oman's command of his subject is masterful; his narrative is mature and confident. While the focus is on the operational level of war, Oman provides descriptive and occasionally thrilling vignettes of the critical battles. The footnotes provide much additional context which will be of interest to the serious student of the Napoleonic Wars. The casual reader without background of the conflict may find this volume a challenging read.

This slim but lavishly illustrated volume offers a very perceptive analysis of the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth century re-examination of military matters that occured in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. It discusses the technological and tactical advances, in a more concise manner than similar works like David Eltis's, but it also integrates them into the renaissance of military philosophy, and indeed of all facets of society, that was occuring at the time. That analysis, combined with illuminating sidebars, several key case studies, and gorgeous artwork make this perhaps the top general reference for Renaissance military history.

First off, I knew nothing about war during the European Renaissance before reading this book, so I went in with pretty low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised- this book is fascinating. Thomas Arnold writes in a very clear style, that is easy to follow. His research is detailed, but he does not bog the reader down with too many minute details.

Also, this book is full of excellent graphics. It has many period prints, maps, tapestry images, and some well done battlefield graphics. I thought this illustrations really helped emphasize many of the author's key points.

This is the first book in the series that I have read, so now I have rather high expectations for the other volumes I purchased with this one. I highly recommend this book to any military history student, or anyone interested in learning more about how warfare changed in Europe during the Renaissance.

this book is part of the Cassell History of Warfare series that is currently being published and is, in my opinion, one of the best books in this collection (along with Hanson's Wars of the Ancient Greeks and Goldworthy's Roman Warfare). The first half of the book covers the developments on siegecraft, artillery, infantry tactics, and strategy of European armies in the 16th century; the second half covers the history of wars between the Ottoman empire and Europe and between Europeans themselves during the same period. The writing is succinct and informative. The illustrations are well chosen - both relevant and pleasing to the eye. Charts and maps are plentiful. You will enjoy this book.

Indeed a very nice book, with a lot of interesting information. The writer avoids the complicated style most historians dealing with the Renaissance prefer, and writes clearly, with regard of and respect to the ones who never have dealt with the complexities of the history of warfare, especially in a period such as this, when the wide use of gunpowder marked a turning point in the style of warfare and the perception of military tactics. Arnold covers every basic aspect of the Renaissance warfare, the decline of the Knight (in that old, medieval sense), the change in styles of fortifications, the change of the role of the general, the use of the artillery, etc, and does so while giving in the same time an accurate account of the main historical events (of military nature, obviously). Thus, the reader has an accurate, viewed from all sides, perspective of the matter. If there were more stars to give, I would definitely give them (!) although one must remember that this is an introductory study, and for particular details and a more in depth analysis there are other books to consider. In all this book is...a great place to start.

Thomas Arnold is a great writer, and having John Keegan as the editor of could only have helped the text. It is very easy to read and still extremely interesting, covering first the technical evolution of warfare from the 15th to the 17th centuries and then covering the major conflicts of the era.

Added to the strong writing and editing are many computer generated maps of individual battles and some great illustrations, many taken from period tapestries and paintings.

This book is probably the most clear, well-written book available on the subject, while still encompassing many lesser known facets of the Renaissance and even injecting some humor in a couple of passages.

Don't judge it by its textbook appearance and odd dimensions...it is anything but textbook-like and will undoubtedly lead you to buy more of the books in the series.

