Europe Books

This book makes it clear under what pressures kids and teens grew up in the thirties and forties in Germany. The writer shows the big riff between the older and younger generations in Germany during the Hitler era. It is personal and detailed. It reaffirms many of the stories I heve heard from my parents and grandparents. A must read for every interested in keeping peace alive.

this is a very well-written book. The lifeline flows in order which makes it easy for the reader to keep track of events as they occurred. This provides a very different perspective because it is from that as a child growing up on 'Hilter's mountain', as well as that of a German citizen. This provides a very good inside look at what life was like in these most terrible of times.

This proves to be an interesting and somewhat insightful look from the perception of child. Irmgard Hunt spent her first 11 years of her life living in Berchtesgaden, under the shadow of Hitler's mountain retreat. She even had a honor of being on Hitler's lap and her parents must have been die-hard Nazis themselves to be allowed to live in that Bavarian village so close to their Fuhrer's own mountain home.

Hunt's recollection proves to be informative on how life was for people who lived in that village where Nazism was so strong. Many of her stories actually make great deal of sense to anyone familiar with the Third Reich and it made whole lot of sense to me especially since, the author was living in Berchtesgaden.

However, I do wondered how much of the book reflects reality. After all, she was very young when all this took place, most normal people do have a hard time remembering what they did, felt or thought when they were eight, nine or ten years old. The author may remembered very few details but I doubt if she could remembered all of it without being compromised by passing years of faded memories.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the story of an ordinary German girl growing up in one of the most nazified villages in Germany. But I would also caution these readers that you are relying on a memory of that child who is now a grown woman and asked yourself how much of your childhood you remembered with such details.

Excellent story of WW2 from the perspective of an ordinary little girl. I loved this story because it was a whole new look at this era of world history, a view not often captured. A must read for any enthusiast of the era.

I lived in Germany in the late 1970s with a family who would have been young people during the War. I was vastly curious about their experience as "average Germans" but they were evasive and would say very little. Irmgard Hunt, who grew up just 30 miles from my foreign exchange mother during roughly the same years, gives us a portrait of what it was like for the average German citizen. Relying on her mother's diary, and interviews with family and friends, it may be some fiction, as an earlier reviewer states, but it rings true to me. You'll enjoy this book more if you know some German.

"The Pity of It All" is a masterful accomplishment of scholarship, insight and tone. It describes the world and history of German Jews before the Holocaust in ways that illuminate the catastrophe that follwed, but with a wise restraint that holds back from glib or pat theories. For instance, Elon is careful to insist that the outcome for Germany's Jews was not inevitable, and that although virulent, persistent anti-semitism was widespread in German culture, Hitler's and Nazism's rise also benefitted from the blunders and complacency of competing politics, and from other random hazards. In focusing on and describing the preceding two centuries of rapid development of a German Jewish community of prosperity and accomplishment, Elon gives these people back their identity and dignity as something other than doomed or pathetic foreshadows of predestination. While the book provides valuable food for thought about the Holocaust, it also, and predominantly, honors and rewardingly brings to our awareness the rich and fascinating parade of Jewish life and individuals in Germany from the mid-18th century forward.

There are many strengths to this book- one of the main strengths is the variety of uses that it has. It's obvious purpose is to relate the history of German Jews from the rise of the Enlightenment to the rise to power of the Nazi party. But it serves other purposes as well. I came to it for an understanding of the intellectual background of both Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt. It could serve as background reading for anyone interested in Einstein, Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer, Freud, Adler, Fromm, Marcuse, Mannheim, Popper, Bernstein, Cassirer, Schoenberg, Husserl, Weill, among other German-Jewish intellectuals to numerous to mention. Which brings me to my third purpose. I have never read anything that made me realize just how badly Germany damaged itself intellectually during the rise of the Nazis. It serves as the primary example of politically ripping your heart out because your brain commands it. Who knows what the country could have become if it had embraced it Jewish citizens? Finally, for me, this book makes me understand why Zionism became such a political force. At some point, when you are treated like the Jewish citizens of Germany were, what else can you do? Elon makes it clear that their suffering began long before the twentieth century.
I want to talk about Elon's methodology. His book is basically a series of well chosen capsule biographies of prominent German Jews whose lives and struggles for emancipation and assimilation serve as to tell the stories of all German Jews. His focuses on people like Moses Mendelssohn, Rahel Varnhagen, Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Borne, Ludwig Bamberger, Gershon Bleichroder and Walter Rathenau. Along with this main biographies are several dozens of shorter ones. Elon then surrounds these stories with a certain amount of sociological history (two of his favorite statistics are to look at the rate of conversions from Judaism to Christianity and the rate of intermarriage). He tries to relate those stats to larger historical events. Finally, he also uses a bit of cultural history,e.g., he sees Goethe's idea of Bildung as having an even larger impact on German Jews than on the rest of the German population.
This methodological approach to his story has some drawbacks. Non-intellectual and/or lower class German Jews remain in the background in Elon's book. I am not sure how this could be avoided. There may be some sort of historical record that would tell us more about this part of the population but it is hard to imagine what that record would be. It is also easy to imagine that life for the poorer and less literate parts of the German Jewish population would have been even worse. Most careers were closed to them, all civil and political rights were denied to them and many times, entire cities or districts were closed to them. In most cities they lived in ghettos and were not allowed to go out into the rest of the city on Sundays or Christian holidays.
Elon also makes it clear that in many ways, Germany was one of the most liberal countries toward its Jewish citizens. I found myself sometimes reading this book wondering when the revolution was going to start. As I said earlier, reading this book makes the appeal of Zionism easy to understand.
I have a few other minor laments about Elon's book. I would have appreciated much more of a history of both Zionism and reform Judaism within the context of his history. I would also have learned from a history of how the understanding of the galut changed over time. But this is a minor quibble. Elon's books fulfills its own purpose and many other purposes magnificantly. There are other books that can tell the story of the missing pieces.
I came to this book from my reading of Strauss. It makes me appreciate Strauss's ideas about the theological-political problem so much more. Strauss basically used the place of the Jewish citizen within a liberal polity as his basic metaphor for the challenge of the other to a community/state. He also saw it as a metaphor for the role of the philosopher in the community/state. In both cases, it stands for an outsider who can never be other than an outsider. Strauss felt that this issue tears at the core of the liberal state. It is one that we can never run from and must always face with all our wisdom and humanity. Reading Elon argues strongly that Strauss may have been right. But mostly, reading Elon leave you with a sense of how much all of us have lost from what happened to the Jewish population of Europe during the thirties and forties. The Pity of It All is right.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It combines history with interesting narrative. It tells of the heartbreaking saga of the relationship between Jews and Germans for the 200 years preceding WW II. It spoke of histories of people and how devoted they were to the Fatherland....especially sad were the thousands of conversions, forced and voluntary, which in the end did the Jews no good. It is an enlightening read and not very flattering about the Germans and their anti semetic history of thought.

