Europe Books

One third of this book is standard heroic stuff. A non-Jew in a position of some authority takes steps to create a haven for Jews and -- in the midst of annihilation -- saves a lot of them. You have to find your way to this by navigating the first third of the book, which tells a different story: how to find someone using multiple information sources and documentation, both scattered and (some of it) sequestered. The last third of the book is given over to appendices and afterwords, original documents that only become compelling provided the heroism of the man has taken hold with the reader.

Karl Plagge was a courageous individual in a time and place when individual courage was in short supply. His example, of a person who saw terrible things happening and took the initiative to stop them from happening within his purview to the extent he could, gives a glimmer of hope in the midst of the overwhelming despair of the Holocaust. That he had been a National Socialist very early on in its history is his initial credential as an unlikely hero, but the unfurling of his identity reveals this to be ultimately of little consequence in defining him. Yet Plagge was circumspect to a fault. Were it not for the documentation of his de-Nazification trial, there would be very little to show him revealing himself. One hopes it was not an overwhelming sense of guilt over what he could not do that made the man seem to place so little importance on what he did do (which did and does matter).

Plagge's story does not have the razor's edge of Wallenberg's. Michael Good is not primarily a writer. But all in all this is a compelling new chapter in the story of the Holocaust. Vilna was of as much consequence as Warsaw for the Jews, and its story is not as well known today. And written from the viewpoint of one who only lives thanks to Karl Plagge, this is a book worth reading.

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, located in Jerusalem is the largest holocause museum in the world. As you would expect it describes the terrible inhumanity the Germans imposed upon the jews and leaves you with a feeling of hoplessness. But in the museum there is one shining glory, the wall whereupon is inscribed the names of those considered to be 'Righteous among the Nations.' This term is used to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust in order to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis. There are people of all nationalities listed on the wall. Among the names are some 380 germans. Among these is the name Karl Plagge.

A low level officer in the Wehrmacht he commanded a military vehicle repair unit in Vilna, now Vilnius, Lithuania and he saved the lives of at least 250 jews, including the author's mother.

This is the story of Major Plagge, who as usual for heros would admit to no special courage.

This is a remarkable book both for its deeply moving story and for its underlying message of how a day-to-day battle of moral choices can be waged with the strength of conviction. It begins with an existential question most people never have to ask and ends with the satisfying feeling of a debt repaid as completely as life can allow. I recommend this book to anyone.

a superb and engrossing investigation of a nazi who tried to protect jewish people from certain death by setting up a factory not unlike oscar schindler. the son of a survivor who always told the story of the mysterious major plagge who saved many tried to find this man and his motives. spellbinding and heartening unlike so many other holocaust stories.

There is so much evil when Governments attack their own people as has happened throughout history. The Nazi Government in Germany was especially evil as it attacked many millions of its own people and neighboring peoples. The Nazi Government which was, as is always the case in evil governments, run by a relatively few number of people with awesome power, was on a murderous rampage in Europe. A very few courageous people stood up in opposition. One of these people is Major Plagge. It is thrilling to read of his courage, bravery and success. Everyone should read this book. Hopefully, then more persons could stand up against evil governments before its too late. Why is it that of all the species on the Earth that Man is the most evil? It is because of the accumulation of power in the hands of a few people. That is always a recipe for disaster.

What can I say besides this is a great book. It really helps understand Ringeck's work. Get this book if you are interested in German Longsword fighting. Though if you are starting off I would recommend the excellent book Fighting with the German Longsword, also written by Tobler.

This book also works well with Sigmund Ringeck's Knightly Art of The Longsword by Lindholm and Svard. Same material but some different interpretations.

If you are interested in this book go to the publisher's website. It's in stock there at the regular price, not this inflated used market price at Amazon.

This book is essential for anyone interested in doing medieval swordsmanship. Tobler has done all the hard work for you, he has interpreted the moves perfectly. There is very little guesswork left up to you, each move has many pictures showing every subtle change in position. Easy to follow and the pictures are very clear. A great book, none better.

