Book Description

"The Holocaust has hovered on the periphery of the American imagination for so many decades now, it’s hard to believe a book could come along at this point to burn a whole new perspective into our consciousness. But that’s just what Martin Goldsmith has done with this astonishing work. . . . Goldsmith [writes] with modesty, restraint, and skill . . . masterly."–SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"A fascinating insight into a virtually unknown chapter of nazi rule in Germany, made all the more engaging through a son’s discovery of his own remarkable parents."–TED KOPPEL, ABC News

"An immensely moving and powerful description of those evil times. I couldn’t put the book down."–JAMES GALWAY, Grammy Award—winning Flutist

"Martin Goldsmith has written a moving and personal account of a search for identity. His is a story that will touch all readers with its integrity. . . . This is a journey everyone should take."–LEONARD SLATKIN, Music Director, National Symphony Orchestra

"For years I’ve been familiar with Martin Goldsmith’s musical expertise. This book explains the source of his knowledge and his passion for the subject. In tracking the extraordinary story of his parents and the Jewish Kulturbund, Martin unfolds a little-known piece of Holocaust history, and finds depths in his own heart that warm the hearts of readers."–SUSAN STAMBERG, Special Correspondent, National Public Radio

"As much a tribute to the power of music as it is a Holocaust memoir, this book tells the deeply affecting story of a love that survived the terrors of WWII."–PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ... Read more

Reviews (38)

Used
This is a remarkable account of Martin Goldsmith's parents who survived the early years of the Nazi regine through music. I have, however, labeled this review as "used" because, as Goldsmith so wisely noted, the organization set up by the Nazis was a tool in their hands to placate the west into thinking that the Jews were NOT being mishandled. When the real schemes of Hitler and his henchmen became better known, the Jews were out of the picture. Fortunately for some, they (like Goldsmith's parents) were able to escape to America...but not all. Many in the jewish community could not see, or pehaps did not wish to see the horrors which were about to become realities. This account gives yet another view into the those days of the late 30s as Hitler was gaining more power at the expense of human life. What is disturbing is that so many in Germany were misled by the lies of this little man with the funny mustache. This could make a person wonder what lies are being told today, lies which are taking people down the wrong road. The book is a must read for anyone wishing to become more familiar with this awful time in human history. Goldsmith is to be commended for the effort. Lets hope that many of today's teens will be encouraged to read this account, an important work in the face of today's revisionists, those who would say the holocaust did not happen.

A musical gift in prose
Some of the best books I have ever read have been ones not of my own choosing. This is the case with "The Inextinguishable Symphony", a book given to me by a friend for a recent birthday. It became one of my most cherished gifts.

I am a music teacher and roughly the same age as the author, Martin Goldsmith. I must confess that I had never heard of the "Kulturbund" and certainly had not an inkling as to the effect it had on so many lives. This is one of those accounts that is not taught in school, and like "Schindler's List", presents a brand new aspect to life in Nazi Germany. Mr. Goldsmith weaves a marvelous chronicle of his parents' devotion to each other in the years with the Kubu, an organization that found them together and bound them together.

In historical terms, many of us believed for years that everything had to have been clear in Germany in the 1930s....if you were Jewish you had to leave. The author reminds us that many Jews who did leave early on also came back and subsequently met their deaths as the situation got worse. This book is a loving tribute not only to Mr. Goldsmith's parents but to all who tried to find some happiness in music and friendship at a most difficult time. It is a wonderful memorial to those who perished and a testament to those who survived.

A son's voyage of discovery of his parents' nightmarish past
What do we really know about our parents' life before we were born? That depends largely, I guess, on how much of an interest we show - and on how much they are willing to reveal. Because in the life of every person there are instances and times they rather wish to forget, and not revive time and again by discussion, even if only among their nearest and dearest.

Such, in the lives of author Martin Goldsmith's parents, were the years from 1933 through 1941; so much so, in fact, that Goldsmith likens that time to the massive ash tree in the house of Germanic warlord Hunding, the setting of the first scene of Richard Wagner's opera "Die Walkuere:" Something looming large, yet never openly acknowledged. Because before George Gunther Goldsmith, furniture and home decorating salesman of Cleveland, Ohio, and his wife Rosemary, a violinist with the St. Louis Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, became American citizens in 1947, they had lived a whole other life - the hunted life of Jews in Adolf Hitler's Germany. And only years after his mother's death, on a trip to his father's home town of Oldenburg, did Goldsmith catch the first glimpses of what was hidden behind that massive ash tree, and George Goldsmith began to talk about the events which his, the Goldschmidt family had witnessed there; as well as the early life of Rosemarie nee Gumpert in Duesseldorf, the couple's first meeting in Frankfurt, and their later life in Berlin until their lucky escape to the United States. Beginning with this visit, Martin Goldsmith retraced his family's path to the early years of the 20th century, when his paternal grandfather Alex Goldschmidt took residence in Oldenburg, and his maternal grandfather Julian Gumpert settled in Duesseldorf.

How intensely personal this voyage into the past must have been becomes clear in the account of Goldsmith's visit to Oldenburg prison, as a participant in a march retracing the path taken by the Jews - among them the author's grandfather - driven through the streets of Oldenburg in 1938 by Nazi thugs, to later be shipped off (at least temporarily) to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. But although he writes about his very own family, and now in full knowledge of their fate, Goldsmith's narrative is in no way sentimental. With a journalist's detachment he talks about Guenther and Rosemarie, Alex, Julian and their wives and other children; turning a nonfiction account whose outcome is clear from the very start into a heartstopping tale few would be able to believe if presented with it under colors other than that of the plain historic truth.

Prominently featured in Goldsmith's account is the Jewish Culture Association, or Juedischer Kulturbund; as of 1933 the German Jews' only permitted artistic organization, in whose orchestra Guenther and Rosemarie had met and which had formed the center of their life until they finally left the country. One of the most controversial institutions of Nazi Germany, it reunited what was left of the country's Jewish musicians, artists, writers and composers - providing a modicum of shelter in an increasingly hostile environment, but also a convenient tool in the Nazi propaganda machine. Were the members of the Kulturbund instrumentalized to deceive public opinion, at home and abroad, about the true intentions of Hitler's government? By giving their Jewish audience a sense of comfort and "belonging," did they also prevent some of them from rescuing themselves when there still would have been time? The surviving members of the "Kubu" and their families, interviewed by Goldsmith, come down on both sides of the issue; and the fate of the survivors is probably as symptomatic as that of the many who ultimately did perish in Nazi concentration camps - chiefly among those the Kulturbund's charismatic founder Dr. Singer, who not only let himself deceive into returning to Germany after already having reached the safe shores of the U.S. but saw a mark of distinction even in his deportation to the "model" concentration camp of Theresienstadt.

