Editorial Review

Daniel Mendelsohn's Read more

Reviews (8)

A Letter To My Children
I am about to be 60 and am reading a book that fills me with regret, THE LOST, by Daniel Mendelsohn, the story of how he tracked down the final days of his grandfather's brother and that man's four beautiful daughters. I have finished the first fifth of the book and am convinced that it is the greatest literary work that I have read since my youthful exposure to Proust and the early novels of Saul Bellow. Mendelsohn combines a personal memoir of growing up in a "modern" Jewish family in America with historical detective work based on old photographs, recovered letters, interviews, trips, internet sites devoted to the little towns of Eastern Europe and Jewish genealogy, and couches it in the most beautiful and evocative and thoughtful sentences, often based on the style of Proust (to whom he has given the opening epigraph of the book), organizing his discussion around an analysis of the first book of the Torah (even mentioning my Haftorah passage, Lech lecha) and Homer's Iliad. He brings to life long lost people, places, philosophical issues, with drama and mystery. He has assembled a complete genealogy of his family and has testified to the power of memory, language (Yiddish, Hebrew, German), family love, pride and humor. He is unfailingly generous in his descriptions and conclusions. The book is illustrated with photographs taken by his younger brother. The parallels with our own family history, our life in New York and in Florida, the impact of parents on the intellectual growth of their children, the impact of religious stories and scholarship, the diaspora to America and Israel, are incredibly resonant and moving, and all this in the first 70 pages. I am writing to urge each of you to read this great book and learn how you came to be, how your own grandfather and I came to be, the people that we are. I am sorry that I never accomplished a similar work on the history of our own family. I can only hope that one or all of you will take on this important task and assemble a similarly amazing chronicle before the people who can help you are gone, the Magdas and Pop Pops, the grandma Lillys and "Uncles" from all the remaining branches of our living candelabra. On page 41 he lists the major sources by which he accomplished the feat and by which you, like Proust, can recapture the past and recapture Time.I will never have the time to do it, my life wrapped up in other kinds of scholarly pursuits and my nature so bent to the seductions of poetry. But you have a chance to do it, to accomplish something of great value for yourselves and for others. In the meantime you will have the consolation of reading sentences sculpted by a master and it will fill your hearts with unimaginable pleasure.
Wide-Ranging Journey, Brilliant Synthesis
Mendelsohn has brought together the disparate elements of his five year worldwide search for the fate of six family members in the Holocaust in a masterful act of synthesis and distillation. This book combines a detective's doggedness, a Biblical scholar's critical exegesis and a Yiddishist's love of an Eastern European shtetl whose remaining Jewish inhabitants are scattered over the globe, a "remainder of those who fled". That Mendelsohn pulls this off, combines his disparate goals into a moment of Biblical clarity and discovery, leaves me frankly, amazed. Because close to the end of the book, I had doubted he would be able to learn anything that could be counted on, and he would be forced to resort to a book about his search rather than real conclusions. But at that penultimate moment, Daniel found an ancient survivor who brought him to the very spot, the terrible moment, he had been searching for. The author obviously has a wonderful rapport with elderly people which made his many interviews possible. He is meticulous and brings order to a mass of material. An insistent humanity pervades his writing. While not a Biblical scholar himself, he has perception, essential insight into human nature, so his Biblical research finds fertile ground. While his realization that many people will present many different versions of the same story is not exactly news, the manner of his telling of the story beguiles and ultimately, inspires.

I couldn't put it down
An amazing journey into the past of Daniel Mendelsohn's perished family members - the family of Shmiel Jager, Mr. Mendelsohn's great-uncle.Mr. Jager's siblings (one of whom is Daniel's grandfather), fled Poland before the Holocaust and had no clear idea of how Shmiel's family died, only that they did die. All that they have are tiny, often conflicting, pieces of the story about what happend to the Shmiel Jagers. Daniel begins a 5+ year journey to talk to the few Jewish survivors who lived in the same small Polish town in which the Jagers lived and died. The survivors were now living all over the world, and Daniel travels extensively to meet and interview them, to try to find out, not only how the Jagers died, but how they *lived* and who they were. As the years continue in the search, you feel Daniel's angst at having so little time to track down and speak to the few survivors from that town. They are all in their 80s and 90s and some of them would prefer to not think about that time at all. And yet, an amazing story emerges, a story of strength and sorrow. A story of wanting to know "what happened?". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Biography    3. Bolekhiv    4. General    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Holocaust    9. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    10. Jewish Holocaust Personal Narratives    11. Jews    12. Personal Memoirs    13. Ukraine    14. United States    15. History / General   