This book is a heavily researched piece of scholarship. Its biggest defect is its sensational sounding (and misleading) title. The Library Journal reviewer above probably read only the overleaf. While there are anecdotes in the book, the book is not anecdotal. The author appears to have read through hundreds if not thousands of law cases.
This book is an overwhelming endictment of the German judiciary, not just during WWII, but in the periods before and after it as well. It shows how the horror of that period had some of its roots in the German judiciary.
The book documents how during the Weimar period before world war II the Judiciary undermined the democratic government, supported the Nazis and helped bring them to power. One memorable anecdote occurs during the trial following The Nazi's beer hall putsch. German law required that, as an Austrian, Hitler be deported. However the court declined to order this, declaring that "Hitler is more German than the Germans" (or something similar). This is just one anecdote, but the chapter on the Weimar period covers the major instances of violence and insubordination during this period, and shows a persistent partisanship of the judiciary in support of the Nazis.
During the Nazi period, the author shows the courts helped strengthen Nazi rule. Here the author lays a number of myths to rest. One interesting chapter is on the Bundestag fire. The author shows how the courts acted in a pandering and biased way during the trial, and also acted to make the the Nazi government's appearance palatable to the rest of the international community. This is a far different exposition of this event than has appeared in German history books, where the courts are portrayed as acting heroically in the defense of justice.
Another chapter that overturns myths is the chapter on Resistance from the Bench. Judicial historians have long claimed that the judiciary resisted the Nazis despite great peril. But the truth
is that only one judge resisted. And the result was that after ten years of being a nuisance, he received early retirement (The story of the legal academics is identical. One professor from 600 refused an oath of loyalty to the Nazi government, and ended up with early retirement).
For Americans, the most disappointing revelations in the book may be in the final section, about the aftermath of the war. It turns out that the allies denazification program lasted no more than a few months. At that point, in spite of their own directives, the allies began permitting former nazis to serve in the judiciary. Within a few years they had given up on all restrictions against former nazis. So the judiciary was ended up being staffed by the same people after the war as during it. A vantage point from which they were able to hinder and prevent the prosecution of nazi criminals and fictionalize history to remove nazi period crimes from it. Once again there are some memorable (and hard to believe) anecdotes, e. g. West Germany passed a law in the 50's requiring Nazis be awarded civil service jobs, let concentration camp guards go free and awarded them state pensions.

Somehow, I have this feeling that this book just gives us the tip of th awful iceberg.

One need only remember the United States Supreme Court Justice William Brennan's Rule of Five. That the word of Five Justice's on the United States Supreme Court can over ride the express written word of all the Founding Fathers and all the American People. To know that what happened in Germany is not unique to any specific land.

However what really shocks me is not all the innocewnt blood the German Judiciary helped spill. Being involved with every aspect of the Nazi state. They were even represented at the Wannsee conference. What really shocks is is that after the war all the nazi judges lawyers and Law professors got their jobs back. Not one was executed by the allies, despite all that blood. And then they covered for the murderers. Many times revictimizing the victims of nazi persecution or genocide.

If this book proves anything it is that in any country an independent judiciary is a hungry fox with a key to the Chicken coop. And should be done away with.

One need only look at this country, whose courts in the past few years have systematicly through 'Evolving' Standards (LIE)begun replacing the Bill of Rights of our Founding Fathers with a Liberal Bill of Lies. With 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment' they try to abolish or restrict the Death Penalty for murderers. 'Seperation of Church and State' which is not in this country's constitution but that of the SOviet Union's, they have launched a culture war on the values of this country. The Second Ammendment they ignore. With Campain Finance 'reform' they deliberately allow the very people outside the political establishment to be gagged abridging the first ammendment rights they demand be respected for pornographers. I could go on.

This book is a must read.

How the German legal profession abandoned the rule of law, notably in the special tribunals (Special Courts and People's Courts) in Weimar and Nazi Germany. Muller notes that this trend pre-dated Hitler, that the laws enabling it were in the name of national security, that it followed the replacement of liberal with conservative judges over several decades, pre-Hitler, and that the judges had come to accept public affairs as a "friend or foe" paradigm with no room for loyal opposition.

1933 and post-9/11 are not identical, of course. The 1933 Reichstag Fire Decree suspended numerous civil-liberty sections of the republic's constitution itself, and for all citizens of the republic, while the current U.S. military tribunals simply remove a class of enemy combatants from normal criminal or military jurisdiction. However, the Weimar courts had created courts of special jurisdiction, and types of national-security offenses, long before 1933. Hitler merely took this trend, and the state-necessity doctrine, to its next logical level, and Mr. Muller is very good at putting this in its context. The injustices pre- and post-dated Hitler.