`Western martial arts are every bit as sophisticated as their Asian counterparts. The German martial systems incorporate both armed and unarmed combat, with and without armor, on foot and on horseback, using daggers, long and short swords, bucklers, shields, falchions, and spears and poleaxes.'

In Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship, Christian Henry Tobler has done an outstanding job of introducing the reader to the skills and methods of the Germanic man-at-arms.

The book is broken down into five major sections:
>> Longsword Techniques
>> Sword & Buckler
>> Wrestling Techniques
>> Armored Combat
>> Mounted Combat

Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship is an interpretation of the teachings of Master Johannes Liechtenauer and of the later work in the 15th Century of Sigmund Ringeck, a descendant of the Liechtenauer school and master-at-arms to Albrecht, Count Palatine of the Rhine and Duke of Bavaria.

While there were, of course, no photographs in the 15th Century ~ Christian Henry Tobler has filled Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship with hundreds of photographs demonstrating the techniques of the masters. He has made an accurate interpretation of the techniques described in the writings of the masters and displays that described in photographs.

Each photograph is clear and in sequence allows the reader to learn the techniques of the masters. These techniques are highly effective and the more one practices, the greater insight one gains into the secrets of the masters of arms of the 15th Century.

The book concludes with a glossary of terms well-worth learning to improve understanding of this text and others related to it.

I found Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship to be an absolutely indispensable reference for the student of Medieval Swordsmanship and Western Martial Arts.

This book is very clear, well written, and wonderfully photographed.

It provides an excellent view of 15th century european martial arts as being every bit as advanced as those of the orient.

The instructions are clear, and the methods practical.
If you fence, practice kendo, or any other sword art, and are interested in learning how fights were really fought (as opposed to how Hollywood wants us to think they were) I fully recommend this book.

I first bought Mark Rector's _Medieval Combat_, but I didn't feel I truly grok'd many of the illustrations in that book until after I read this book.

For the most part I think that Mr. Tobler's interpretations of Ringeck's verse are dead on target. But in many cases, it seemed pretty nebulous what Ringeck meant - not that surprising considering we are trying to take a very abstract description of a full-sensory 4d event - verbal, and put back all those lost details.

In those cases were I couldn't figure out for myself what Ringeck meant, Mr. Tobler's work seemed at least internally consistant, and well thought out.

Again, excellant.

First, the author was in my dad's squadron when he was killed in action. But his thoughts about the war while he was a bomber pilot sounded a lot like some of the times that are being saidnow about the current conflicts around the world.

Bert's narrative of the different missions he flew showed the fear or devil may care attitude of other people who also flew bombers during WWII.

Overall.. after 64 years the insite is remarkable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I don't understand how every other reviewer could give this book FIVE stars. It wasn't THAT good. I kept waiting for Elaine to become the Lady of Shalott, but the story never got that far, so I was disappointed. Back to Tennyson.

Usually I do find stories written in verse too gimicky, but in this case the verse adds clarity to the voice of Elaine and the beauty in the language is a joy to read.

This tale, written entirely in verse, is about Elaine of Ascolat, "The Lady of Shallot". After her mother's death, she and her brothers go to live with her father. She grew up the only girl in a sea of men, and so she forgets the proper way to act, and instead runs wild with the other boys. She makes good friends with some of them, and she even falls in love with the handsome Lancelot. But it isn't too long before there is a war with the Saxons, and somehow Elaine finds herself in a mess she never could have imagined.


I finished this book very quickly, partly because it was in verse and partly because I was hooked. Elaine is a likeable and believeable character, and the book had a perfect mixture of romance, friendship, and action. As far as the writing goes, it was absolutely breathtaking. This is definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone looking for something thrilling and engaging.

This book is an amazing book. When I first received it I was a little discouraged about the fact that the book was written in free verse poetry but if you want to you can just read it like it was a normal book. This story is full of romance and promises, adventures and tragedies. This is probably the best book I have read in a few months. This is a great book if you are studying free verse poetry but I would personally not recommend this book if you are looking for something with a lot of foreshadowing, etc... If you are looking for symbolism you will hit the jackpot but you have to look deeply because it might not be apparent to the human eye. I personally think that no matter who you are and what kind of books you read you will enjoy this book because it has a little bit of everything.