Yet, for Guenther and Rosemarie the years with the Kulturbund were dominated, above all, by the musical companionship they experienced. What does seem to have haunted them most for the rest of their lives, however, was their very escape to America, while their remaining family members were stuck in Europe and, one way or another, died in Hitler's concentration camps - and the feeling that with a little effort they just *might* have saved at least some of them. The letters of Alex Goldschmidt and his younger son Helmut, written to Guenther from captivity in France after their own unsuccessful attempt to flee to Cuba, are among the most chilling testimonials contained in this book; and the decision to translate and include them conceivably cannot have been an easy one for Goldsmith. Indeed, it apparently was the knowledge of his family's fate that, all talent and love of music aside, eventually compelled George Goldsmith to forever retire the flute which, in his life as Guenther Goldschmidt, had been the only item of true importance besides his beloved wife Rosemarie; thus punishing himself in a way no outsider could have done. Yet, the couple's gift for music lives on in their son, who in his own way has brought many hours of joy to radio listeners all over the U.S.

Martin Goldsmith's "Inextinguishable Symphony" - named for Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Fourth Symphony, which sets music, as a parable for life itself, against war, terror and destruction - is as much a personal journey of discovery as a journalist's account of historic facts; seeking to understand rather than to judge. It deals with a time in which morality was thoroughly upset by a profoundly immoral regime, which cannot possibly have remained without effect on anybody who witnessed those events. In applying our own values to those facts, I think we would all do well in being careful to, likewise, make a thorough effort to understand before we judge. Goldsmith's insightful account is a great place to begin such a process.

A Very Moving Book
This story was impossible to put down and when you finish, it stays with you for a very long time. Its hard to believe that Gunther and Rosemary didn't make every effort to help their parents emigrate to U. S. What really bothers me most is, not being Jewish, what would I have done in Germany in the late thirties and early forties when I saw these atrocities happening?

Wow
I listened to Martin Goldsmith on "Performance Today" (and still listen to his successor, Fred Child) for many years. This man who for years described classical music on the radio -- composers and their life story, pieces and their histories, in accessible, engaging, and lightly humorous ways, and even sometimes tied it in to his love of baseball -- he also has an extraordinary family story. It's moving and well-written, and makes me think about the extraordinary stories that must dwell in the depths of my own geneological past. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

An unforgettable reading experience
Fr. Elias Chacour is a champion of the Arab-Israeli peace process. His book, Blood Brothers, challenges the reader to analyze his own feelings and assumptions about Palestinians, Jews, and Israel. The book also gives the reader a very personal look at the history and drama surrounding the Palestinian Christian people. Their story is one of great sorrow that is seldom seen or heard in newspapers and television. Any person interested in the Arab-Israeli peace process should read this book.

A Case Study in Hope
It seems that much has been written about the Middle East in terms of religion, culture, history, economics, geopolitical significance, etc. But it seems very little has been written about the region in terms of brotherhood. The notion almost rankles upon first utterance, yet Elias Chacour, a Christian Palestinian approaches the topic from this rather unique perspective. Having experienced the destruction of his home village of Biram by Israeli soldiers in 1951, one would expect him to have something to say. While portraying injustices honestly, he refuses to draw harsh generalizations. As Israeli soldiers or Zionist groups such as the Irgun destroy local villages, Chacour notes the sentiment of the native Jewish people in the area who were "shocked and disgusted" and who protested such activities via their religious leaders. Although the book is not enthralling in terms of literary quality, it is compelling in terms of ideas.

Showing promise as a young student, Chacour is given the rare privilege of attending seminary in Paris and becomes the first Palestinian Arab to earn a degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His educational exploits expose him not only to Jews with a genuine compassion for Palestinian suffering but to Christians with very little. Returning to Palestine, he accepts a position as a priest in the small, embittered Palestinian town of Ibillin. Ironically, it is through the malice of Ibillin's Christians that Chacour becomes intimately acquainted with his own propensity for violence. Having reached his limit of exposure to interfamilial strife in the town, Chacour emotes, "Silent, still, I lay there, aware for the first time that I was capable of vicious, killing hatred. Aware that all men everywhere - despite the thin, polite veneer of society - are capable of hideous violence against other men." At this point Chacour comes to more deeply understand the forgiveness offered by Jesus, who refused to hate while vicious hatred nailed him to a wooden cross. Chacour begins to understand that stopping the cycle of violence starts with an individual decision to retaliate, not with violence, but with forgiveness, with kindness, and an abiding commitment to emulate Jesus' act of self-sacrifice in the name of reconciliation.

Chacour notes that the land of Israel is not only promised to Abraham and his biological sons, but to those who had become Abraham's offspring by faith in Jesus, the promised savior of Jews and non-Jews alike. By faith or genealogy, both Jews and Christians trace their heritage to Abraham. "The Jews and the Palestinians are blood brothers," his father reminded him, "We must never forget that."

A personal interaction with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict
I would recommend this book to everybody. It gives us a fair, and much needed, insight into the Palestinian Christian perspective within the greater framework of the Middle East conflict. The personal testimony and example that Elias Chacour gives us is compelling and convicting. What if we all started to act with the faith, love and renconcilation Elias promotes in this inspiring account of his life.
This is a must for anyone wanting to learn about how a Christian (or anyone with a humanitarian worldview) should respond to conflict and crisis.

The Truth Finally Speaks
Abuna Elias is a humble, truthful and courageous man who didn't run away from his responsibilities under pressure nor did he disregard the truth of the Lord in any capacity. This book is a must read for anyone who wishes to seek an accurate treatment of the Palestinian people from 1948-........