U.S. readers should remember that the German legal system had considerable differences with Anglo-American jurisprudence, with the latter's greater reliance on precedential case law, neutral judges, and independent defense counsel. Still, here we see how a once-proud legal system turned rule of law into a blood-stained rule of force, dressed in legal robes. A valuable, if chilling, work.

Due to my interest in the history of Europe in the first half of the last century, I have read quite a number of the standard histories through the second world war. As an attorney, I have also had a keen interest in legal theory over this same period of time. As to Germany, from the mid-1920's through the end of the war, I have generally run into two types of approaches on legal theory, both generally comprising a chapter or two of a larger history. Usually, the author either explained how judges had been "entangled" in the system and gave an almost sympathetic view of their position under the regime. These authors had the tendency to distinguish the more notorious judges from the judges in the lower courts. The other approach has generally cited a few outrageous rulings of courts during the period and leave the analysis at that. Muller has broken through these shallow approaches and finally given the insight into the courts that one would need to understand what conduct brought a citizen into the courts, what precisely happened to the citizen in the court and dynamic between the courts, law professors and the party in this context.

Muller cites to a breath-taking number of primary sources. I can only wonder how he could find the time to digest all those case records and case decisions. Indeed, I can't imagine how he found them. Regardless, as an attorney, I found his analysis totally objective and somewhat frightening.

As to legal theory, he is the first author I have run across who even tries to explain the transition of German constitutional law from the level directly tied to the age of the enlightenment in Europe to the Nazi regime. He sets out the evolution of the theories of leading law professors, the making and interpretation of statutory law and finally the impact of the utter breakdown of procedural due process to change the law concerned with human rights into a system concerned only with political self-survival of the state. He does not simply state who feel into what category on issues. He takes the arguments from the primary source material and sets out the actual decisions, theories and writings to support his conclusions.

One extraordinary part of Muller's analysis comes in the latter chapters. I had never read anything with any type of detail on this particularly issue, but through the use of primary sources, Muller cuts right into it. He addresses the impact of the Nazi legal system on German law after 1945. As an attorney, I found the analysis astonishing. The argument he lays out, and I cannot find anyway to disagree with, establishs that the large number of Nazi judges stayed in place and actually retired from the system long after the war. More importantly, many of the legal professors who helped develop the legal theories that enabled the crimes against humanity of the Nazi regime kept their positions and continued to teach their theories regarding such things as criminal law and procedure and constitutional law. The impact of the latter is profound in that these professors have taught a whole new generation of lawyers and judges who are in place today. I can only guess, but I have the gut feeling that this must have something to do with the current surge in far right-wing political activities in Germany over the last decade.

In summary, Muller gives an even analysis on an extraordinarily complex subject. He draws conclusions throughout, but explains precisely what he bases them on, so the reader can still draw his or her own conclusions. Again, I am most impressed with the primary source material that he has put together. In my humble opinion, this would be a satisfying book for anyone with an interest in history of the period or in legal theory. Muller manages to put forward the best elements of an historian and an attorney in his writing of this book. Believe me, that is a rare feat.

In reading and considering the implications of "Hitler's Justice" one can easily rationalize this tale of a judiciary gone mad when unleashed from the bounds and restictions of the rule of law, precedents, morality and human rational thought.

There is the obvious injustice on the individual level as documented by the author. Then, as in any corrupt system, there is the human cost to those who daily carry out such injustice and stretch credulity to justify the exercise. A major theme of the book is the ease with which judges adopted to Nazi jurisprudence. Those who objected could simply retire, knowing that someone who supported the twisted and perverted system would simply take their place and carry out the wishes of the Nazis, as outlined.

It is the ease to which German judges adopted and carried out Nazi justice that surprises and shocks. Yet, one should seriously consider that judges worldwide, no matter the system of government that is in place, carry out, and support, that system of government. Indeed, many prosecutors regard judges as a second prosecutor. With ease, judges commit injustices daily rationalizing them using some form of convuluted logic to deny obvious justice.