A lovely book and one of my favorites! This book is based on Camelot and has a great overview of the same characters. Although it has a more modern take on it (has understandable Language.) The only problem I had with the book was that it was printed weird. Because it was supposably like a song, I was unable to read it correctly and had to go back and reread paragraphs because I wasn't taking in the info. Overall I think it's a romance tail with a lovely twist. Has a fairy tail ending, but isn't that what we all want?!

This is a great book. The beginning starts rather sweetly and relies perhaps a bit too much on a Kafkaesque-Proustian pastiche, but then the whole thing comes alive with the Father, the birds, and his theories regarding the Second Genesis. When the father assumes the podium-the book ceases to re/present and enters into Being. His monologues are fantastic! It is a pity they are so short. Schulz was a man of rare genius. His dual pursuit of writing and the visual arts make him an even more fascinating figure. I am eager to get his book of drawings.

This book reveals a great talent that was taken from us. The richness of the sentences, their imagery and use of language reveal a great depth of talent. Who knows what Mozart might have done if he'd lived another 36 years? A slim volume worth every penny.

Awe and perhaps a bit of terror are the appropriate responses to this work. Schulz wrote like a man possessed by the spirit of creation - his sentences are alive, they breathe and hiss with color and form as a revelation of the world is made. His control of imagery incarnate in language slides and shifts from the most gracious to the most grotesque. Beyond it all is a vision of the cogs and gears upon which the cosmos turns, a radiant pattern from the Baroque era. Schulz dropped down to the mythopoeic essence at the core of time and crafted stories that told more of his childhood than any more literal record could've.

Ten stars, and sadness for the premature passing of one of the greats.

I first heard about this book through the pages of the 5-star novel "The History of Love." What is most unusual about it is the author's lack of intention to actually publish his writing. This book is a manifestation of personal letters he had addressed to a geographically distant friend. It is by no means an easy read. The language is powerful and supremely complex and requires absolute focus and sometimes the need to reread a paragraph a few times to truly appreciate the intense magnitude of brain power that this author possesses. This is a book of highly exaggerated proportions. Schulz takes "magical realism" to another level.

Convoluted ideas that twist into abstract thoughts walk through dark alleyways and emerge triumphant. This is how I would describe Schulz's writing. This is not the sort of book you can breeze through but rather, like a dense and flavorful truffle. You will want to savor every word, let it sink in and roll it around in your grey matter before you can appreciate its true meaning and beauty. There is real depth and symbolism in Schulz's writing. That said, it is certainly not for everyone. If you're looking for a lighthearted bedtime read, skip this book. On the other hand, if you're looking for mental stimulation and a book that truly promises an escape from reality, you won't be disappointed by this street of crocodiles.

I am not sure I got this book in a real way. I had heard of and read of Bruno Schultz as a writer of the Shoah(The Holocaust) but the events of the Shoah are not a direct part of this story. The Shoah connection is given in the fact that Schultz was murdered by the Nazis.
The book itself I found disconcerting, bizaare, and difficult. It is filled with descriptions , word- pictures which seem at the one hand beautiful, and on the other somewhat unreal. I suppose what bothered me above all is the narrator's tone and relation to the events which are happening.
As the major action of the work relates to the physical and mental deterioration of the narrator's father I was taken aback by the lack of human sympathy displayed . In fact the whole disconnectedness of the human beings in the book to each other is another thing which makes the work so troublesome.
There is a world in this book, a mind in this book which is not like anything I myself have experienced even in reading.
But however beautiful some of the images given by this mind it seemed to me so fundamentally alien that I could not really grasp it.

I'm doing research on the hope of writing a romance novel based on a story my ex-husband told me about how his grandfather came to America. I found this book fascinating. It gave me a real feel for the time and the place. And unlike many history books, it wasn't boring.