Editorial Review

In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Read more

Reviews (461)

A powerful read !! A personal saga of survival against all odds
Elie Wiesel's book, "Night" was one of the first books I had read on the Holocaust when I was in high school back in the mid 1970s. His painful and searing account of the unspeakable horror, known as the Holocaust is the single most defining event of the 20th century.
Never again
'Night' is the heart-wrenching true story of a young Jewish boy who is rounded up by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz. The young boy is none other than the author, Eliezer Wiesel. He recounts his horrific experiences as an inmate of the Nazi concentration camp system and his struggle for survival. Amid the death and desperation, young Elie struggles only to remain near his father, without which, he would have no will to live. 'Night' is also a story about lost faith, as the once devout, young Elie defiantly rebukes the God that did nothing to stop these indescribable horrors. I found myself thinking that I would have never submitted to this inhuman treatment. That I would have preferred to die on my feet than to live on my knees, and would have somehow fought back. But this is all too easy to say in hindsight, from the comfort of my warm, safe home. I put this book down with a heavy heart. I was angered and saddened, and I can honestly say that this is one of the most moving books that I have ever read.

storm of storms
Though the word 'Holocaust' has become the most common cipher for one of mankind's greatest crimes, many Jews and other rememberers of 1939-1945 object to the borrowing of this biblical term to name Hitler's mass murder.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography & Autobiography - Historical    4. Historical - Holocaust    5. Holocaust    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Personal narratives   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (252)

One of the best you will ever read
This is an easy to read book, which managed to make profound points about life, pain, and fate.I enjoyed reading the first part of the book and learning about what it was like to be in such a hellish place (a concentration camp), and yet still being able to be positive about life.What more can I say than its an excellent book?

I learned: All the Auschwitz survivors, including the author, had something significant yet to do with their lives!
MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING
fascinating!
this is simply a must read for those interested in the human experience.Some of the positions concluded in this book may not be the only way to think on the issues involved, but still, this book is a great psychological workout with deep insights. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Austria    2. Biography    3. General    4. Holocaust    5. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    6. Personal narratives    7. Psychological aspects    8. Psychologists    9. Psychology    10. Psychology of Religion    11. Philosophy    12. Philosophy / General    13. Psychoanalysis & psychoanalytical theory   

Reviews (2)

for all fans of great non-fiction
I picked up this book because I have admired Jeffrey Goldberg's writing on a number of topics.This book is more a memoir than a political history (although I learned quite a bit of that in the course of reading this book -- the middle east is not a topic about which I know that much). If you are a fan of well-written non-fiction, then you will enjoy reading this book.Mr. Goldberg's writing is lively, largely cliche-free, often moving, and engrossing.As I write this, I realize that Prisoners is also a travel narrative of ancient and modern Israel...All in all, a lot of bang for one book.Highly recommended.

Highly Recommended
"Prisoners: A Jew and a Muslim Across the Middle East Divide" is a memoir as much as it is a commentary on the Jewish-Palestinian conflict in Israel. Goldberg, a long time journalist for the New Yorker and Middle East correspondent was also very much of his generation -- a Jewish-American growing up in New York City, who (having reading Leon Uris' Exodus) longed for strong Jewish heroes of the John Wayne sort. That longing took him to Israel where he served in the IDF as a guard at Ketziot, a bleak desert prison that houses thousands of Palestinians arrested during the first Intifada. His interviews and accounts of Jews and Palestinians ring true and I think that's partly due to his respect for journalism done well and because he is a Zionist with a hopeful heart who longs for peace. It's that hopeful heart of his that takes a beating, as did my own, as I read this book. He writes an entertaining and informative account and this is not a book that one will read and forget. Rather, it's one to be discussed and considered. If I could only recommend one book this year, I think it would have to be this one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Arab-Israeli conflict    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography And Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Contemporary Politics - Middle East    8. Ethnic Cultures - General    9. Jewish journalists    10. Middle East - Israel    11. Palestinian Arabs    12. Political    13. United Arab Emirates    14. United States    15. Current Events / International   