Jesus is truth.
I want to add this to what I said in my first reveiw.
Chacour wrote another book, "We Belong to the Land." In it he tells us that Biram was destroyed by the IDF on September 16-17, 1953.
But in Blood Brothers he tells us that the Jews invited the people of Biram to return on Christmas day, 1952 and there is a big emotional build-up to a discription of the IDF destroying the village on Christmas morning. He claims that the IDF waited for the villagers to arrive before they blew up the village while they watched in horror. While telling us how forgiving he is, is he trying to make readers, especially Christians, hate Israel?
Even where his mother died is different in the two books. In Blood Brothers we are told that "Age had eventually forced Mother and Father to move from Gish to Haifa. "It grieved me that she had died so far from the home she longed for..." In "We Belong to the Land" she died in Jish and he comments, "Father could not remain in Jish alone. At the age of eighty-two he moved to Haifa..."
How can we believe anything this man tells us?
Jesus is truth. His followers love truth, too.
Christian publishing companies have a sacred duty to print only the truth. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A work of beauty
This is a work of beauty, both aesthetically and for the sheer love and insight found within its pages. In this book, some forty-five extremely diverse American Jewish fathers write essays on fatherhood and its implications. As the jacket states, "It honestly explores issues facing Jewish fathers in modern American society today: challenges of balancing career and family responsibilities, intermarriage, assimilation, education, single parenting, raising children with special needs, divorce, and religious observance." The photographs accompanying the essays are equally moving. When I first saw this book at Barnes and Noble, I knew immediately that this would be the gift to my dad for Father's Day, but I also bought a copy for myself, a decision quickly made after discovering that some of the fathers featured rank amongst my favorite thinkers and authors, including Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson (lecturer and periodic contributor to Beis Moshiach), Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (author of one of my favorite books, Judaism For Everyone), Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (author of Spiritual Intimacy), and David Frum (former speechwriter to President George W. Bush and author of The Right Man and An End to Evil). I wasn't disappointed. To conclude with a gem of advice from 90-year-old Rabbi Morris Goldfarb, featured on page 27, "Try not to take yourself so seriously, try not to do everything, delegate, and leave a little to G-d." ... Read more

Book Description

Patricia Volk’s delicious memoir lets us into her big, crazy, loving, cheerful, infuriating and wonderful family, where you’re never just hungry–your starving to death, and you’re never just full–you’re stuffed. Volk’s family fed New York City for one hundred years, from 1888 when her great-grandfather introduced pastrami to America until 1988, when her father closed his garment center restaurant. All along, food was pretty much at the center of their lives. But as seductively as Volk evokes the food, Stuffed is at heart a paean to her quirky, vibrant relatives: her grandmother with the “best legs in Atlantic City”; her grandfather, who invented the wrecking ball; her larger-than-life father, who sculpted snow thrones when other dads were struggling with snowmen. Writing with great freshness and humor, Patricia Volk will leave you hungering to sit down to dinner with her robust family–both for the spectacle and for the food. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Wit, wisdom, familial weirdness, and a great, great read.
The earlier reviewers have one thing about right--this book is a lot more than a semi-food-based memoir about growing up Jewish in Manhattan in the middle of the last century. It's really about nearly everybody's family: the terrific characters, the loonies, the distinguished, the pathetic--you name it, they're in the book. Volk's style is an amazing balancing act, dancing between opposites. Sometimes when you're expecting a laugh you get a tear, or vice versa, or both at once: her farewell to her dying beloved father is so absurd and so moving that you'll never forget it. (Or his ashes, which of course get caught in an ocean gust and blow all over his children.) For my part I was often laughing at the parade of eccentricities when I remembered again how every family I know is like that: outsized in a way, outlandish in a way. Among Volk's other virtues, I don't know another writer who has so subtly and ruthlessly and hysterically exposed the small casual meannesses we tend to visit on the people we love. And still the book is full of love, running over with it.

A wonderful book
As a deli owner's daughter with a big quirky family of my own I was predisposed to love this book before I even turned the first page. Patricia Volk shows us that life is really in the details as she paints vivid, strikingly honest, funny and always loving portraits of her immediate and extended family. She also captures and preserves for us a time and culture in New York City that is fading into memory. Her stories about her family's elders makes you want you want to reach back into the past and pull forward all the grandmothers and grandfathers, and aunts and uncles and mothers and fathers who've left us already, so that they can walk through our lives and down the streets of NYC
one more time. Her chapter about her father's illness and death will resonate deeply with anyone who has accompanied someone they loved through the process of dying. My mother always said "As long as you can laugh and cry at the same time you know you're OK". This book strikes that balance beautifully.

What a Waste of My Money!
This is the first time I have ever regretted spending money on a book. Someone in my book club chose this book so I tried to read it for the upcoming review. I can't imagine why anyone would enjoy this book except the author because it would be of interest to no one else except her! This is also the first time I ever reviewed a book online; but I am hoping that I might let people know that not everyone thought this book was wonderful!

Need a sorbet to cleanse my palate
If you are into self-indulgent narcissism, this is the book for you. I'm only half way through, and I already feel nauseous from being force-fed one family's over the top ego. There isn't a chapter where I didn't say to myself "yuck". I'm only finishing the book to try to better understand the person who recommended this book as a wonderful read.

Reality Novel of a classic American Immigrant Family
Patricia Volk's memoir, 'Stuffed' is much less a culinary memory than it is a recollection of what, to some readers, may seem like a simultaneously wise and dysfunctional Jewish-American family which happened to be instrumental in the shaping of the Jewish delicatessen in America.

When I picked this book out to read, with it's title and photograph of the giant Morgan's restaurant dining room on the back cover, I was expecting something like Ruth Reichl's two memoirs. This book is different in many regards, although it has its own charm making it equally worthy as a light read.

The first difference is that there is very little in the book about food itself. The blurb by Eli Zabar, who may have known the family business better than he knew the inside of the book, reinforces the impression that the book is about food. The book is simply about people whose business happened to be food. The fact that the author is a writer of fiction rather than a culinary journalist should have been the clue that gives away the game. The chapter titles, named after major foodstuffs (including bacon, of all things for a Jewish family) maintains the ambiguity long into the middle of the book. I kept looking for the recipes (not really).

The second difference is that the book is much less about the author (and her parents) than it is about the entire Volk / Morgan / Sussman / Lieban vereinshaft (extended family in Yiddish).

Three themes permeate the book. The first is the success at various endeavors, primarily the building demolition business and the restaurant business of various male family members. The second theme is the great beauty of the women in the family. One look at the photo of the author is enough to get the sense of the quality of the Volk / Lieban genes. The third theme is lack of logic in some of the family members' life choices.

If you love reading about people who simply had a very full life with the intensity one may find in fiction but with the added cachet that this was all real, this is a book for you.

By the way, there are two recipes on pages 80 and 81 for chocolate cake and icing. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Each of us can make a difference
This is such a powerful little book. I used it with my sixth grade class as part of a unit on Japanese internment camps with the books Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and Under the Blood Red Sun by Graham Salisbury. While these books are excellent at helping students to understand what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II, it wasn't until I read them Passage to Freedom that the students began to more fully understand that they could take a stand as individuals to stop prejudice. Each of us, if we are brave enough, has the power to make a difference. Chiune Sugihara was brave, and he was determined to do what he knew in his heart was right. Because of him, thousands of Jews escaped from certain death. This book is priceless.