The historical analogies originating with the Reichstag fire through 9-11 to the USA Patriot Act leave a chilling trail that should strike terror, even more than a "terrorist," that an America, and an American government using that terror, can render more damage than any possible terrorist. An American government that sees "terrorism" as an opportunity to strike down the basic freedoms, beginning with those deemed outlaws, and ending with all Americans, is a logical extension of what happened under the Third Reich. Even more chilling is the existence of a willing judiciary to enforce that law.

The author outlines in well documented detail the types of laws,and their implications, which led the German judiciary to freely give up their independence. Are American judges any less willing to abide by the wishes of the current administration?

Muller has written an important, frightening insightful tale of how and why a judiciary can be corrupted. It is a must read to gain an important historical perspective on the current American hysteria over "terrorism."

When I heard that Karen Davis was writing "The Holocaust & The Henmaid's Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities," I had to wonder: Do we really need more evidence, however persuasive, demonstrating how the genocide of Jews and other humans in World War II is similar to the institutionalized abuse of farmed animals? Will Davis shed fresh light on a subject already illuminated by other animal advocates such as Charles Patterson, whose groundbreaking 2002 book "Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust" is a comprehensive examination of the controversial and troubling connection between factory farming and Hilter's Final Solution?

But in reading her take on the subject, it is clear that Davis can indeed contribute something meaningful on this matter and furthermore offers an intriguing perspective on issues ancillary to the main argument. Davis, the president and founder of United Poultry Concerns, explains that her book grew in part from PETA's 2003 "Holocaust on Your Plate" campaign (which was, in turn, inspired by "Eternal Treblinka"). PETA toured the country with this exhibit, displaying graphic photos of chickens in crowded cages and stacks of dead pigs alongside disturbing images of concentration-camp inmates in their tightly packed wooden bunks and the piled bodies of Jewish Holocaust victims. The juxtaposition of these comparable scenes was meant to stimulate contemplation, but it also raised the ire of groups like the Anti-Defamation League and even Jews for Animal Rights.

No doubt hoping to avoid much of the criticism PETA (and Patterson) faced, Davis is sensitive to readers who may regard the Holocaust as such a sacrosanct point in human history that any parallel with the slaughter of animals for food is, for them, profane. "For many people," she writes, "the idea that it is as morally wrong to harm animals intentionally as it is to harm humans intentionally borders on heresy." Notwithstanding this sensitivity, she invites the reader to consider how the forced labor of the concentration camp is akin to the internalized forced labor of chickens on factory farms. (The "henmaid" in her title is an inspired allusion to Margaret Atwood's popular 1986 novel "The Handmaid's Tale," which describes a near-future dystopia in which a large segment of women have no control over their reproductive systems and are routinely inseminated, only to have their offspring taken away. Such an existence is no mere fiction for farmed animals, who have been deprived of their dignity and freedom.)

Although a slim book (it weighs in at only 133 pages, including the notes, references and index), this is a dense volume and not exactly what I was expecting from the author of More than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality. With its references to existentialists Kierkegaard and Sartre, "The Holocaust & The Henmaid's Tale" reads more like an academic text than your typical book on animal rights and seems intended more for scholars than those already well versed in the atrocities of animal agriculture. The writing, however, is lucid and compelling; indeed, chapter three stands out as one of the most poignant and thought-provoking descriptions I have ever read on the brief, tragic life of a battery hen. Davis takes pains to clearly contextualize our use of the very word "holocaust" and demonstrates that taking what the Nazis did to the Jews and comparing it with society's enslavement and slaughter of non-human animals is meant to raise the status of animals rather than demean humans.