I had wanted to read something about Jewish assimilation in Europe after snippets and references from Goethe's biography by Nicholas Boyle, a musical essay on Mendelssohn that touched briefly on his grandfather, Moses, and the liner notes on several classical music CDs of composers who lived in the 19th century. When I saw this book at my neighborhood bookstore, I grabbed it and stayed up all night reading it. Since I want information when I read a history, I don't require great writing, and prose that's merely adequate can be forgiven if the research is thorough (and the author doesn't have an axe to grind). Elon is a good enough writer that I will seek out his other works. This book shed light on the ambivalence that must have been unbearable for so many. And as another reviewer mentioned, its nice to have a chapter of German/Jewish history that doesn't begin with Weimar. As one of the best histories I've read, I can't recommend it highly enough. Hopefully high-school and college courses on Europe in the World War years will use this book as a prelude.

The author describes the history of German Jewry in such an eloquent, informed and story-telling way that is just fascinating. Easy to read too. Excellent buy.

A scholarly work giving an insight into (Non mainstream) Christian people's attempts to predict both the timing and the intent of a millennium.It has left the Holy Roman church virtually intact despite the attacks made against it; that is it does not pass judgement on the attitudes, teaching and actions of the church during the period presented.

I believed a history book such as this one would not get revised and ordered an old print of 1972 for an alluring bargain. Now I know better, but I was lucky. There was at least one revision, in 1969 of this 1957 book. Among other changes an entire chapter got included.

This by the time of this review half a century old book is on millennianism. Which has nothing to do with the last or the "current" turn of the calendar, but with the expectation of a paradisical kingdom to get introduced by the (returning) messiah, no matter when. Which would last for a millennium. The time frame is half a millennium, from the 11th to the 16th century. The book largely concentrates on north-western Europe, specifically France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bohemia and England. Only occasionally referencing other territories.

Talk is about the crusades, especially from below. Poor masses embarrassing the official knights for their anarchic conduct, such as cannibalism and genociding Jews and Muslims, but also the rich Christian clergy. This book is primarily about the medievil class struggle. Ultra exploitation and general greed causing desperate mass movements with religious hope and frenzy. Norman Cohn elaborates on the social conditions and transformations from peasantry to urbanization, thus putting historical data into context. While most other authors highlight official history, i.e. the history of kings and popes etc., Norman Cohn focuses on the poor revolting. I have never before heard about a shepherds' crusade, yet there were two of them. Some of those crusades were directed against the Christian clergy and the establishment in general. That's why even today, official history lessons aren't that eager to teach about them. Some insurrections described include the flagellants (who were also genociding Jews), Beguines and Beghards (who inspired the term beggars), Thomas Müntzer, Anabaptists and all sorts of self-declared saviors. Their followers largely jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. Often literally, as the establishment punished with the stake quite liberally. But also for the mostly quick turnovers of the high aspirations of the brave new worlds into lethal absolutism. As such, the ancient Greek-Roman derived ideas of communism turned sour before the 20th century, namely in the European medievil Imes.

Many of the previous reviews put attention to the above. I have three thoughts about that. First, this book has been written and published during the heyday of McCarthyism. Obviously till today it is possible to read the book as anti-communist exclusively. Yet - second -, the author didn't critizise communism alone. In fact, the central focus is rather on the capitalist condition, which caused those mass movements in the first place. He isn't only warning about the dangers of system changes, but also of NOT changing at all. The Bible warns against greed at many places and unequality in general. The opposite has been and still is the condition of the world we live in. No system change is an easy quick fix. Because our meme pool functions within the very same parameters of greed, power and constructs of separation. Even in communism, no matter wether religious or anti-religious, some people quickly become more equal than others. This book is a warning against absolutism. Forcing one's views into other peoples' throats. It is a warning against ever more radical conditions and views until everybody (else) is fed up with those conditions, pushes them from the pedestal ENTIRELY and when in lack of a solution relying on the previous model. Which hadn't been reformed in the first place for nothing. That way, society is circling within the very same dysfunctionality, but under the illusion of system changes. The question therefore is: Were the Dark Ages' wannabe reformers too radical or not radical enough?

