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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Angela Wilson has commented on (5) products
Theory & Practice of Hell The German Concentration Camps & the System Behind Them
by
Eugen Kogon
Angela Wilson
, August 14, 2007
This book is truly not for the faint of heart. Kogon, held in Buchenwald for five years, provides, in excruciating, painful detail the vulgar, unrelenting violence and death perpetuated on Jews and other prisoners in the National Socialist's concentration camps. Unlike the bulk of memoirs written by Jews after the Holocaust, Kogon provides, in a dispassionate voice, damning information about the operation, politics, functions and society of these institutions. He writes about the random violence, the pecking order among the inmates, the dissolute camp guards and leadership, the constant, unrelenting hunger, and the endless labor. There is no way anyone--including Jewish Holocaust deniers--can read this book and not know horror.
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Changing Enemies
by
Noel Annan
Angela Wilson
, August 14, 2007
"Changing Enemies" is actually several books in one: (1) the story of the author's career in military intelligence and policy in the years preceding and during WWII; (2) an overview of the uses of the Enigma machine and its progeny; (3) a critique of the (often misguided) strategems against the National Socialists developed and implemented by the British government and Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who apparently was quite the frequent meddler--and who delivered decidedly mixed results); (4) a valuable evalution of the often strained relationships among the British, American and Russians in Germany; (5) a candid assessment of the failures of the Allies against the National Socialist machine; and (6) a quick overview of the growth of the two Germanies. Whew! All that in 241 pages. Annan is very skilled at clearly portraying policy, strategic and personality conflicts and issues; readers will find this an engaging book. What he doesn't cover with any depth, however, is the book's topic: how the uncomfortable alliance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union rapidly turned into the arms- and espionage-driven Cold War. The author provides just a cursory review of the development of that competition, and some of the reasons why it benefited both parties. And there is also another curious omission; Annan spends just one paragraph of the horrors visited upon the Jews by the Germans (and citizens of their satellite states). In fact, he cavalierly acknowledged that "in intelligence we knew of the gas ovens," but says nothing about why Britain (and the other Allied nations) did so very little to help the Jews, political prisoners and hostages being "liquidated" by the National Socialists. This glaring omission is both disappointing and disheartening.
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Blood In Zion How The Jewish Guerrillas
by
Saul Zadka
Angela Wilson
, August 14, 2007
Zadka's book provides the reader with a frustrating dilemna: should this book be valued for what it does say, or disparaged for what it doesn't? The author writes about the Irgun, a violent Zionist terrorist organization that was instrumental in driving the British out of Palestine in the mid 1940s. He delivers a useful overview of the group's exploits (both against the British and the Palestinian Arabs), including its excellent handling of propaganda. He also provides coverage of the activities of two other terrorist groups, the Freedom Fighters of Israel and the Haganah. One of the strength's of Zadka's book is the generous detailing of Irgun's strategies, propaganda, and terrorist actions against the British. He portrays the Irgunists as powerful adversaries, able to strike--with terrorism or well-planned propaganda--seemingly at will. Unfortunately, Zadka delivers an uncritical, and, at times, unhelpful history of the organization (led, during its most active years, by Menachem Begin). He spends little time discussing how Irgun propaganda misled thousands of American Jews who poured millions of dollars into the Irgun's coffers laboring under the falsehood that the money was being used to provide assistance to persecuted Jews wanting to emigrate to Palestine. He also is silent on the Irgun's violent efforts to remove Arabs, either through voluntary or forced migration, from Palestine. According to Begin's own history of the Irgun, his organization played a primary role in the massacre of Arabs in the village of Dir Yessin. This, along with several other pertinent (though less attractive) elements of the Irgun are nowhere mentioned in Zadka's book.
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1949 The First Israelis
by
Tom Segev
Angela Wilson
, August 14, 2007
Segev, a journalist, has produced a history of the people and the newly created state of Israel that is an excellent (and at times, funny), accessible and vigorous portrayal of the early years of the new nation. He discusses at length Israel's struggle to absorb the hundreds of thousands of Jews being brought into the country--creating homes, schools, jobs, and successfully (or not) integrating the newcomers into Israeli society. He also provides a good summary of the benefits to Israel of the Six Day War. I imagine, however, that some Israel Jews (and possibly Jews elsewhere) would prefer that Segev's book wasn't available, as it punctures several long-held myths about the state and Jewish Israelis. He shows, for example, that the nation's efforts to "ingather the exiles" was actually an attempt (and a successful one) to build up as soon as possible Israel's population. And Segev details the blatant racism that valued European Jewish immigration over that from other nations, especially North Africans, who were considered lower-quality "human material." This is a good read, and good history.
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(6 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)
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The Unwelcome One: Returning Home from Auschwitz
by
Hans Frankenthal
Angela Wilson
, August 13, 2007
This short book should be read by anyone interested in the post-WW II life of Jews in Germany (and likely other places in the former National Socialist empire). Frankenthal's memoir is likely unique (or only one of but a handful of texts) in the literature of the Jewish Holocaust: the story of a Jew returning to a place--his home--and a people that would prefer to keep him--and history--forgotten. At one point he says, to an Aryan friend, arguing that ordinary Germans weren't involved in the murders of 6 million Jews, "that's right--all the Germans were angels and the Jews killed themselves!" Frankenthal writes about the impediments to recovering his family property and getting financial "restitution" from the post-WW II government. This is a must-read book.
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