Editorial Review

In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Read more

Reviews (911)

Unforgettable Tale of Holocaust Horror
Beyond and essential read, Night speaks to the reader about fundamental questions at the heart of the human condition.A powerfully moving autobiography, the story of this teenager's journey through the most horrific death camps of Nazi Europe, strips away discussion of anti-semitism and hatred, to present the raw suffering of individual humans, stuck in situations beyond their control.From the establishment of a ghetto in Elie's home town of Sighet, the reader can only watch with growing horror as the young man and his family are swept up in the Holocaust.Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Gleiwitz: some of the most infamous places in modern human history, rise around Elie, as we watch him stripped of absolutely everything.The reader is swept along helplessly, as Hitler's "Final Solution" unfolds - death marches, starvation, selections, cattle-carts full of people, torture, floggings, mass-murder - and as Elie is gradually reduced to nothing more than a 'hungry stomach'.
must reading
this is a disturbing work in that it recounts a man's experience of the nazi death camps. Warning: this book will shake you up mentally, and emotionally.It is not for the faint of heart.Yet, it is a must read because of the exposure it gives to humanity at it's worst and humanity under it's worst.

Lost in Translation
The short novel Night has emotional power not only because of the dark subject matter, but because Elie Wiesel is a gifted writer who deftly reveals the spiritual and mental anguish of the main character.Generally considered autobiographical, the account follows a young man who feels he is losing not only God, but his humanity as the Nazi machine ravages Europe.The novel itself deserves 10 stars.
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Subjects:  1. 1928-    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Historical - Holocaust    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Personal narratives, Jewish    8. Wiesel, Elie,    9. World War, 1939-1945    10. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts    11. Europe    12. World history: Second World War   

Features

• Box set

Reviews (151)

vgmani
I dont know how to rate this!! The book... I am yet to read! But I received collectorS edition within a collector edition! The book is printed upside down while the cover page is printed straight!

The Life of Vladek
The combination of volume one and volume two of Maus instills emotion, unfelt by any Holocaust story.Spiegelman (hey that's me; so of coarse it's a must read) implements humor, details, and characters that allow for a stunning plot of the life of his father Vladek. The relationship between Mala and Vladek, is humorous and tragic at the same time. I don't want to reveal too much plot, but would like to end writing the animals characterizations of personalities is ingenious.

Excellent Book
I am ordinarily very uninterested in graphic novels. Just seems like a stupid format to me. BUT, this was a great book. It is just the right story and right presentation for someone like me to enjoy. I highly recommend it and will probably give other graphic novels a chance ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Children of Holocaust survivors    6. Comic books, strips, etc    7. General    8. Historical - General    9. Holocaust    10. Holocaust survivors    11. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    12. Poland    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Literary    15. Biography: general    16. Jewish studies    17. The Holocaust   

Editorial Review

A beloved classic since its initial publication in 1947, this vivid, insightful journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvelously detailed, engagingly personal entries chronicle 25 trying months of claustrophobic, quarrelsome intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist who has little tolerance for Anne's vivacity. The diary's universal appeal stems from its riveting blend of the grubby particulars of life during wartime (scant, bad food; shabby, outgrown clothes that can't be replaced; constant fear of discovery) and candid discussion of emotions familiar to every adolescent (everyone criticizes me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. Her death epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne through her diary, it is also a very individual loss. Read more

Reviews (560)

'Anne Frank, better than ever'
'The Diary Of A Young Girl: The Definitive edition' is more or less the un-cut version of the book that was originally published in the late 1940's. it contains approx. 30% more material, and in my opinion makes Anne more relatable than ever, particularly to adolescents.
Diary of Anne Frank
Anne Frank "The Diary of Anne Frank"
Unbelivable story
I have just finished the Diary Of a Young Girl and i have the strong feeling that i was moved back in time, as if it was 1944.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Historical - General    5. Historical - Holocaust    6. Holocaust    7. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    8. Jews    9. Women    10. World War, 1939-1945    11. History / Holocaust   

Reviews (1)

BOOK REVIEW:`Bad Faith' Reminds Us How Anti-Semitic Many French Were in 1930s, WW II; Catholic Hierarchy Force Behind Jew Hatr
By David M. Kinchen
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Subjects:  1. Antisemitism    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography And Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Europe - France    8. France    9. France - History    10. Historical - General    11. Historical - Holocaust    12. Holocaust    13. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    14. Public officers    15. Vichy    16. Biography & Autobiography / Historical   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Budapest    3. Eastern Europe - General    4. Exiles    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Hungary    9. Jews    10. Jews, Hungarian    11. Modern - 20th Century    12. United States    13. History / General   