Both. As the third thing is that this book doesn't only critisize the radicals, but also the persecuting establishment (which executed atheists just the same). Both persecuting the mystics as sick. Who get described in this book as gnostics, stoics, Free Spirits, Ranters, Spanish Brotherhood of Muslims, Amaurians and by other terms. Unsurprisingly many reviewers blind these mystics as the same ill-advised fanatics. But the book isn't saying that. Though not really pointing out the opposite directly either. The reason for the misoverstanding is that mystics sound crazy to the masses of today no less than the absolutist loonies. Yet, they hold the key to enter the road for a real change. The basic message being: Everything in existence is God/Allah/Jah/the universe, etc, all separations are constructs of the illusory human mind. Overstanding that, equal treatment establishes itself on a different plain than a nice should-be command. The book does provide some mystical texts, including on the divinity of every human, every living thing, in fact everything and a hint of the illusion of the separation of genders (p. 325). The latter of which I find most interesting, as I wasn't aware that medievil Europe harbored a subculture knowing this. Eurocentered, the author puts all of these mystics in the derivation line of Neo-Platonism. Whereas in reality, all of this is derived from ancient Black Egypt.

Unfortunately the book isn't going into what sprang into my mind as a theory immediately and continuously while reading this book. The major religious concern of the masses is against greed and exploitation, still hinting at the Sodom story rather in this context. Whereas today, greed and exploitation isn't such a religious concern anymore. In fact, communism has become severely anti-religious. But the Sodom story is still featuring majorly in religious preachings. But in a completely different context. Most certainly the Noah-Ham story has been misinterpreted in order to justify the exploitation of slavery shortly thereafter. The book doesn't go into it, but mentions that the populace fought adamantly for the abolishment of serfdom anywhere - based on the Bible. It seems obvious that the Sodom story has been misinterpreted to divert attention away from "Thou shall not be greedy!" in the first place, away from the detesting of the rich, who included the Church. In that way the medievil subject of the book hasn't lost its topicality at all indeed.

If you want to find out more about general modern mysticism, read for example The Mystical Journey from Jesus to Christ and based on science From Science to God: A Physicist's Journey into the Mystery of Consciousness. On the schemes of exploitation no matter the superficial system, read Putting It All Together: World Conquest, Global Genocide & African Liberation.

This is an excellent book. According to the above it could be so much more - not only describing history, but changing the present. At the Imes of having been written, those issues couldn't get written about. As I-and-I (we) haven't left the Dark Ages yet, not really. "We" only think we have...

This is a brilliant and fascinating history of Christian millennial movements, cults and apocalyptically-motivated uprisings from earliest times up until the Reformation era. In the sheer bizarre freakishness of this tale of flagellants, messiahs, visionary madmen, heretical saints, reincarnated Jesuses, religious libertines, crazed hordes of rootless paupers, and genocidal prophets who sought to bring on the millennium in a sea of blood, this study is like a deformed sideshow mutant that both mesmerizes and disgusts you. However, it's more than just entertainment. I believe that it is a prophetic work.

The apocalyptic DNA strand was never eradicated from the human animal and will surely resurface in the Christian world when the conditions are right. Those conditions, among which are social dislocation, cultural deracination, political corruption, establishment-religion apathy and hypocrisy, have been rising to an extreme heat since the 1960s. Millions of people have been, and will continue to be, severed from traditional means of understanding the world and will find meaning by turning to the deviant and heterodox forms of Christianity that have proliferated in the past 30 years in America. The powerful leaders of these faith groups provide certainty, spirituality and carnal satisfaction with prophecies, visions, "miracles", divine revelations, new experiences via mind-altering practices, promises of earthly prosperity and a sense of belonging by exacerbating the hostility with "the world". Apocalyptic theology is an ever-present theme. The followers of these televangelist messiahs are peaceable enough now, but should their bellies ever be shrunken by an economic downturn- the last of the necessary conditions- we will see violent millenarian movements like nothing the world has ever known. If you're interested in what that kind of world may look like, read this book.

Cohn's "Pursuit of the Millennium" has aged well and nearing 50 years of age it is deservedly a classic. Its subjet might be considered by some to be esoteric: it deals with prophets from middle age Europe who led others to believe that the end of times was at hand, and that they had been chosen by God to purify the world in preparation for the Kingdom of the Last Days, and with pantheistic mystical anarchists who believed that they could do no evil because they had connected with their divine essences. In most cases these figures are virtual unknowns even for people who like history. The few that still turn up are Thomas Müntzer, the leader of the rebellious peasants who were exterminated in the Battle of Frankenhausen (a character in the historical fiction pastiche "Q" by Luther Blisset) and John of Leyden, the tailor who created a totalitarian kingdom of saints in Münster. For the revolutionary millennarians the tale is a bit repetitive, and it usually went like this: a former priest or a hermit with a violent disposition concludes, after meditating for a long time, that he is living at the end of times and that he is God/ he is a god/ he has been chosen by God or a god to lead the just and the good in a final, apocalyptic, war against Antichrist and his followers, to usher in the millennium of the saints announced by John the Divine, prior to the end of the world and the final reckoning. The hermit or defrocked priest finds some followers and eventually is able to take hold of a town or a castle, which he converts into a stronghold with the help of the rootless rabble. Then he proceeds to plunder from the rich (nobles and clergy) and to purge the unredeemed. Eventually the powers-that-be get their act together and dispatch an army of knights who, after a bloody fight are able to capture the prophet and his main followers, who usually are burnt or beheaded after enduring torture. It is peculiar that even thought they are always defeated and crushed, the sort of people who are drawn to this type of leader will rise up to follow them again and again.