A real hero
Ken Mochizuki's excellent telling of the events during the early days of WWII when Chiune Sugihara saved thousand of Jews by giving them visas. In a dark period of Japanese history, one man, a Japanese diplomat, listened to his conscience, discussed the consequences with his wife and children, and chose to do the right thing. After the Russians took over Lithuania, Sugihara was forced to close the Japanese Embassy, but he continued writing visas until the last possible moment. Dom Lee's muted and detailed illustrations superbly enhance the story.

This is a wonderful book.
It should be required reading for U.S. immigration and consular officials. Having lawful orders to obey (Sugihara's instructions from his government were lawful, and no different from instructions given to US officials) does not absolve one from responsibility for others. This is an important lesson for children and adults.

The illustrations are haunting.

It is a book that you and your children will not soon forget.

It's a great book
I'm a 6th grade student who likes to read. I thought the book was interesting. It had good illustrations. If you don't know what a visa is in this story it's like a passport. I don't want to spoil the story for you so I won't tell you anymore of the story.

A very important book for children and adults.
A wonderful book, with an important story. Mr. Sugihara was one of those Japanese who do not follow sheepishly every instruction given to him by his government, and thank God! Using his conscience and humanitarian spirit, he helped saved the lives of many Jews, and he did this by disobeying instructions of his own government, which at that time in history was allied with the Nazis. Not only does this story deserve to be told, it needs to be told to an international audience. Mr. Mochizuki has written one of the most important children's books of the 20th century! Bravo! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A charming family chronicle
Aciman's memoir of his multiethnic, multiglossic family in Alexandria starts out a bit confusingly: he purposefully (and perversely) hides just how certain characters are related to one another, and to himself, in the opening sections, which makes things a bit confusing. But once he enters as a character himself in the book, things straighten out and the reader can immerse himself or herself in the sights and sounds of mid-century Alexandria. The characters (mostly his family members and servants) are charmingly original, and really come to live. Oddly, though it takes his introduction into the narrative for the memoir to straighten itself out, Aciman's own character is kept occulted in this memoir, and most of what we see him do is misbehave. Aciman clearly and wisely learned from Proust (his admitted model) never to sentimentalize himself--a mistake other memoirists often commit.

speak, memory
A really absorbing memoir, reminiscent in some ways of Nabokov's "Speak, Memory". Neither sentimental nor self indulgent, clear-eyed, humorous, yet moving and truly interesting. Having lived in Egypt myself around the same time (albeit in Cairo, not Alexandria), I was touched by recognition of places and types: a world "gone with the wind". That is of course very personal, but I believe this book should appeal to any one with a little curiosity about other places, people, times.

out of egypt
Andre Aciman has written a brillant portrait of a doomed and now vanished world .This memoir is filled with melancholy, energy, feeling and true wit.His style is simple, silken and elegant. The truely amazing thing about the book and the reason I could not put it down were the characters.Rich, vivid ,full fleshed very much like Dickens.Very funny very moving . Buy this book now.

Rich, absorbing and deeply evocative
Andre Aciman will transport you through time and space to another world -- a richly remembered and captivating world filled with characters whose complexity and humanity charm and enthrall. Unlike many self-absorbed memoirs, the author is more observer than actor, and his descriptions of a vanished time and place and people will fill you with longing and melancholy. A book to be enjoyed and cherished.

Powerful and moving, beautiful craftsmanship, a delight
This memoir gathers momentum page by page, and by mid-book I realized that this was no ordinary book, and that as a memoir or even a novel, as sheer literature, it stands well above the crowd. Recommended for those who love the great literature of the past, especially Proust or Joyce. This is a modern book, of course, and yet it has more in common with those early 20th Century writers than with, say, Hemmingway or any of the other sparse writers of the latter part of the century. ... Read more

Book Description

A Life in Hiding

When the German army occupied Holland, Annie de Leeuw was eight years old. Because she was Jewish, the occupation put her in grave danger-she knew that to stay alive she would have to hide. Fortunately, a Gentile family, the Oostervelds, offered to help. For two years they hid Annie and her sister, Sini, in the cramped upstairs room of their farmhouse.

Most people thought the war wouldn't last long. But for Annie and Sini -- separated from their family and confined to one tiny room -- the war seemed to go on forever.

In the part of the marketplace where flowers had been sold twice a week-tulips in the spring, roses in the summer-stood German tanks and German soldiers. Annie de Leeuw was eight years old in 1940 when the Germans attacked Holland and marched into the town of Winterswijk where she lived. Annie was ten when, because she was Jewish and in great danger of being cap-tured by the invaders, she and her sister Sini had to leave their father, mother, and older sister Rachel to go into hiding in the upstairs room of a remote farmhouse.
Johanna de Leeuw Reiss has written a remarkably fresh and moving account of her own experiences as a young girl during World War II. Like many adults she was innocent of the German plans for Jews, and she might have gone to a labor camp as scores of families did. "It won't be for long and the Germans have told us we'll be treated well," those families said. "What can happen?" They did not know, and they could not imagine.... But millions of Jews found out.
Mrs. Reiss's picture of the Oosterveld family with whom she lived, and of Annie and Sini, reflects a deep spirit of optimism, a faith in the ingenuity, backbone, and even humor with which ordinary human beings meet extraordinary challenges. In the steady, matter-of-fact, day-by-day courage they all showed lies a profound strength that transcends the horrors of the long and frightening war. Here is a memorable book, one that will be read and reread for years to come.

1973 Newbery Honor Book
Notable Children's Books of 1971–1975 (ALA)
Best Books of 1972 (SLJ)
Outstanding Children's Books of 1972 (NYT)
1973 Jane Addams Award Honor Book
Children's Books of 1972 (Library of Congress)
The Buxtehude Bulla Prize 1976 (German Award for Outstanding Children's Book Promoting Peace)
1972 Jewish Book Council Children's Book Award

Reviews (68)

GREAT BOOK!!!
The book I have read is called The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss. Harper Collins Publishers published it in 1972. This is a fiction book that is based on the events that have happened in World War II. It is during the Holocaust in WWII, and explains all of the emotions a specific family of Jews went thorough during their life in hiding.
In this book, the De Leeuw family from Winterswijk, Holland, hear on the radio about the Nazis moving in and taking the Jews away to work camps. There is Ies, the father and Sophie, the mother. There is Annie, the main character and the narrator, her older sister Sini, and her oldest sister Rachel.
After a while, their family and friends start to move to America, deeper into Holland, or stay and brave the Nazis in hope that the allies will win the war soon. Soon the Jews have many unfair laws against them, made by the Nazis. The De Leeuw's lose a lot of friends just because they are Jewish, and the Jews have to give up their jobs and quit school.
The family breaks up into different hiding places in other family's houses where Annie finds out the truth behind the work camps, and the horrors going on in them. They spent a couple of years in hiding, go through many dangerous times, and await the end of the war.
I think this book is sad because the Jews went a lot of pain and sadness. I agree with the author when she says how destructive the Holocaust was because she experienced it first hand. It brings up a lot of questions such as why Hitler and the Nazis were doing these things to the Jews. This book relates to the racism going on today.
After all, this book brings the reader back to the Holocaust and brings up points on the issue, especially to respect others. AM