Fred Morton certainly lived up to his reputation in this novel about the waning days of the "Imperial City of Vienna" and all the different personages inhabiting the Empire [Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky] during these turbulent pre WWI years. Excellent for history buffs such as myself or anyone else for that matter who enjoys a good read about the declining days of Empire and the effect of the Great War on European Aristocracy. Also interesting to note that Franz Ferdinand's three surviving children [daughter and two sons] were taken in by a friend after their parents murder by a Serbian Terrorist [not family as they were morgantic children due to their mother's status] and all eventually found themselves sent to a concentration camp [Therienstadt] when Austria was gobbled up by Germany during the Nazi's rise to power..as they did not possess "Imperial Status" Dont hear too much about this in any books. Eventually they were liberated by the Allies and their property restored to them. Sophie outlived both her younger brothers living to the ripe old age of 91. Her desendents live today in Konopiste; the Palace of Arch Duke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek.

There is an historical theory, or perhaps it is no more than a bon mot, that empires at the end of their power and political influence spend their last energies on a showy efflorescence, like a century plant. The prime examples would be 18th century Venice and early 20th century Vienna.

In "Thunder at Twilight," Frederic Morton presents a gossipy and apparently frothy portrait of such a bloom, told as a tragic love story. Like a good Mozart opera, there is a subsidiary, comic love story as well.

The tragic lovers are Franz Ferdinand, crown price of Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sophie Chotek. Because Sophie was not royal, merely a countess, the archduke could not marry her as consort but only as a morganatic wife, and their children would not be in line for succession to the throne,

The comic lovers are Emperor Franz Joseph and the Widow Schratt, who also could not marry but who were so proper that they did not even make out.

The villain is Montenuevo, first court chamberlain, epitomizing the sclerotic empire that after rolling along for 800 years had almost seized its gears.

There is a huge supporting cast: Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin; Freud and Jung; the mad general Conrad von Hotzendorf and the crazed Serb Apis, etc. etc.

With an eye on the weather and the changes of seasons and in a flurry of adjectives, Morton leads them all toward a doom. This is one of the few reviews of the period that treats Franz Ferdinand as anything more than a stage prop.

In fact, in Morton's interpretation, the archduke is practically the only sensible man in the empire, full of fierce words masking a desperate attempt to keep Austria out of war with Russia. Sophie plays the calming influence who steadies her hotheaded lover.

Morton rightly calls Franz Ferdinand's policy appeasement of Serbia. It could never have worked. As we know from a further century of bitter experience, the South Slavs can neither govern themselves nor be governed

Conrad, though incompetent, was right. Serbia needed to be crushed. The problem was, Austria could not do it unless Russia stood aside; and Russia, another dying empire, was as full of aristocratic nitwits as Vienna, and had its own ungovernable Slavs (and Germans, like Lenin).

As hardcore history, "Thunder at Twilight" is too light, too consciously melodramatic. But it is great fun to read and seems to get the big picture more exactly right than more ponderous tomes.

A college professor recommended this to me so I read it in about a day. It is very interesting how Morton weaves history into some sort of a novel that's very easy to read. Inspired by the death of his uncle in World War I, Morton writes about the history and the climax leading up to the very moment when the Crown Prince Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by a Serbian terrorist youth.

Morton explains the nasty relationship with the Hapsburg Empire (that includes Austria) and the lower Slavic nations and the growing animosity between them. This is a great book for history buffs. My only complaints are that there aren't any citations in the book and that the friendship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud don't seem to have anything to do with the story itself.

This is a favorite of mine, all the info about the Fin du siecle, Rudolph, and why we went into World War 1, and why some young people don't make it somehow!

Amazing and amazingly entertaining book, very very higly recommended. I dont have anything to add to the info of the book itself, go for the editorial reviews.

I am so glad Ed Black wrote this book.
Every since Schindler's List I have wondered about those Jews and Zionist who collaborated with the Nazis? Of course Jewish businessmen were/are just as sleazy and opportunist as gentile businessmen, so it should be no surprise that this took place.
Of course all criticism of Jews and Israel is anti-semetic. As we all know, Jews are above criticism in America.
Good work Mr Black.