Cohn's book tells the story in just the right detail. He shows that certain regions were particularly sensitive to the millennarian prophets. Many such arose in the Northwestern corner of Europe (Northeastern France, the Benelux countries, the Rhineland in Germany). He also shows that generally poor people have had rational aims: to use pressure in order to improve their lot by acquisition of certain rights. Only a minority has felt the attraction of millennarian revolutions, and these usually have been uprooted people without a settled role. Also, these revolutionary initiatives were able to succeed (even if for a short while) only in times of chaos or unrest (i.e., the Crusades, visitations of the plague or black death, economic crises, etc.). Usually the self-appointed prophets used the social disruption in order to further their cause and take advantage from the momentary weakness of defenders of the status quo.

Cohn is a sober commentator who shows that recent historians have sometimes ignored the evidence to further a political agenda. Thus, leftist historians sometimes refused to acknowledge some activities of the prophets whom they regarded as protorevolutionaries (such as their inclination to institutionalized promiscuity or their remarkably violent language), probably in order to maintain their status as predecessors of current "progressives".

An interesting conclusion from the reading of the book is that, contrary to what many think, ideas are not a neutral good to be chosen by informed customers in an efficient marketplace. Some ideas appeal to dark places in people's minds: these are dangerous ideas, and parents and teachers would do well to instruct their children, so that they do not succumb. One such idea is that "God" is in everything, and that when a person becomes aware of this he or she becomes entirely free and can follow his or her desires without any negative ethical implication. Another way of putting this is that nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so, as Hamlet said. This type of belief might lead a person to the most brutal behaviors without any perception that they had done ill. This is a very common opinion nowadays, and in fact both the millennarists and the mystical anarchists have their successors nowadays. Today, the center of millennarian agitation is surely the USA, were many people believe that the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) is a play-by-play description of the end of the world and that they will live to see it happen. And many new age sects (including Scientology) appear to hold the belief that we can become gods and be free of conventional morality and ethics.

In his conclusion Cohn suggests that many radical movements of the XX century are in fact new versions of the old millennarian revolutionary heresies. There can be no doubt that this is the case: human motivations change little over time. What changes is the language in which they are articulated. In a religious era, the language and imagery were religious. in a godless age the language attempts to be scientific and logical. But underneath there beats the same old hope: the hope to see evil punished and evildoers destroyed, to be part of a chosen elite with a new understanding of the nature of reality, and an exhilarating vision of a better future through hardship and strife. We can all empathise with these feelings. Action movies, comic books, tragedies, country music and soap operas resonate for many of us because they take their inspiration from some of these elements. I only regret that Cohn did not expand the point, although other authors have done so, most notably Michel Burleigh, who in his recent two volume history on the clashes between politics and religion from the French Revolution to our days has shown that much of what passes for politics is in reality religion by another name, and how the most revolutionary creeds of the XX century were really millennarian sects.

And Cohn's perspective is so pertinent that it even explains the rise of Islamic fundamentalism tinged with visions of a holy war that will redeem the world and turn into the Umma, the community of the believers. The followers of fundamentalism have been the large masses of uprooted peasants without a clear role in a modernizing world, and their leaders have been intellectuals or semi-intellectuals who can understand how the world works but want no part of it, other than to redeem it in an apocalytic struggle. Their counterparts in other religions are very similar to them: people who want to find a meaning for lives that provide none, people who are sensitive to unfairness and who instinctively resonate with violence and retribution, people who yearn for zoroastrian visions of entirely distinct good and bad. As ever, for these people, the new millennium of peace and joy is just around the corner, although sadly it can only come about on mountains of corpses and through rivers of blood.

I have read this book several times: And each time I do; I am still amazed at the brilliant historical research of Christian millennial movements that Norman Cohn gave to the world. This book is timeless, and serves as a great warning to everyone. The apocalyptic movements from the earliest times of Christianity, to the Reformation was not only dangerous in its extremism, but what amazes me, is that it still among us: civilized though we may think we are. Everything is served up in this great book: flagellants, false messiahs, heretical saints, crazed visionaries, and insane prophets of doom. The belief that the apostles lived a life of poverty, and that all men had to share led to a struggle of class warfare, which in turn led to many wars and spilt blood. All in the name of God.

The pages of history are filled with the names of men whose desire for power, be it political or religious, lead many others into the abyss: Those whose own despair with the world around them are led to believe in the false messages and sense of security of divine righteousness. And as such, much blood has been spilled by these deceitful and crazed false teachings. These corrupters of truth have not gone away, they are still among us: No matter what their religion. And that is why this book is as important now, as when it was first published.

In the book, Norman Cohn's research gives light into the revolutionary millennial cults that spread into dangerous movements. Part of this was the mistrust of the established Church in Europe during the middle ages, and resentment of the aristocracy, whose ties and deep connections to the Church was seen as one of depriving the people of a truer and better life. And although these were legitimate complaints by the people, the fact that through there own despair, they were led by others to seek out equality in its most extreme form, is truly frightening. The millennial movements gained most of their members from the poor, and unskilled urban dwellers who were uprooted due to famine in many cases. Seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and God, however, led by demagogues and fanatics, the book goes into much detail of how, where and why these cults thrived. Highly highly recommended. [Stars: 5+]

The Red Balloon is a wonderful story with an adorable little boy as the star character. I bought both the book and the DVD to give as a present to younger children (4 yrs old). I think they will enjoy if only for the visuals. The film is produced in French language but there is so little dialogue that not understanding the script doesn't affect the enjoyment of watching the film. Overall, it is a fun story with a good feel to it. There were only a couple of situations in the story that I thought might be a little sensitive or a bit scary to younger kids .. one being a group of boys chasing the little boy trying to take the balloon away from him. The other a very quick scene where a school headmaster is upset with the chaos going on and he puts the little boy in a room and locks the door. These are minor to the overall upbeat feel of the story but parents may want to review first to consider their own fast forward editing or explanations. In my case, the quality of the DVD was not great. It's an old film so perhaps the age is showing a bit in the reproductions.