The Upstairs Room
In class I was assigned to read The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss. The story takes place during the Holocaust in the city of Usselo, Holland. The main character is Annie. She is a small girl with dark hair. She has two sisters and her mother gets very sick. I have also read the book Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer, with quotes from Alfons Heck, a German soldier, and Helen Waterford, a Jew. Both Parallel Journeys and The Upstairs Room are about the Holocaust and what it was like to be a Jew. I feel that the message of The Upstiars Room was to treat all people equal. During the Holocaust, Hitler hated the Jews and was killing them. The Jews had to hide so that they would not be killed, but if they were found, they would be sent to work or extermination camps. Hitler established the Hitler Youth in which there were ranks. If you got to the top of the ranks, you would then be moved to the German army. I think The Upstairs Room is an excellent book. It was very exciting. It made me imagine myself as Annie. I think Johanna Reiss did a good job telling the story as Annie. I would recommend this book to girls from grades six and up because there was some language inappropriate for young childrenand some boys that read The Upstairs Room told me that it was a girl's book. I hope this book review helps you decide if you want to read The Upstairs Room.

The Upstairs Room by Stephen MacPherson
This book is based om Johanna Reiss's experiences in the world war 2 as a young girl becoming a young woman. Annie is just about 6 years old and words of Hitler coming to power and war are starting to arise. Annie lives in Holland and it is the year 1942. The german soldiers are starting to make their way toward Winterjswik where Annie lives. Ies, Annie's father believes they should go to america because the Germans are coming way to close. His wife, Sophie says she couldn't go to America and start all over again because she has kidney problems which gives her terrible migranes. Sophie feels that if Ies builds a house right on the edge of Wintersjwik, the part not near where the soldiers are coming they'll be just as safe in America. The family soon moves to the new house because the Germans come to close and they just get out in time. Sophie soon has to go to the hospital because her condition is way too bad. All their jobs are taling awy and they are not allowed to travel because they are Jewish. Soon their not allowed to visit their mom at the hospital so Annie gets permission from the governor. Soon Ies feels unsafe and finds a farmer to hide with. Ies finds a farmer to find Annie and her two sisters, Rachel who is a teacher and Sini who has her milking diploma. The farmers name is Mr. Hannink. Annie and Sini go to Mr. hannink's home where they will hide. Rachel doesn't go and stays with her mom. Mr. Hannink soon feels the germans are coming onto his hiding of Jews so he sends Annie and Sini to the Oostervelds where he says their gonna stay for only 2 weeks. They end up staying there for almost 2 years and almost got caught by the Germans from a check up one night but they were hidden in a closet where they couldn't be seen. They were there for the 2 years until canadian soldiers came through their town and freed them. After the war Annie had crooked legs but she got joined back up with her Father and 2 sisters and went back to Wintersjwik. But unfortunately her mother died from her bad condition.

Excellent
The Upstairs Room is an excellent book about Jews hiding during WWII. The main character is Annie de Leeuw. She was a nine-year-old Jewish girl living in Holland. Slowly Annie and her family were forced to quit school and their jobs. The loss of freedom destroyed Annie's spirit. She longed to be able to see her friends and play outside. The de Leeuw's decided to hide when they realized the Nazi's would be taking them to concentration camps. The entire family could not hide in the same location, so they split up. Annie's mother was ill, so she remained in a hospital. Annie and her sister, Sini, hid upstairs in the Oosterveld's farmhouse. Her father and sister, Raquel, stayed with a retired minister. Annie and Sini were cramped in a very small space, which was incredibly cold in the winter. The girls often spent many days in bed to keep warm. Annie was often forced to walk back and forth across the room to strengthen her legs because they began to grow irregularly. The girls had to hide in a closet for days on end when Nazi soldiers used the Oosterveld's house as an office. The Oosterveld's took excellent care of Annie and Sini and became quite attached. The entire time spent in the room was stressful and depressing for the girls. They were only allowed to go outside a few times during the their time in hiding. Annie and her family hid for two years before they could return to their home. The sacrifice the Oosterveld's made to save the girls is incredibly moving. The strength and perseverance Annie and Sini possess will inspire readers for years to come.

The Upstairs Room
I really enjoyed The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss. It was one of the very few books that has kept me pulled in and interested the entire time. The characters were real, and the story gave distinct detail about their physical appearances and individual personalities. It shows the struggle of a Jewish family trying to stay together, and most of all stay alive. You feel as though you are right there with the characters though every life threatening account with the German Nazi's.
The people who will like this book are individuals that may be interested in World War II, or the history of Germany and Holland during the 1940's. This could also be intriguing for people who enjoy reading about life struggles and how people have overcome them. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Moving Book
When looking at the book you get captured by many of the photos that were left in the secret annex. The book takes you away from the real world for awhile and brings you into the world of Anne Frank and the way she had to live had to for two years. The pitchers make you cry and you thank God that you were not alive during the Holocaust. The book really makes you think and makes your heart go out to Anne Frank and all the other innocent victims off the Holocaust. The book is good for teenagers to read and learn about and they can relate to Anne Frank and the teenage problems that she went through. It is impossible to relate with what kind of suffering she went through because of her religion. The book is truly phenomenal and will take your breath away. I give the book five stars. Everyone should read the book.

Anne Frank: An inner furnace in our souls
Some quirky calculus seems to rule the story of Anne Frank and her diary. The further time recedes from the pivotal events of the diary's origins, the more people seem interested in Anne as a person, Anne as a Holocaust statement, Anne as a publishing phenomenon, or just Anne as a long-lost tragic friend. I was just thirteen when I read her book, the same age that she started scribbling her thoughts in that famous checked binder with the little metal clasp. Thirteen is an age when childhood lies like freshly cut grass in recent memory, with puberty and adulthood new temptations soon to be savoured. Her original diary seems to kindle some inner furnace in our souls. The magic of the story is that we want to know more, more about Anne, her life, her family, her silent footsteps after the Annex.

Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven's photographic remembrance of Anne - Beyond the Diary - is a touching and fitting tribute to the Dutch schoolgirl's legacy. Anna's Quindlen's poignant introduction strikes the right emotional notes for what follows. She says Anne's diary has a kind mystical quality for the adolescents who first encounter it and for the adults left with its spiritual aftertaste. The power is so strong that Quindlen refers to the shiver that took hold of her has she saw pictures of the original diary in the van der Rol and Verhoeven book. She speaks for all of us when she says Anne was not just a victim, a fugitive, and a metaphor but an ordinary girl with blemishes, worried about boys, parents, clothes and a post-war future.

The authors should be congratulated for their presentation of rarely seen photographs of Anne Frank and her family. There is Anne's mother, Edith, with baby Anne seemingly a few hours old, in a Frankfurt hospital. There is Mum and Dad on their honeymoon; Anne and Margot as toddlers sitting on Dad's knee; the young girls dressed beautifully out shopping with Mum in downtown Frankfurt. These are happy times: family, friends, movies, a day at the beach. But a sombre bell tolls...

Like melancholy drapes blocking the sunlight, the remainder of the book catalogues the Frank family in hiding as Nazism throws its fetid shadow. There are photographs of That List - not Schindler's - but Anne's. Her name appears on the passenger manifest for the last transport from Westerbork to Auschiwitz and then, sadly, on the final Red Cross declaration. The photographs, accompanied by the simple text, are a revelation. This book comes as close as any to capturing Anne's allure. But Anne in "Beyond the Diary" is still somehow beyond reach. We love her diary because we seem to share so much with her. Her last footprints show, in fact, that we probably share very little...

A companion
This is a great book for anyone who is interested in Anne Frank, but I think to really appreciate it you should read the diary FIRST, otherwise you won't understand the importance of what you are seeing in the pictures.

boring book cliche`
i'm sorry to say this, but i didn't enjoy reading this book. even though it's considered a great book that has actual events that happened, i think that anne frank has been played to many times. if you are looking for a good book about the holocaust, i suggest another book. maybe Alicia: my story by alicia appleman-jurman

Follow-up to the classic
This book shares the pictures of concentration camps and tells what happened to the various members of the Frank family after they were found by the German secret police. It also states that had she survived just a few days longer, Anne would've been alive when the people of the concentration camps were released by the Allied troops. This has some heartbreaking information and pictures in it. It's marketted to kids, but some of the pictures may be a bit too difficult for a child to look at on his or her own. If you get this for a child, sit and explain what they are looking at. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

"This book makes it possible to gain a genuine look at the daily task of survival and at Jewish life in the just about hopeless situation at the edge of the Holocaust."-Der Tagesspiegel

"Vividly written. . . . An excellent antidote to the stereotyping of Germans under these conditions."-George Mosse

That Gad Beck, a Jew in the Berlin of Nazi Germany, lived through the Holocaust at all is surprising. The fact that he lived through it as a homosexual Jew who spent the entire war funneling food, money, and clothing to hidden Jews and helping smuggle others out of the country is amazing.

It was love that gave him both the impetus and the strength to fight. The rise of National Socialism was tearing his family apart, destroying his school, thwarting his dream of emigration to Israel. Then the Nazis came for Manfred Lewin, Beck's first love, and for his family. Gad's love for Manfred gave him the courage to don a three-sizes-too-large Hitler Youth uniform, march into the transit camp where the Lewins were being held, and demand-and obtain, to his astonishment-the release of his lover. But Manfred would not leave without his family, and so went back into the camp. The Lewins did not survive.

Coming of age as a gay man during the war and maintaining a series of romantic relationships while carrying on his resistance work, Beck reveals a tenacity and irrepressible spirit that is his real legacy. His determination to keep loving, living, and believing in every human possibility without compromise-even in the face of the unthinkably monstrous-makes this quite a different story of the Holocaust.

Publishing history: First published in German in 1995 by Edition Dia as Und Gad Ging Zu David.More than 14,000 sold. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

It captured me the first few pages
Gad Beck brought to life not only the cruelty to the jews but also the cruelty of the gay and lesbian people of the Nazi Era. I had to do a research paper for a Holocaust in Literature class I took my junior year in high school...and I was entralled the whole time I read this book. It shocked me, it horrified me...and I loved it.

A Triumph of the Gay Spirit
Beck gives us a glimpse of a gay man's coming of age in Nazi Berlin. It is not only erotic but holds up a light by which all aspects of love should be measured. Once again, the Gay Spirit has triumphed over bigotry, intolerance, and in this case even the holocaust.

Unparalleled love of life and indomitable spirit!
That any Jews survived Hitler's holocaust in Germany is remarkable; that they did it in the capital of the Third Reich is astonishing and that some of them were gay is almost unbelievable. Gad Beck's book starts out a bit slow, not quite dull but you hope it picks up its pace. Indeed, it does. Living in the underground, sought by the Gestapo (just being a Jew became illegal and transport to death remained a priority with the Nazis even as their regime was invaded and bombed) helping one another and living and loving as they best could is a gripping story. Told with humor and frankness, it's an excellent story. I can't wait for the next set of memoirs from Beck to be published. ... Read more

Book Description

The remarkable account of the famous hostage rescue at Entebbe, and its commander, Jonathan Netanyahu. Learn how this modern Joshua inspired not only Israel but the whole free world through the success of this operation . . . described by many as a miraculous mission of biblical proportions.ò Relates perfectly with our own war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq ò This is the only documented, firsthand account of the epic raid on Entebbe - includes many photos ò Highlights the shared values of Israeli warriors like Yoni and freedom-loving American troops engaged with a vicious enemy ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Tendentious and misleading
This is a totally tendentious version of what happened at Entebbe, at odds with the official IDF history written by Avigdor Shahan (Operation Yonatan, formerl Thunderball) and the autobiography of the Sayeret Matkal commander around whom the operation was built, Muki Betser. His book, Secret Soldier: The Autobiography of Israel's Greatest Commando, is available at Amazon.