Glen Yeadon, author of Nazi Hydra in America, had this to say about The Transfer Agreement:

I found it very boring--it was steeped with internal Jewish politics and very little about the actual negotiations with the Nazis or the actual deal and its results. It is geared to Jewish historians and only vaguely to the war and the Nazis... I liked IBM and the War against the Weak - both were good and I bought this one on the strength of the other two. It tried to remain neutral rather than to place the blame on the Zionists. For example, there was no mention of the Zionist who helped load the trains in Hungary to Auschwitz, who was hanged in Israel in the 50s. That type of material was neatly sanitized by omission.

This was an area of World History that I had no clue about prior to reading this book. This is indeed a tragic story of the plight of Jews in Europe during Hitler's regime. This book was so suspenseful I simply could not put it down. Black does an excellent job of engaging the reader and does not reveal the details of unfolding events until the last moment. Simply WOW!

As person who is not Jewish I think it is important for everybody to learn the lessons of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. However, equally important is that there were greedy and ideology zealots that contributed to the growth of the Third Reich via the Transfer Agreement, i.e., Sam Cohen and even Hoffien and Landauer. The Transfer Agreement was just that a business arrangement to transfer German Jews to Palestine in return German exports would be bought through Zionist entities to ensure the economic growth and wealth of Palestine. Moreover, what was incredibly stunning was the ability of the 18th Zionist Congress to go against the international boycott movement by suppressing the Revisionists- strong arming them into abandoning their ideology.

This makes me wonder what would have happened if the boycott prevailed and the Third Reich "cracked"? Would there still be a Germany today? Would we even have had the Holocaust? I know it may sound harsh and I am sure I will be labeled an anti-Semite because of this, but the reality is according to Black, the Zionists contributed significantly to the rise of the economic and military might of the Third Reich.

This book is simply a phenomenon in and of itself. It completely forces one to reshape how they view events during that time period. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn about a different dimension of relationships between the Third Reich, German Jews, and Zionists. This will definitely throw you off and have you thinking for days. Definitely one of my top 10 books of all time.

I cannot praise the author, his research, his explanations and his writing enough for this singular tome. Like other reviewers have said, the reader goes into this book, whether Jewish or not, with their mouth open at the incredibility of this occurence. It's easy enough in hindsight to make judgement calls about what the the leaders of the Jewish community world-wide should have done about Hitler's rise to power. However, given the economic situation of the time and the Reich's strategems to place all blame for Germany's economic hardships on the Jews throughout Europe, it's hard to determine that even had the massive boycotts been organized and on schedule, would they have work? And even more important, if Hitler was ousted due to the economic stranglehold on Germany,who or what would have taken his place? And would that have been any less devastating for the Jews in Europe.

There are few obvious heros and anti-heros in this book, except for the Nazis as being the ultimate in villains. One man paid dearly for his attempts to save European Jewry...with his life. It was not conclusive as to whome the assassins were and who put out the price on his head. It's all too easy to blame the reactionary groups, but there are obvious questions about whether his death was one of convenience so that blame could be placed by the leading group of Mapai at the door of the reactionary Jewish groups.

Sam Cohen was a businessman through and through. His reasoning to press The Transfer agreement was purely motivated by money, and not the need to either save European Jewry or to establish Israel as a separate state. It is this 'selling' of the agreement by so many that is so mind-boggling. So many were willing to take the wealth of German Jewry (and later the funds that were supposed to be used to save the lives of Jews who had no homes or businesses to return to) and use it to set up a home in Palestine...it's beyond my ability to pass judgement on these men as to their motivation, yet I am not certain I could possibly decide to shake the hands of these men. The fact that there was a need to set up a Jewish state, and that there was all this money to fund its establishment is beside the fact. At no other time, was any other method even considered to rescue the millions of Jews trapped, even the children...this is so reprehensible as to curdle anyone's blood.

And though this happened, our countries, including the U.S. and Britain were equally at fault for closing immigration quotas, even though they knew what was going on in Germany. It was easier to merely close their eyes and ignore The Holocaust, until it became obvious that no one was safe from Hilter and his cronies.