Great story....grew up watching the short film and checking this same book out from our local library. Now that I'm a mom, I have introduced this video and book to my kids, and they're infatuated with everything about it. Great, well-made books with lively photos and storyline that holds little ones' attentions.

this book was written some decades ago but the excellence of the writing and the very skilful, thoughtful & sensitive photography which integrates very successfully with the story, are such that I believe this book will be deservedly popular with very many generations of children in the future. I believe that it is a masterpiece of children's literature and I strongly recommend it as a gift to be given by any parent - or grandparent.

I must have checked this book out a hundred times when I was in Elementary school as it was such a favorite. What a joy it was to find it still in print and telling it's charming story to future generations. This is a classic, and a book that I would recommend to all children and adults that want to hold a piece of their treasured childhood memories. This story was told in film on the International Children's Film Festival, hosted by Kookla, Fran and Olie, and further helps to bring this story to life.
Treat yourself and your children to the story of a boy and his friend, the red balloon.

The photographs, the text and presentation are remarkable. A piece that makes a good complement of the movie.

Saboteurs, by Michael Dobbs is a very well written story, about what I consider to be a little known chapter of WWII, namely, the German plan to land two groups of saboteurs on America's shores. Once here, these men were to operate an "extensive campaign against the United States to disrupt the production of tanks and airplanes and blow up bridges and railroads." Luckily for America, the Germas sent probably the most inept group of spies that was ever assembled, dooming this mission from the start. What transpires during the course of the story would be comical if not for the fact that the majority of the saboteurs were executed. Also, luckily for America, we were able to catch these men despite ourselves. This is a very enjoyable read.

Truth is certainly stranger and more entertaining than fiction in this case. This fast paced account of the 8 man team of Nazis sent to sabotage the US railyway system during WWII is so colorfully told, it's like a movie. The fact that it's a true story makes it all the more fascinating.

Famous figures like FDR and J Edgar Hoover and not so famous ones like Atty General Biddle and the German conspirators, all come to live and the stories (in this age of the Patriot Act, public paranoia and prisoner abuse scandals) are especially relevent in today's political climate.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative read for buffds of both history and spy stories.

One of the first actually enjoyable nonfiction books I have ever read. A moving, suspenseful, accurate tale by Michael Dobbs - totally worth reading no matter what!
After reading it, I changed the subject of my paper to Operation Pastorius because of the wealth of knowledge I had about it from reading this enjoyable book!

I'm still not quite sure why I liked this book so much. Let me just say Dobbs does a terrific job (aided by some very detailed sources) of outlining a story that is bizarre, funny, and strangely compelling. It's one of those books where you keep coming across events so strange you have to tell someone about them. Also, it's quite timely, as some of the legislation that came out of the Operation Pastorius trials is currently being used to the hilt by the Bush administration, even though the key Supreme Court justice in those decisions later said he regretted them.

If you like it, I would also recommend "In Harm's Way" by Douglas Stanton, about the Indianapolis disaster. That's more of a horror story than a comedy, but it also is filled with historical ironies and well-delineated characters.

In June of 1942, two 4-man teams of Nazi saboteurs exited U-boats onto American beaches in Florida and Long Island, NY. All of the eight had previously spent time in America. Indeed, one had spent twenty years in the U.S., and another, a naturalized American citizen, had spent seventeen since the age of five. Returning to the Third Reich for various reasons, they volunteered to return to the U.S. and sabotage that country's war effort by striking at its aluminum production plants. Each team hit the beach with a supply of explosives and $90,000 cash for expenses. Two weeks later, they were all in FBI custody. All were tried by a military tribunal and found guilty. Six of the eight were quickly executed by electrocution; two were imprisoned for the war's duration and eventually returned to Germany.

A friend of one of the saboteurs, who'd also been offered the chance to join the mission but declined, said:

"In Germany ... everything was rationed. Nobody in his right mind was going to go from a country like that to a country with everything, like America, and start blowing things up. You'd have to be nuts."

That statement just about says it in a nutshell because even though Hoover and his FBI trumpeted their foiling of the plot as the greatest victory for America since Yorktown and the former just about wet his pants in an effort to grab all the credit for (chiefly) himself and his G-men, the eight conspirators resembled more an expanded clone of the Three Stooges, and their fourteen days on the loose were a farce. Glad to be free of Germany's wartime belt tightening, they started spending their cash on food, clothes, drink, women, and, in one case, a new car. A couple of them looked up family members, wives, and former girlfriends. There didn't seem to be any great urgency to get down to the business of "blowing things up". In the meantime, the leader of the Long Island four, George Dasch, was off spilling his guts to the Feds. Though SABOTEURS: THE NAZI RAID ON AMERICA is well written and documented, one wonders why author Michael Dobbs bothered. Perhaps a clue lies in Michael's assertion that:

"One of the lessons of the saboteur affair is that it is very difficult to fight a war and respect legal niceties at the same time."

In the seventy-six pages of the book dealing with the invaders' trial and punishment, Dobbs goes to commendable lengths to describe how the accused were denied the right of habeas corpus, an abridgement not seen since Abraham Lincoln suspended such during the Civil War. Oh, and by the way, the handling of the saboteurs' case by the U.S. government is apparently the legal basis for its trying of al-Qaeda terrorists before military tribunals post-9/11.