Still, the author is well aware that many people remain indignant about this issue, and consequently she has an extra hurdle to overcome. It's difficult enough to convince the average meat-eater that animals have as much right to live in peace as humans do. Add to that a topic as emotionally provocative as the systematic murder of millions of Jews and you're likely to incite anger. (To wit, a typical anti-animal-rights site posts this sentiment on the topic: "I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that there exists a group of people who put the Holocaust on the same level as meat packing.") Davis manages to diffuse the controversy, I believe, by focusing much of her attention on the link between language and attitudes. She discusses, for example, how Holocaust victims have described being "treated like animals," but that for many people such a comparison does not work in reverse. She writes: "To be `treated like animals' is an insult because the experience of animals is assumed to be vastly inferior to that of any human being, most of all one's particular group.... Presuming an immeasurable gulf between humans and animals allows one to appropriate animal abuse as a metaphor for one's own mistreatment while simultaneously dismissing the metaphor, and hence the `animals,' as `just an expression.'"

Not surprisingly, Davis has found much inspiration in "Eternal Treblinka," which contends that the Nazis applied the efficiency of animal agriculture and science to their own fascist agenda. But she takes Patterson's premise a step further. She asserts that the controversy that surrounds comparing the confinement and mass murder of "undesirables" with the abusive system of factory farming - comparing the suffering of human animals with that of non-human animals - emphasizes the very speciesism that allows animals to be exploited. More to the point, turning a blind eye to abuse gives us both "They were only chickens" and "They were only Jews."

I believe we need "The Holocaust & The Henmaid's Tale," if for no other reason than to remind us that the oppression of animals serves as the model for all other forms of oppression and therefore must not be ignored. There is, after all, a correlation between the activity of scholars and activists and how much the consciousness of the general public is raised. As Peter Singer observes in his introduction to the 2006 edition of "In Defense of Animals," in 1970, when the modern animal movement was just gaining currency, the number of writings on the ethical status of animals was tiny; yet today, he estimates, it must be in the thousands. Consider how far the movement has come in the last three and a half decades, and how much the writing of advocates has inspired us. Let's hope Karen Davis' new book will raise more awareness than it does anger.

Mark Hawthorne, author of Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism

I first discovered Dr. Davis' organization, United Poultry Concerns, while doing an internet search for animal rights superstar Pamelyn Ferdin (and she would HATE to be called that!). I have been a fan of UPC and Davis' pioneering work ever since.

I was already a Vegetarian, but Davis' book "Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs" helped me make the decision to go Vegan, which has been an amazing force for personal change.

Earlier this year, I finally got around to Davis' "More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual and Reality", and found its compelling arguments to be all the more reason to celebrate UN-Turkey Day as an antidote to the wholly noxious Xtian holiday "Thanksgiving".

With "The Holocaust & the Henmaid's Tale", Davis has emerged as a leader in articulating the philosophy of the animal rights movement. Davis delves deeply into man's history of cruelty to animals under the guise of scapegoating and ritual sacrifice, and the reader may conclude that today's meat industry is little more than an ongoing mass slaughter-ritual updated to the age of the machine.

As for relative sufferings and their hierarchy of importance, Davis tackles the penultimate emblem of mass suffering, the Holocaust, and compares it successfully with the daily slaughter of millions of sentient beings in the name of human gluttony and imperialistic perfidy. Just as the claim that the 9/11 attacks in the US were more "tragic" than the slaughters in Columbia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, etc. is laughable, so too is the notion that non-human suffering cannot be compared to human suffering. Suffering is suffering, and seeking an end to same should be the goal of all reasoning beings.

Health and political motivations notwithstanding, the only really good reason to become a Vegetarian and/or Vegan is if you believe that kindness is a virtue worth practicing. As Davis herself concludes, "Who but the Nazi in us disagrees?"

An intensely engaging, disturbing and ultimately uplifting experience, Davis' "The Holocaust & the Henmaid's Tale" takes its place alongside classics such as Pete Singer's "Animal Liberation" and John Robbin's "Diet for a New America" as essential animal rights texts.

In her bold and insightful book, which she dedicated to "all the soft and innocent lives who are at our mercy," Karen Davis, a longtime animal activist and president of United Poultry Concerns, examines the parallels between the Holocaust and the current abuse of billions of animals on factory farms that culminates in their cruel murder in slaughterhouses.