Good Narrative, Good Author, But the Book Binder.......
Iddo Netanyahu states he himself was once a reserve member of the unit that performed the daring rescue in Entebbe and that, combined with the fact that his brother Benjamin was once a member as well and that it was his other brother Jonathan ("Yoni") who led the unit to victory in this mission lends special credibility to this narrative. This book is readable and informative. The author states he took a lot of the information from taped interviews with members of the unit who performed the raid. I have only one complaint that causes me to drop one star and it has nothing at all to do with the author: the book binder/printer/whatever was a little "off" unless I'm just missing something about the latest trends in book printing. To explain, the pages are all different widths so that one edge of the book (where you'd normally thumb through) presents a jagged edge (which is impossible to thumb through). Never seen that happen before. Maybe mine was just a fluke. I would still heavily recommend the book to anyone interested in the raid. ... Read more

Book Description

Introductory Material & Commentary by Manly P. Hall

The great illuminist, Rosicrucian, and Freemason who termed himself the Comte de St. Germain is one of the most baffling personalities of modern history. His activities are traceable for more than one hundred years between 1710 and 1822, leading Frederick the Great to refer to him as "the man who does not die." An outstanding scholar and linguist, a great musician and painter, as well as a chemist with skill so profound he could change base metals into gold, he was also enormously wealthy and was on intimate terms with the crowned heads of Europe. Nothing is known about the source of St. Germain's occult knowledge; he merely admitted he was obeying the orders of a power higher than himself, saying that his father was the Secret Doctrine and his mother the Mysteries.

This unusual work was prepared for the instruction of St. Germain's own disciples in the cabalistic, hermetic, and alchemical mysteries. The original manuscript is housed in the Bibliotheque de Troyes in France. Manly P. Hall's commentary will be of interest to anyone seeking to know more about this intriguing figure of our past. Illustrated. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Hermetic Symbolism
This book is totally not what I was expecting. Saint-Germain uses very deep and real symbols and correspondences to communicate that which can only be communicated through this means, and only with great care and understanding. To those who overlook this, as a previous reviewer who seemed to think that "spiritual works" should be more simplistic and literal, the only possibility is that they must be missing out on a lot. Even though this book is very short, it must be very carefully analyzed. A good working knowledge of Astrology, Alchemy, Kabbalah, Neoplatonism and Hermetica is recommended. Manly P. Hall's introductory writings are also really a fascinating read, and while I am open to even the most extreme possibilities, from experience I tend to take some of his information with a grain of salt and would like to see some evidence to back them up. I think this text may also shed some light on the development of the various rites of Egyptian Freemasonry.

Paranoia or A Medieval Men's Club
This treatise is too well disguised to trust anyone's interpretation. It reminds me of someone interpreting Alice in Wonderland. I think there many better spiritual resources. For this reader, the book proved to be a disappointment.

Paranoia or a Medieval Men's Club
This treatise is so full of allegorical allusions that I doubt anyone's expertise to fully interpret it and I found the reading for the most part to be disappointing. I think the Godfrey Ray King books are much more interesting and insightful. In some ways it reminded me of an Alice in Wonderland journey. In my opinion, if you are looking for insight, this book will not be that need fulfilling-the Masters of the Far East series might be a better read. The most informative section is Hall's analysis.In short it was not a good read for me.

True Alchemy: the immortalization of the physical body
This is St. Germain's own words of the mystery of Immortality couched in alchemical terms which he achieved many hundreds of years ago. He was known as the Wonderman of Europe used the philosopher's Stone and alchemically created the elixer of immortality. He is still active in the world today. Read Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence by Godfre Ray King. Comte de St. Germain is one of the greatest men of all time, we will know more about him in the years to come He was instrumental in the founding of America and will establish the golden age within her borders.

A path full of symbols
This book tells us about a symbolic path (a mixture of egyptian and grec symbolism) which is as the same time the travel of an initiate. This book is an enigma at each page but it can give us good esoteric clue if we are ready to receive it. We have to meditate on symbols and their true meaning. On my point of view this book contains highly magic components and it is the reason why it is so hermetic and can't be understood by everybody. Anyway the contents seem to be very deep. But since I am not wise enough to give a correct advice on the interpretation of different symbols given in this book, I suggest that you read this book and decide if it is helpfull or not! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

beauty and monstrosity
Lucie Adelsberger's memoir of surviving Auschwitz, opens with a description of life in Berlin in 1938. "It began with only a few so called 'trifles,' " she says, citing three incidents which leapt out of the maelstrom of edicts and indignities to confront her with the relentless cruelty of the regime. The first of these limited Jews to public benches marked for them, thereby denying the elderly, many already displaced from their homes, the solace of parks. The second occurred when her elderly mother smiled at a functionary who processed her emigration papers. The official screamed at her mother for her effrontery.
"That's when I realized that these people were beyond the reach of human kindness," says Adelsberger. The third was the denial, after months of wrangling, of her mother's exit visa by the host country. Adelsberger realized finally that "the outside world didn't want to get involved."

Adelsberger missed her last chance to flee when her mother fell sick. As round-ups of Jews accelerated she found herself praying her mother would die before the SS came for her. Those prayers were answered but her own ordeal surpassed her worst imaginings.

In unadorned prose Adelsberger recounts life and the varieties of death at Auschwitz. Her voice is gentle, her eye sharp and compassionate, quick to note small ironies as well as gratuitous kindness and cruelty.

As a doctor, Adelsberger was assigned to the gypsy camp where an epidemic of typhus was raging. There were no medicines and hundreds died daily in their own filth. Why the camp commanders bothered with a hospital at all is a mystery which can be inadequately answered only by the Nazi passion for order.

Meticulous records were kept of everyone. One of the camp's most grueling rituals was the daily roll call. With 25 to 35,000 inmates in the women's camp alone, with the camp's policy of moving inmates from one section to another without notice, and with hundreds dying enroute to forced labor or hidden in a corner of their block, an exact roll call was difficult to achieve. Twice a day, before dawn and after work, inmates stood for roll call. This encompassed everyone except the dead and lasted one to two hours ' unless the tally did not match. "A roll call that lasted a day and a night without interruption was nothing unusual."

Roll call, the unexplained withholding of food from already starving people, forced labor, these were routine. Then there were the days that stood out. Sunday in the gypsy camp when gymnasts and musicians put on a show (the Gypsies were allowed to keep their possessions) and an audience of 16,000 sang and danced to music which ended abruptly with an order for "block confinement." After hours of waiting ' and the Gypsies know what they're waiting for ' the SS appear, calling out names and numbers. That night 2,500 Czech Gypsies were sent to the gas chambers.

Adelsberger also tells of strategies for survival, although she says no one expected to leave the camp alive. But certain work details ' the kitchen, the bathhouse where prisoners were stripped of their last possessions, the band, were coveted. Barter and communication systems were devised despite the dangers of detection.

But the vast majority worked in the mills or munitions factories or the potato bunker. Or they dug graves. The worst was reserved for young, healthy Jewish men. Totally isolated from the rest of the camp, they worked in the crematorium. After two or three months they too were gassed. "Sometime while at work, one never knew when, the valves of the gas chamber would close, the gas would be turned on, and ' a new Sonderkommando would replace the old."