SABOTEURS seems less about the abortive "raid" on America than an essay on its legal system when severely stressed - or perceived to be stressed - by outside forces. Perhaps the lesson to be learned is reflected in the statement by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist in a 1999 speech, and which is quoted towards the end of this volume:

"While we would not want to subscribe to the full sweep of the Latin maxim INTER ARMA SILENT LEGIS (In a time of war, the laws are silent), perhaps we can accept the proposition that, though the laws are not silent in wartime, they speak with a muted voice."

What a man! He is a real fighter and hero. At least people can see the truth about the Germans now, and can also admire such a hero whose hand of G-d made him a survivor.
This book is wonderful, it deserves to be the best book about the Holocaust. Very moving, well written, and a real story.

I read this first as a child and have recently re-read it. It is as intense as it was when I discovered it at 13. This one IMHO is THE holocaust memoir and I say this as a big fan of Anne Frank's Diary. I wish I could say never again, but Rwanda made it clear that this stage in history is not an aberration. Silence doesn't exist. Revisionism is easier than truth and unless truth is passed on there will be no alternative.

The Survivor of the Holocaust, by Jack Eisner, is not just a story of camp survival, although the book does deal with Mr. Eisner's time in various camps. More importantly, it is the story of one man's attempt to fight back, to make a difference, during a time when the life of a Jew was worth less than that of an animal. In that, Mr. Eisner succeeded. Although, as one review of this book stated, some of the events may, and I emphasis the word may, have been embellished with time, I find little fault with this based upon the fact that it was written well after the events occurred. Additionally, the subject matter is so horrific that it is only natural that, with time, some of his experiences might have taken on a different light. In my opinion, this in no way detracts from the quality or importance of the story. We owe it to Jack Eisner and all of the others like him to read his story. I recommend this book.

One of the leaders of the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto said " We must fight them (the Germans) as a symbol for posterity to show that even in the face of certain death, with hardly any weapons, a handful of Jews had the guts to stand up to the mighty German Army."

I read this book this past year, my sophmore year in High School. This book told pieces of the hell Mr. Eisner had to go through and how he managed to survive. I was told by my teacher (and several other students in my class) that this was a "hard read" and it would take a little while to finish. I, however, was so entranced by Jack's words that I had to keep on going and finished it in over a course of a day. Not only did I get to read Jack Eisner's book, but I got to meet him in person when, not only did he come to the university (where I attended his first speech), but at my High School, where I again attended his speech and even got to shake this man's hand. To actually get to meet him was something all together and made the book even more wonderful. Soon everyone who lived during that time, who actually fought or survived the horrors of that world, will be gone, but through Jack's book, and other's like his, we will never forget. That is one thing that Jack said, we must never forget. I guarantee anyone can like this book ... it shows you a first hand prospective of how things actually went on in the Ghetto and the camps, although it just barely skims the surface of some of the things that happened.

At the end, the author wrote, "Everyone who had a chance to read the manuscript in progress expressed disbelief that all these experiences could have happened to one person and yet he survived." This is how I felt reading this book. His will to live and his resourcefulness were amazing. What guts he had, for example, to plot and to rescue his mother from the Nazi hospital! He came so close to being killed by the Nazis so many times and managed to escape so many times. It's hard to imagine that there really are people in the world with such courage. I didn't want to read another WWII book, but I picked this one up (my wife had bought it)while waiting for my next book to arrive, and once I started it I couldn't put it down. If you can stand to hear the horrible realities, read this book.

Social anthroplogist, Kate Fox, has observed the English (she is one) in in all seasons and conditions, and particularly in the places where they are most comfortable. Her books include PUB WATCHING with Desmond Morris, and PASSPORT TO THE PUB; The Tourist's Guide to Pub Etiquette. The book is witty in its analysis of the ways of English conversation and behaviour with its unwritten codes, and of weather-speak, reflex apology, ironic-gnome, money talk, and panaroid-pantomime rules which belie the underlying scholarship and serious study. It can be taken up at random, however, to delight the reader with its anecdotes and many acute observations.

In defining the characteristics of Englishness the core appears to be the Social Dis-ease, the short-hand term for all their social inhibitions and hang-ups. They can be over-polite, buttoned up and awkwardly restrained, or loud, crude or generally obnoxious. Humor, however, is the the most effective built-in antedote to the SD. They do not have a global monopoly on humor but it is the sheer pervasiveness and supreme importance of humor in English every day life and culture which is distinctive. When in doubt, joke, particularly when earnestness is threatened. Response to earnestness is cynicism, ironic detachment and a squeamish distaste for sentimentality.

She has it right in my book, speaking as a fellow Brit who is fearsome of all forms of political correctness. You really must read this eloquent and funny book on human behaviour

A pleasure to read and to smile at some of the most British ways of seeing life and smelling the weather!

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.

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.

Beautifully written, WHERE SHE CAME FROM is also the product of very serious and exhaustive research. It is a magical and haunting book. It brings alive a period of Jewish women's history that is only now being written about in English. Travelling through pre-Holocaust Central Europe with Epstein is an amazing experience: the reader follows both the process of investigation of family history and the emotions this opens up for the writer.

I taught the book several times both in the US and Mexico in classes on Memory and Autobiography. My students loved the book. Many of them bought several copies to give to relatives and friends as gifts. My graduate students (in History and Literature) were impressed by the rigor of Epstein's research, and the skill with which she weaves historical information into her prose.

This is a fascinating chronicle of three generations of the author's female ancestors. It is probably the only book in English that tells the story of Jewish women in Prague in the the first half of the twentieth century. Helen Epstein has a special talent for recreating social history and bringing it alive.