This story is just so incredible that I wish there was some way to make it into a movie that does the story justice. I don't suppose that is a possibility. But it is a tremendous story that needs to be included in European history, as it's impact was great. Edwin Black did a fantastic job. (...)

Researchers have recently unearthed `directives' sent from Heinrich Himmler to Dachau, and Mauthausen concentration camps to the effect that all inmates were to be bathed in showers providing insecticides, their heads cleared of hair, their heavy garments that bore Wool Collars were to be burned outright. The reason for such directives was to prevent lice, and leprosy from spreading among all other inmate prisoners.

Gypsies, Polish, Slavs, Soviets (Christians and Jews) who had been incarcerated during the war and routed into the five main Concentration Camps, {which had been established throughout the years 1933 to 1939}, were in their majority suffering lice parasite, notably on youngsters. Himmler ruled "they should be showered in insecticides twice per week in order to remove the nits attached to their hair - difficult to remove without specialized products."

Many inmates were homosexuals' prisoners of war, suffering from venereal diseases - transmissible. This parasite was widely spreading at the time Germany was lacking enough doctors to take care of the prevention process or even to guard against casual means of transmission.

Most doctors were preoccupied with war related engagements; on their priority list was first and foremost to take care of injuries from battles, research, and the last was to worry about concentration camps per se, unless in absolute emergencies like `fear that certain virus might not be contained and would be causing widespread damage'.

In very few pages of this book did the author speak of Concentration Camps - dispersed on ten pages? Even there he did it casually in the context that ""workers were rushed to construct a mysterious political concentration camp at a pastoral village called Dachau...."" """Every train entering Denmark was crowded with German Jewish refugees..""" indicative that the `Transfer' from Germany to Palestine (in transit through neutral Europe - France had fallen by then) gives credence to this book.

Perhaps written books on the `Pogrom' will soon be revisited and be traced back with more up to date material on these most fateful human tragedies of WWII.

This veteran reader has come across many books in his time - books that deal with important subjects; books about important people; books that have increased his knowledge and understanding of the world, a few that have been plain dreadful and a penance to plough through, but every so often books that are unadulterated entertainment and an absolute pleasure.

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow sits firmly in the final category. I did not want to put it down, and I was sorry when I turned the last page and realised there would be no more. End of story.

But what a story. A.J. (Sandy) Mackinnon, born in Australia, but with strong links to Britain, is teaching at a school in Shropshire, close to the Welsh border, when he decides that it is time to move on "not by the Inter-City 10.15 to Birmingham with a suitcase in each hand, not by a lift to the airport checking the whereabouts of my passport every three minutes....but like dear Doctor Doolittle, by sailing away in a jolly little galleon and seeing what I bumped into on the way."

The "jolly little galleon" was in fact a Mirror dinghy called Jack de Crow after a pet jackdaw, long since departed, which had in turn taken its name from the school's headmaster. Initially planning to take Jack down various canals and minor rivers to Gloucester near the mouth of the River Severn, Mackinnon just decides to keep going, cutting back across Britain to the Thames, then across the English Channel to France, Germany and through the heart of Europe and eventually to the Black Sea - 4900 kilometres in a tiny vessel more suited to a sunny afternoon on Lake Burley Griffin.

And what an adventure it was. Hardly ever out of sight of land he nevertheless encounters a succession of obstacles including obstructive lock keepers, stifling bureaucracy, drunken revellers, a burgeoning Balkan war and Danube River pirates. Forced to strip off and swim out to a wayward Jack swept downstream by floodwater on the River Vyrnwy in Shropshire he inevitably encounters a party of female canoeists as he is rowing back to his camp site with nothing but a trusty pith helmet (an essential part of his equipment until it is stolen somewhere in Germany) to cover his modesty.

Mackinnon is without doubt an eccentric and while the British are known for their love of them, the Europeans also embrace him. He is fortified by a throng of friends and acquaintances along the way, but several times damage which could easily have ended his voyage is repaired, usually without cost, by kindly strangers bemused and intrigued by this intrepid adventurer. Many times, wet, miserable, and in Serbia penniless and starving, he admits he is on the point of quitting, yet the new day somehow recharges his enthusiasm often simply by finding a warm, dry Laundromat where he can wash his clothes and write letters.