A heart-rending memoir, yes, but it speaks as much for the beauties and strength of the human heart as for the incomprehensible monstrousness of the experience.

One of the only Holocaust books on a women, a great read
I loved this book, and I couldn't put it down. Great read about the Holocaust. Very chilling to see how the women in the death camps, especially Auschwitz were treated. The font is for 6th Graders, but I feel that it souldn't be read, for the graphic nature, until high school.

A very good read. ... Read more

Book Description

This provocative history of the world's most famous anti-Semite--a Detroit Free Press and New York Post bestseller--examines the origins, methods, and consequences of hatred.

How and why did this quintessential American folk-hero and pioneering industrialist become one of the most obsessive anti-Semites of our time-a man who devoted his immense financial resources to publishing a pernicious forgery, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion? And once Henry Ford's virulent media campaign against the Jews took off during the "anxious decade" following World War I, how did America's already splintered Jewish community attempt to cope with the relentless tirade conducted for ninety-one consecutive weeks in the automobile manufacturer's personal newspaper, The Dearborn Independent? What were the repercussions of Ford's Jew-hatred extending deeply into the 1930s?

Drawing upon previously uncited oral history transcripts, archival correspondence, and family memoirs, Neil Baldwin answers these and other questions; examining the biases of the men at the inner circle of the Ford Motor Company and disentangling the painful ideological struggles among an elite Jewish leadership reluctantly pitted against the clout and popularity of "The Flivver King."

As the Ford Motor Company celebrates its hundredth anniversary, with anti-Semitism resurgent in Europe and Islamic fundamentalists reading The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Henry Ford and the Jews is a riveting biography with new relevance for anyone interested in contemporary history. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

The Last To Know.....
I think I was the last person in the United States to become aware of Henry Ford's anti-semitism.

I make it a practice to study one person a month and I decided as a business builder, Henry Ford was worthy of my attention and study.

I found this particular biography and thought, "OK, this has a completely different approach, let's try it on."

I found Baldwin's passion and zealousness for his topic and his particular slant to be very powerful. As is frequent in such writing, it also became a barrier because every action Ford took became, through Baldwin's eyes, a matter of Ford being the Personification of Evil.

I am not condoning Ford's thoughts, beliefs or behaviors. I am believing that not every action he took was a result of some undercurrent of Anti Semitism.

That said, this book is worth a read due to the level of research Baldwin has done both in this biography and the biography of one of Ford's friends and role models (and less rabidly Anti-Semitic although there was some there) in Thomas Alva Edison.

I just had this thought: I wonder how many business leaders remain staunchly racist... yet it has gone deeply underground in this age.

I wonder how many business (and political leaders) continue to harbor less than transformed thought?

Something to think about... and continue to stand against.

A Comprehensive Examination of a Man and a Problem
Neil Baldwin's look at Henry Ford and his anti-semitic views is an important one. Most people know something about Ford's anti-semitism. However, with this book one gets a full picture of the nature of his prejudice, the way it was expressed, and it's root causes. In addition, Mr. Baldwin has added to the value of this story by covering, in some detail, the responses of various members of the Jewish community to this very big problem. Mr. Ford was an extremely influential American, and as such, it was very important for Jewish leaders to respond to the outrageous and harmful ideas that were expressed in publications (such as The Dearborn Independent) that he was associated with. However, leaders differed with regard to how to best deal with this problem, and indeed it was something that had to be handled carefully.

In some ways, this is a very sad story, for it shows us some of the worst aspects of a man who was and still is revered by many. It also reminds us of how prevalent anti-semitism was in America during the first few decades of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, this is an important story, and Neil Baldwin has told it in a book that combines good writing with outstanding scholarship. I don't think that it will disappoint the serious reader.

Ask yourself these questions
Is Baldwin a Jew?

How it then possible for this text to impartially represent the truth?

When listening or reading it is vitally important to understand the motives of the source before forming your own opinion.

Well worth a read
Neil Baldwin's "Henry Ford and the Jews" is a compelling look at how a genius at one thing --- the mass production of a good automobile --- could become such a dangerous buffoon when it came to another thing --- the mass production of an idea. At some point, our title character ceased to be just "Henry Ford, automaker" and instead became Henry Ford, wealthy and powerful symbol of international antisemitism. Baldwin's portrait of Ford in all his horrible glory is fascinating.

A True History of Henry Ford!
This book by Baldwin gave a searing history of automobile icon
Henry Ford.Baldwin very capably shows one of the pioneers of
American industry to be devoutly anti-semite.Ford himself was the
financier behind a anti-Jewish newspaper that was published in
Michigan.Ford was a fan of Adolph Hitler. Hitler had a portrait of Ford on thew wall in his office.Henry Ford received an award
from Hitler and showed up in person to receive it bringing with him many guests.Charles Linberg and Thomas Watson of IBM declined
the same award.Ford was also able to sell Ford products to the
Nazis receiving a monopoly on the Nazi vehicle market in the military.This book is packed with documented of Henry Ford's
anti-semite activities.Read this you will become better informed.
This is a good book. Buy it. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

FASCINATING HISTORY
This was an illuminating and evocative book. Anyone interested in this topic should also read "Escape Via Siberia" and "The Uprooted" by Dorit Whiteman. Whiteman's books -- which expertly weave gripping personal accounts with historical context -- explore how survivors of the kindertransport and other Holocaust horrors coped with the legacy of their harrowing ordeals as adults. Whiteman is an expert in the field and some of her material was used in the movie, "Into the Arms of Strangers."

War through a child's eyes
As the generation of World War II survivors is all-too quickly disappearing, today's children are running out of opportunities to connect with those who survived the war. Ten Thousand Children is a series of true anecdotes told by the children who escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport. The stories of the evacuated children come to life with emotion and clarity. Readers will be amazed at the courage of the children involved and the hardships they faced as they were separated from their families and sent to live in a foreign land. Each child tells his or her story in first person narrative, then the story is followed by an update which tells about the child's life after the war. Captioned photographs illustrate every story. The book is divided into seven chapters, each beginning with a news-like article giving background information to support the stories included in the chapter. The stories and articles are short enough to be read easily by children, and relevant vocabulary words are defined in reader-friendly terms in the margins. This book will help children understand the lessons which must not be forgotten from World War II. The cruel realities of war and intolerance leap from the pages of each story. Readers will be touched by those children from long ago. All those who read this book will walk away with a deeper understanding of the Kindertransport children and an appreciation for the freedoms we must cherish today. ... Read more