This book was a beautiful personal tribute to the author's ancestors.

I was engrossed in this book from the first page...although it was a slow read for me, because I wanted to grasp the intensity of the generational saga, and grasp the historical facts, correctly. Epstein has more than proved herself in this dramatic memoir of family generations, identity, and history, weaving us through time, each piece of family fabric a part of the final tapestry. The reader is given remnants and squares of fabric in a familial tapestry, of sorts, through history and time, through the horrors of war, and how it affects all the generations, from past to present. From assimilating into society and racial and religous identity, to how one views themselves and what they identify with, Epstein manages to stitch a tapestry of her family, each stitch in time adding to the fabric of her own identity. Bravo for a wonderful read!

In WHERE SHE CAME FROM, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based award-winning author Helen Epstein has penned a meticulously-researched memoir to the four generations of Czech and former Czechoslovak women in her extensive family, from her mother's side of the brood.

While today she associates her public persona to the proud and extensive line of former Czechoslovak Epsteins (see Ms. Epstein's fabulous Amazon Short available off of this site, SWIMMING AGAINST STEREOTYPE: The Story of a Twentieth Century Jewish Athlete), the writer stakes her claim to a noble and illustrious family line which once proudly sported famous Viennese and Prague-based surnames such as Rabinek, Solar, Weigert, Sachsel, Furcht, and Frucht.

Like an experienced batsman for a World Series-winning major-league baseball team, Epstein managed to hang in that old batter's box, waiting for just the right pitch to slug out of the ballpark. In the book world, the analogue was when all the right moments fortuitously transpired to assist Ms. Epstein in securing many essential clues of research which she utilized handily in crafting this excellent book's narrative. Even she'll tell you, the process was far from easy.

Thanks to a dedicated coterie of like-minded collaborators based in points all around the globe as you'll soon read (the former Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Israel, South America, and the United States), Ms. Epstein succeeded in cobbling together one of the most comprehensive Czech geneological histories on the public record.

The work is not only emotionally remunerative for Ms. Epstein, to the extent that those missing links in her family chain were finally sewn together, but it's additionally a fine account of several strong women, renowned in their various fields of endeavour, who persevered during the best of times and the absolute horrorific worst of the 20th century.

Starting with Helen's great-grandmother Therese Sachsel, nee Frucht (Furcht), who lived during the reign of Franz-Josef in the last of the Habsburg-ian thrones, passing through her grandmother Pepi's life story during the turbulent First World War and the First Czechoslovak Republic, and finally overlapping the history of her own mother Frances Epstein, Helen pored over hundreds (if not thousands) of archival sources in constructing this cogent tale.

Collectively, these three noble upstanding women belonging to the author's colourful past outlived the worst of the 20th century's ravages, passing fads, and tragic downfalls.

We swoon with Therese Sachsel during the euphoria of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk's (TGM) storied first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938), when all seemed possible for the Central European remant of the former Austria-Hungarian powerhouses of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Slovakia. Our hopes and dreams are temporarily crushed alongside her grandmother Pepi Rabinek as we witness the invasion and subsequent occupation of Prague by Nazi hordes, who sweep unchallenged through the former Czechoslovakia's borders after the West's perfidy of Munich. We agonize alongside Pepi's daughter, Frances Solar/Rabinek/Epstein, the paragon of the family and Helen's stalwart mother, as she is dispatched to the Teresienstadt (in modern-day Terezin, Czech Republic) concentration camp, or in the colloquial Czech, the "koncentrak." We also rejoice when Frances is extricated from the hellhole of Auschwitz, and tranported the West in wartime Germany as part of a labour brigade, towards the oncoming Allies from the West, liberated in Bergen-Belsen by British forces at the end of WWII. Finally, we are shocked to discover the insensitivity, sheer apathy, and in many instances -- outright hostility -- that Praguers demonstrated towards the surviving returnees from the Nazi camps, to which Frances and her future husband, famous former Czechoslovak Olympian swimmer, Kurt Epstein, counted themselves.

Helen Epstein's lines draw us inexorably into this story, and once you start you'll have a difficult time finding excuses to stop.

What staggered me as I made my way through this read was Ms. Epstein's formidable discipline. The sheer single-mindedness with which she approached the colossal task of the near-vertical climb to reach the bottom of her family's history. I read with awe how solace was found towards the end.

WHERE SHE CAME FROM will stand as one of the foremost examples of the self-researched memoir. If you need any reason at all to read this book, then let it be thanks to the iron-willed determination which the answers gracing its pages were unearthed by Ms. Epstein.

A book like this needs to be savoured for its significance, appreciated for its illumination, and respected for its purity. There isn't a single letter which graces these pages that wasn't typed, written, or transcribed in the absence of a labour which can only be termed love.

I sit back and wish we all had the staying power of Ms. Epstein. The book is laudatory in the extreme.

As if Ms. Epstein's family history were not enough, there are other benefits to this book too. For those with a keen interest in the past two centuries of life in Prague and the experiences of Bohemia's and Moravia's Jews and its Czech peasantry, WHERE SHE CAME FROM is chock-a-block with painstaking factoids and historical tidbits that'll nudge you gently towards further reading. It will also supply its readers with a glimpse towards the increasingly-distant Czechoslovak past, which, with the passing of the years and the keener integration of this country with the rest of the EU, slips further and further away from the grip of Czech youth.

This book is more than just a reminder, it's a testament to a time which no longer exists. In that respect, it is now part of the permanent historical record.

WHERE SHE CAME FROM is written in a language at once accessible and magnetic. For all ages, for all backgrounds. I can't do anything less than award this superb work of history my highest rating of 5-stars.