Reviews (15)

Quite intriguing
This book is another in a recent spate of very well written books that explain (and translate into modern terms) key aspects of Spinoza.This book is unique in its seamless style of inserting these concepts as rewordings and quotes.The single most amazing aspect of this book is its ability to humanize and personalize what seem to be necessary aspects of Spinoza's lifestyle and personality.I liked this.

A wonderful book
A wonderful book indeed. Ms. Goldsteinreveals Spinoza's philosophy, but never all at once. No "sound bytes," no "catch phrases," but a gentle and progressive exegesis, slowly building to a denouement, one idea or part of an idea at a time. She claims to be very moved when her college students begin to 'see' Spinoza, begin to understand this remarkable man's philosophy and approach to life - and she wants us, her anonymous readers, to share in this excitment as well...and I, for one, got very excited (knowing very little of Spinoza beforehand, the author has stimulated me to want to go out and learn everything I canabout Spinoza.) It's a wonderfully personal book - I don't know Professor Goldstein, but I suspect she is the only person who could have written this particular book in this particular way. It is a wonderfully quirky book--and I mean that in a very positive way. Sometimes I had to go over a paragraph 5 or 10 times to "get it," and even then I'm sure Imissed a lot-- but, stimulated by Prof. Goldstein, I've bought a copy of Spinoza's Ethics , and hope to correct at least some of my deficits.
The iconoclast behind the icon
As with her biography of Kurt Godel, Rebecca Goldstein has a way of intuiting the flames that fired a crucible of genuis.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Heretics, Jewish    6. Jewish Sociology    7. Jewish Studies    8. Jewish philosophers    9. Netherlands    10. Philosophers    11. Biography & Autobiography / Philosophers    12. Biography: general   

Editorial Review

Some historical events simply beggar any attempt at description--the Holocaust is one of these. Therefore, as it recedes and the people able to bear witness die, it becomes more and more essential that novel, vigorous methods are used to describe the indescribable. Examined in these terms, Art Spiegelman's Read more

Reviews (129)

Why are so many amazed that its a "comic" book?
...I loved this graphic novel, and so many accolades have been heaped upon this book that I need'nt say more. However, in reviewing some of the readers responses, and colligiate papers regarding the works of Maus, many seemed surprised or shocked that such amazing storytelling could be attributed to the comic book form. Why? I have been a lover and reader of comics for many years and this so - called "low" art form has produced some of the most memorable, touching, exciting, and thought-provoking material I have ever read. Granted, a large percentage of "comic" books cater to the stylized "men-in-tights" brigade, however even this attitude has changed much within the industry and modern comics. Even the long-running "hero" titles touch upon modern issues with a compexity that some people might find surprising. It should also be noted however that largely indie, underground, and other "non-mainstream" works really drive the graphic novel and comic industry in terms of content. If you thought comics simply "silly childrens stories" or "lame escapism" you should read some of the highly recommended titles of the genre and see why "comics" are being used as source material for a lot of current and upcoming films.

An Incredible Historical Perspective
Making one man's story about his life during the Holocaust into a comic book isn't contrite or demeaning. It's brilliant.
Ja! Like lightning!
Despite all the press and hype regarding it, I had never heard of Maus until mid-last year when browsing through a book store. The image of Hitler as a cat with two mice seemingly losing all hope on the cover really struck me, and I then made a blind purchase. I didn't even flip through the pages to see the art style, or read the back of the book or inside flaps to get an idea of what it was about. All I knew was that Nazis = cats, and Jews = mice. Having loved my experience in various history classes, I figured I'd get something out of this comic. Then I read it, and didn't. It all seemed bland, some parts rushed, and I didn't like the art style too much. Then, almost a year later, I reread it, and I don't know what it is, but my view changed. I actually got the characters, loved the story of survival, and understood just how bad the times were from the narrator's point of view. I still hated the art style, but everything else was meaningful. While most stories of the Holocaust rub in your face how bad things were, giving you every tiny detail about the pain and suffering, Maus takes things in a different direction. Art Spiegelman, the semi-author and artist, interviews his own father, a Holocaust survivor, and tells his story in comic form. It's not "normal" though- his father, Vladek, is a cranky old man now, and Art even makes a comment that he's now the stereotypical Jew. Maus takes both the real story of the Holocaust as Vladek experienced it, as well as the in-between portions of getting together with his father and the difficulties the two experience together in trying to make things work out. It's these little things that make the story so much more real than just simply a survivor telling their story straight forward.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography And Autobiography    4. Children of Holocaust survivors    5. Comic books, strips, etc    6. Comics & Graphic Novels    7. Fine Arts    8. Historical - Holocaust    9. History: World    10. Holocaust    11. Holocaust survivors    12. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    13. Jewish - General    14. Literary    15. Literature: Classics    16. Military - World War II    17. Personal Memoirs    18. Poland    19. Spiegelman, Vladek    20. United States    21. Europe    22. Fiction / Graphic Novels    23. Graphic novels    24. Spiegelman, Art   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (58)