She passionately makes a strong case for comparing the two atrocities--different with respect to the identity of the victims and the purpose of the killings but chillingly similar in so many other ways--the designation of the victims as expendable, inferior, and unworthy of life; the herding and confinement; the industrialized slaughter; the complicity of the bystanders; and the pervasive arrogance and indifference that allows it to happen.

This compelling book argues convincingly that we have a mandate to think about, protest against, and learn from these twin atrocities--one completed in the middle of the last century, the other continuing every day. Not to do so is to condone and support the fascist mentality that produced them.

Davis is also the author of "Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry" and "More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality."

Her years of hands-on experience rescuing and providing shelter to the feathered "soft and innocent lives" victimized by the poultry industry gives her latest book its special urgency and poignancy. Highly recommended.

--Charles Patterson, author of "Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust"

[...].

Karen Davis' short, intellectually rigorous, historical, sociocultural, and imminently readable book is a **must** read. Davis is an excellent writer with years of personal experience working for all sorts of animals who find themselves in factory farms and feedlots, and her message is clear and convincing - there are striking parallels between the interminable and inexcusable suffering we bring to billions of food animal beings each year and the treatment of human beings during the holocaust. While it may move some - perhaps most - readers outside of their comfort zones, this is good and necessary for stimulating us all to act more strongly on behalf of all animals who suffer innumerable disturbing and unspeakable atrocities at out hands. And, nowhere are these atrocities more apparent and "in our face" than in slaughterhouses and factory farms which are truly prisons of torture where animals interminably suffer and die and also see, hear, and smell the senseless and ruthless pain, suffering, and death of others, often family members and other friends. One doesn't have to be sentimental to "feel" for food animals, for there are plenty of scientific data that support that claim that they are sentient beings who have preferences and a point of view on what is happening to them and to their friends. Their emotional lives aren't secret, private, or hidden, they're public. Animals tell us clearly what they're feeling and we must not deny what is so very obvious.

Let me emphasize that Karen Davis' book isn't just another Holocaust book. There are many new ideas and some of the major themes that distinguish this book from others include Davis' account of the life of a battery hen from the hen's point of view, her characterizations of internalized forced labor, chapter 5 on "Procrustean Solutions," a rich discussion of ritual sacrifice and genocide as identify destruction, not just physical extinction, Davis' distinctions between pain and suffering, and her chapter on her 9/11 controversy with Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation.

I'm sure that this book will make you shake your head from side to side in disbelief, wondering how things ever got to be so horribly messy and how any human being can ignore what we do to innocent nonconsenting animals every second of everyday. How do we live with the moral boundaries we draw almost solely for our convenience? How did this mentality arise?

Our relationship with nonhuman animals is a complex, ambiguous and challenging affair, and we must continually reassess how we should interact with animal kin. This book will make you do just that. Let's not forget that animal emotions are the gifts of our ancestors. We have them, and so do they. We aren't alone in the emotional arena. It's "bad biology" to argue against the existence of animal emotions. Scientific research in evolutionary biology, cognitive ethology and social neuroscience, along with our own personal observations, support the view that many animals have rich and deep emotional lives and that they are sentient beings.

I strongly suggest that you read this book, think deeply about the numerous issues that Karen Davis raises, share it with your friends and family, and thank Karen for writing such a moving and bold book. I continually go back to it because it is so rich, deep, clear, disturbing, and novel.

Speaking of the Unspeakable

Founder and president of United Poultry Concerns, Karen Davis has played the major role in taking domestic fowl - the most abused and violated animals in America - from the neglected margins of the animal protection movement to their present status as a central focus of campaigns against factory farming. Her books, Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs and More than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality are the standard animal rights works on domestic fowl.

Her newest book, The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale, is an invaluable contribution to one of the most contentious debates plaguing the animal rights community. But to understand why, we have to make a quick trip back in time.