"An astonishing question kept insisting: why wasn't everyone doing exactly as I was? For there was no doubt about it: this was the most perfect occupation known to humankind."

The story is aided by its author being not just an adventurer, but an artist, philosopher and keen observer of the world around him. Details of birds in flight, the plants and animals of the riverbank work their way into his narrative, often with appropriate extracts from the great nature poets, Masefield, Keats, Wordsworth and so on. Anyone with an education that predates the computer age will delight in the classical references and there are moments in the journey painted so vividly one is almost inside the writer's head, sharing his experience completely.

One of my favourite passages among many comes as he is struggling to take Jack through London on the Thames at night and (illegally) without lights. Desperately dodging party boats and giant barges which had no hope of seeing him in the darkness he still has time to observe the Houses of Parliament, towering above him.

"As I passed, one youngish-looking man came to the window and stood staring out beyond the glass into the darkness over the Thames. He rested his forehead for a moment against the cool glass. He looked tired and a little glum, I thought, as though he longed to be away from that lit room, its secretes and its linenfold panelling. Perhaps he longed to be in a small sailing dinghy off to foreign parts on an outgoing tide under the stars."

Finally, I will commend this book for its illustrations, drawn by the author, which add greatly to the gentle humour of the narrative. Sandy Mackinnon is now on the staff of Geelong Grammar at its Timbertop campus in Australia. His students are fortunate to have such a teacher.

I think a lot of us who sail in small boats have occasionally thought about getting in our boats and seeing just how far we could manage to sail. Sandy MacKinnon set out in a Mirror dinghy, thinking he just might be able to reach the channel.. and ended up in Eastern Europe!

Beside being a great adventurer, MacKinnon is a first-rate storyteller. He paints a vivid image of his adventures large and small, whether he's crossing the English Channel in his tiny open craft, or simply trying to navigate the shallow rivers that mad up a good part of his early journey. He has a knack for putting the reader into the boat with him, sharing his trials and triumphs alike.

If you own a small boat, have ever thought of owning a small boat, or if you're a fan of Swallows and Amazons, or even The Wind in the Willows, you'll love Sandy MacKinnon's real life adventure. As Toad of Toad Hall says, there is nothing quite as nice as simply messing about in boats- and few authors describe it better.

Sandy Mackinnon says it himself - 'I exaggerate, for effect'. I loved the description of the journey from small streams in the north to the tidal rivers of the south and the crossing over to France. It all rings true to my own much more limited experience of rivers and canals in small rowing boats and canoes. But this man is much more capable than you might think from a superficial reading of the book - I know this because I'm on my third reading and have no intention of leaving it there.

The only other book I've loved this much is Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers, in some ways the complete opposite of this book where the main character convincingly describes the skill and expertise of Davies, the owner of the small yacht Dulcibella. A J Mackinnon as a single-hander must write of his own journey himself, so to preserve modesty and to entertain the reader he presents himself as a bumbling amateur with little idea of how to row, sail or maintain his eleven foot boat, but he still gets to the Black Sea by way of rivers and canals that would challenge any experienced sailor. His self-deprecation mightn't fool me but I'm left feeling even more impressed by the journey he describes so well.

I'm not a sailor nor intend to be after reading this wonderful adventure book but, I love adventure stories especially true ones where someone goes off on their own and let's nature do what she will.

This book had me laughing out loud as I think our boy here bit off more then he could chew at the start . seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose : ) altho he did manage to become learned about the nautical jargon thru trial and error . buy it, borrow it ...have a laugh .

A. J. Mackinnon writes like an eccentric Englishman, just perfect for this type of travel. Just imagine going out one afternoon with almost no preparation and embarking on an epic journey, really this is the stuff most of us would like to do, but can't for all the obvious reasons and now here A. J. Mackinnon has gone and done it and written it all up for us. Heck, maybe it might motivate you enough to have a go at it one day. Certainly A. J. Mackinnon can write in a way that is easy to relate to, though you can't help but be in awe of his intellect when it comes to a command of the english language, not to mention history, culture and all things worldly wise that we all should know....