100% Recommended
It recounts the hellish 12 months that Primo Levi, an Italian jew, spent as Haftling 174517, at the notorious Deathcamp (during 1939 and 1944 2 million people were murdered there). He was captured by the Fascist Militia in December 1943 and wished to be charged based on his religious beliefs rather than his political ones in the view that he would be treated more leniently. After a period in a detention camp at Fossili, Modena, he along with the rest of the Jews are transferred to the concentration camps. The opening chapters describe the horrific conditions of the transfer and the hasty selection process used to determine who would go to the camp and who would go to the gas chambers at Birkenau; all the women, children and infirm were sent to cremation without question. In some ways he was fortunate to have avoided arrest until the latter stages of the war as the Germans decided that the prisoners in the lagers would be of more use to them alive than dead, at Auschwitz they were detailed to build a Buna - a synthetic rubber processing plant which never saw a day of production. Prior to this the prisoners were killed without recourse.
Primo Levi enthusiasts: This is a re-issue of 'If this is a man'
It's a great book. But if you've already got 'If this is a man', don't buy this.

Brutual & Clinical Look of Survival
I stopped reading books of the Holocaust several years ago simply because the stories that come out of the Holocaust are heart-wrenching, bitter, courgaeous, guilt-ridden .... all of the emotions and thoughts that we human have produced can be a lot to digest at one time.
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Subjects:  1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Historical - Holocaust    4. History: World    5. Holocaust    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Italy    8. Jewish Holocaust Personal Narratives    9. Levi, Primo    10. Levi, Primo - Prose & Criticism    11. Literary    12. Personal narratives    13. Personal narratives, Italian    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. European history: Second World War    16. History / Jewish    17. Poland    18. The Holocaust   

Reviews (25)

Prominent doesn't mean anything!
All those interviews proved is that the diversity among "prominent" Jews is the same as that among the general Jewish population. It may make observant Jews angry and non-observant Jews feel good but doesn't contribute to anyone else's well-being or beliefs in any shape or form.All one has to do is pick one interview and say that's why 1. Either I dont' still feel I'm a Jew or 2. I still feel I'm a Jew.

disappointing and uninspiring
What a disappointment. These people are prominent, but not for their connection to Judaism. Sarah Jessica Parker chooses to have a mezzuah because she thinks it's a cute good luck charm. Many of the people highlighted had no Jewish upbringing and know little about their religion.
Jewish in Detail, but Applicable to All
The surprising thing about this book is that the people being interviewed have achieved such prominence in other fields such as acting, reporting, designing, judging, financing.
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Subjects:  1. Attitudes    2. Biography    3. Ethnic Studies - General    4. Interviews    5. Jewish Sociology    6. Jewish Studies    7. Jews in public life    8. Popular Culture - General    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. United States    12. Social Science / Ethnic Studies   

Editorial Review

Binjamin Wilkomirski (the name the author believes to be his, though he will never know for sure) was held in a Nazi concentration camp in Poland as a young child. Read more

Reviews (51)

Talk about "false memories"...
After some investigative reporting by the media, it was discovered that this alleged "true story" of a Holocaust survivor was anything but. The facts? Binjamin Wilkomirski is actually Swiss-born Bruno Grosjean Doessekker, and his experience was about as real as that of the supposed "fellow survivor" who corroborated his story, Laura Grabowski.