A Holocaust: It's What's for Dinner
Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Jewish refugee from Hitler's Europe whose haunting novels and stories form an extended meditation on the Holocaust. In one of those stories, "The Letter Writer," the protagonist observes that "In relation to [animals], all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka."

In 2002, holocaust historian Charles Patterson picked up on Singer's theme. Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust argued that morally, psychologically, and logistically our imprisonment and murder of animals is equivalent to the Nazis' treatment of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and other victims of their blandly efficient murder machine.

In 2003, PETA launched a traveling display inspired by Patterson's book. Juxtaposing photographs of human prisoners in Nazi concentration camps with eerily similar pictures of animal prisoners in factory farm concentration camps, The Holocaust on Your Plate was a vivid and moving indictment of animal enslavement and murder.

A firestorm of criticism quickly ensued, summarized in an Anti-Defamation League press release calling the display "abhorrent," and asserting that "Abusive treatment of animals should be opposed, but cannot and must not be compared to the Holocaust. The uniqueness of human life is the moral underpinning for those who resisted the hatred of Nazis and others ready to commit genocide even today." The issue split the animal rights community. Some activists defended the PETA display; others worried that the animals' cause would suffer from the backlash.

Into these whitewater rapids, Roberta Kalechofsky, founder and president of Jews for Animal Rights, launched Animal Suffering and the Holocaust: The Problem with Comparisons, a small book (59 pages) in which she argued that while our enslavement and murder of animals is a horrific crime that must be stopped, comparisons to the Jewish holocaust are illegitimate. (Kalechofsky's bona fides as an animal rights advocate are unassailable. For more than two decades, she has been a powerful and pioneering voice for animals.)

First, Kalechofsky argues that the Jewish holocaust was the end product of centuries of historical and cultural evolution that make it a unique event that cannot be meaningfully compared to anything else. And second, if the Jewish holocaust is allowed to become a "generalized metaphor" (pg. 34) for every kind of atrocity, it becomes devalued and loses its meaning.

From Treblinka to Tyson's
The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale is Karen Davis' rebuttal. Her "henmaid" is a battery chicken on a factory farm, whose life of deprivation, devaluation, depersonalization, and early uncomforted death reminds Davis of the eponymous "Handmaid" in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel - and of the victims of fascism in Hitler's camps. When she is talking about her beloved chickens, Davis' compassion for the plight of our animal victims makes any merely intellectual argument against comparing their suffering to ours seem facile and self-serving.

It is on this foundation of bone deep compassion that Davis constructs her defense of comparing atrocities. First, she argues that while every atrocity is a unique event in terms of the historical, social, economic, and cultural conditions that led to it, they are all alike in the suffering that they cause, and from a moral standpoint, it is the suffering that matters. Thus, Davis argues that "An atrocity can be both unique and general." And since one sentient individual can never truly feel the pain of another, comparisons of pain - metaphors of pain, if you will - are the only way that we can feel empathy and compassion for others, and the only way that we can learn to become moral beings. Thus, comparisons of atrocities are an essential part of the process by which we become ethical individuals who create an ethical society.

It is not the Jewish holocaust that is unique - from ancient times, genocide has been a commonplace of human history - it is our sensitivity to it that is unique, and if this unique sensitivity can be used to awaken a heightened moral awareness of other atrocities, including the atrocities we commit against animals, that is a valid and valuable use of the holocaust metaphor.

The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale is not a diatibe. It is, in fact, solidly within the tradition of the best kind of academic writing, judicious, carefully reasoned, free of jargon, and accessible to the general reader.

Quoting Isaac Bashevis Singer, Davis reminds us that, "[T]here is no evidence that people are more important than chickens." Then she adds, "There is no evidence, either, that human suffering, or Jewish suffering, is separate from all other suffering, or that it needs to be kept separate in order to maintain its identity. But where, it may be asked, is the evidence that we humans have had enough of inflicting massive, preventable suffering on one another and on the individuals of other species, given that we know suffering so well and claim to abhor it?"

Norm Phelps is the author of The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According to the Bible and The Great Compassion: Buddhism and Animal Rights.