The book arrived well on time and in excellent condition. The price was the best I'd seen from any of the online retailers I viewed.

It is an amazing and helpful book. It really is a guide to using contemporary Russian. The best book I purchased in 2007. I use it often. It is one of the five important books for learning Russian. What do I list as the five book? Wade's A Comprehensive Russian Grammar, Wade's Using Russian Synonyms, Beyer's Pronounce it Perfectly in Russian, a dictionary and this book.

If you want to master Russian as a secound language, this book is a major help.

There's not a whole lot I can say about this book that hasn't already been said. I noticed, however, that most of the reviews were written before the second edition of this book was published. Rest assured that Mr. Offord has made a great book on Russian even greater.

Perhaps the most useful part of the new edition is the section on computer and Internet terminology in Russian, a lexicon that is conspicuously absent from most of my other Russian books. Thanks to the revision, this volume is now every bit the contemporary usage guide its subtitle indicates. And if you want an idea of just how authoritative the book is, the Schaum's Outline of Russian Grammar (which has earned five stars practically across the board) lists "Using Russian" as its source for the entire chapter on Russian prepositions. And the prepositions section of "Using Russian" is only a tiny fraction of its rich repository.

The only drawback to this book is that it is a bit expensive, especially for a paperback, but it will reward you with a constant return on your investment. No serious Russian student's reference library should be without it.

I've always had my command of the Russian language complimented by native speakers. Not only do they praise the refineness of my speech, but also the varying degree of registers and different applications of style of my spoken Russian. My written Russian has gotten no less compliments; it has always been compared to that of an educated Russian - well-refined, very correct and very upscale, with a nice touch of colloquialism to spice up the writing. When chatting with Russians of my age (21), I will often resort to colloquial speech. As a result, what people compliment the most about my Russian is not only my command of the language (which does get its fair share of compliments), but also its 'flexibility.'

However, this is not a review on my fluency in Russian, but what has become of my Russian after reading and studying this book.

Not only does it take your command from advanced to proficient, it also covers different aspects, styles and registers of the Russian language; something which is often ignored in other conventional Russian textbooks. I have books of the same series focusing on different languages (i.e. Using German), and none of them was as in-depth as the Using Russian textbook. It even covers aspects of the Russkiy Mat - or Russian swear words, that other, more "politically correct" textbooks are often inclined to ignore. Russian swear words are an essential part of Russian colloquial speech, whether we like to admit it or not. This book, unlike other Russian textbooks, acknowledges this issue and dedicates a small, but detailed, section about the Russian swear words. That's only a small part of it.

While it does explain the grammar at some points, this book is primarily focused, as the book title suggests, on the APPLICATION of the language, and different circumstances that require different registers. It also gives the varying dialects and different words used across different styles (from colloquial to elevated) in order for the learner to add more flexibility to his command of the language.

In sum, I cannot say anything but agree with what every other review has said about this book. It is simply awesome and truly helpful to those learning Russian.

However, I would disagree with those who say that Using Russian substitues Wade's "A Comprehensive Russian Grammar" because both books are important and both books are invaluable to the Russian language learner. The only difference is that both books have two DIFFERENT FOCUSES, where one is more concerned with the grammar and fundamentals of the language, and the other is more concerned with the actual application of the language. Both books, in essence, compliment each other.

Mr. Offord has done an amazing thing by developing this book. I'm not exaggerating when I say it has clarified the language and helped me speak it more than did living for months in Russia -- or maybe the combination of the two was the trick. I can't wait to see what he's added for the 2nd edition.

The book -- and the others in the series (German, French, etc) -- will appeal especially to those who enjoy learning language using a formal approach, organizing topics into e.g. registers, augmentative suffixes, homographs, modal particles, etc. Don't be afraid! It all adds wonderful clarity. His English equivalents of words and phrases with subtle meanings are very well done.

After having studied it, I still enjoy picking it up and looking through a random section. Don't hesitate to get it if you enjoy Russian and are past the basics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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