I know you will too.

-- ADM in Prague

Although this book has a slow start with a lot of historical information, once you get to the Holocaust section, you will not be able to put this book down. I read it while in Vienna and after I visited Prague. I felt so connected to my surroundings and the author that I literally felt like I was in the book. Makes the enormity of the Holocaust personal and understandable. A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE!

Libby Koponen's novel Blow Out the Moon is based on her own experiences growing up. She includes photographs and drawings throughout the book.

At dinner one evening, Libby's father informs her and her siblings that they would be traveling by ship to live in England for six months. Her father would travel ahead and meet them when the ship docked.

Libby would be leaving her home, her school and her best friend Henry, but it was a short-term adventure. That's what she thought. The six months turned into eighteen months and Libby wasn't happy about the extension.

Everything in England was different. She wasn't happy until she left for boarding school. There she meets new and interesting people, learns how to do things the way the English do them and even learns to ride a horse. But she refuses to sing "God Save the Queen."

During Libby's adventure she leaves childhood and becomes a young lady. And just before she leaves England, she decides it wouldn't hurt to sing "God Save the Queen," just one time.

Koponen's book is interesting but it's not particularly exciting. It reminds me of a story one would write for a family member, not the world.

Armchair Interviews says: If you are interested in learning about the way other people live, you might be interested in this story. If you're looking for an exciting novel with a plot, you might not choose this book.

I love this book. It reminds me of being a kid again. I forgot what it was like until I read this book. I can't wait for Ms. Koponen to write another book. I'm going to gobble it up!!!!

"Libby's joyous times at Sibton Park make you laugh out loud."
--A 6th grader writing in Just Books.

"Koponen's tightly written prose is laced with humor." --Seattle Times

Yes, I'm the author -- but this is what OTHER people said. I get emails from kids all the time saying they loved the book; maybe you will too.

This is the story of Libby, a young American girl who lives in England for a year and a half. She is naturally independent and spunky, yet learns that being polite means caring about others' feelings. Overall, this book is wonderful; it's engaging in a way that too few books are. Schoolgirl Libby is a joy to watch as she travels to England and attends boarding school, encountering difficulties and misadventures along the way. Unfortunately, author Libby Koponen's writing is a tad overly simplified, and she fails to fully transform her voice into that of a true child. Koponen instead comes across as an adult trying to write like a child. Still, that's my sole complaint about this great book.

Libby Koponen's 1950s childhood was given an exciting spin when her family moved to England for a year and a half. Eight-year-old Libby, a headstrong child who loved to write, looked forward to the adventure though she knew she'd miss her friends in New York.

"Blow Out the Moon" is Libby's memoir, written for the 9-to-12 age group. She tells of the family's ocean voyage on the Liberte and their new life in a London flat. The gloomy London winter and her isolated, unhappy days at school tarnished the adventure. Fascinated by stories about boarding school, she persuaded her parents to send her away to school in the Kent countryside.

At Sibton Park Libby learned to ride horses and to behave with proper English manners. Today's more sophisticated children have grown up at Hogwarts with Harry Potter, as pointed out by Megan Tingley, editor in chief for young readers at Little, Brown. They may find 1950s England a bit tame; but as long as there are kids interested in looking over the horizon, charming books like this will be well-loved.

The book is illustrated with photos of Koponen and her family, and other related drawings and photos. They are somewhat poorly rendered in the book, but come to life on the author's web site, ifyoulovetoread dot com.

"Blow Out the Moon" was marketed in an unusual way: Koponen put the entire book on the internet and after collecting raves from kids, was accepted for publication by Little, Brown. The web site is a feast of photos, reviews, and extra chapters. Anyone interested in this aspect of the book business should check out the Boston Globe article under the REVIEWS section of Libby's web site.

I recommend the book as a nostalgic memoir of another time and place; there is much for children and adults to enjoy here.

I bought this book for my mother in law just before her trip to Italy and she loved it. She said she used it as a resource there and it was very interesting. I gave it 4 stars because it wasn't something I would buy for myself but my mother in law adored it to pieces! Great gift for any Italian or someone planning to visit Italy.

I'm glad this guide book exists. I have found it helpful and informative. I am currently living in Germany, and I find pilgrimages to be a far more meaningful way of exploring Western Europe than more traditional tours. With this in mind, I would like to respectfully suggest some revisions for future editions. First, I would really appreciate more and better maps. A simple blank map of each country with dots representing the pilgrimage locations would have been extremely helpful--- as would better directions and ideas of distances between major sites. More pictures would also be helpful. I plan on eventually visiting most of these sites, but the book on its own is not enough.

A very good book full of information. The only thing i didnt like is that they talk about certain images of The Blessed Virgin , but dont show her. Only the builing... I think more pictures of the statues at the shrine and less of the outside of them would be better. But i gave it five stars for the information. It great for that reason only.

I spent two semesters in Europe and this book was immensely helpful in deciding which pilgrimage sights to go to and then finding them! I love the little maps that are shown for the various shrines. At Franciscan University's campus in Austria, this book in particular is very popular, because it tells about the history of the place and how to find it. If you know a Catholic who is going to Europe and wants to visit shrines, then I highly recommend this book.

My brother and I both lived in Europe (in different places) and we both used this book extensively. The book unabled us to visit shrines that otherwise we would not have known existed. The book was easy to use and included the history of each shrine, directions on how to get there, where to stay and how to contact the shrine. There is also a picture of each shrine, with made it easy to choose which shrines we wanted to see. Our stay in Europe was greatly enriched by the use of this book.