Book Review: The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff

The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff
ARC, e-book, 368 pages
MIRA
February 21, 2017
★★★★★
 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received via Netgalley for Review with TLC Book Tours

A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan's Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival .

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep… When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.

Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.

I had previously read another novel by Jenoff, The Ambassador’s Daughter, and while I had some quibbles with it, I enjoyed the novel enough to be extremely intrigued when I saw The Orphan’s Tale pop up on my radar. I am pleased to say that I LOVED this book and it will definitely be on my top list at the end of the year.

The Orphan’s Tale struck a note for me right from the start that is guarantee to hook me: a story set in/around a circus during WWII. I enjoy reading WWII novels, especially those that are not set on the battlefield and explore little niche areas. The circus was not something I had really ever thought about as existing outside of the United States and certainly not within the realm of the War. I thought that it was fascinating to see how the War affected the circus – some folded and some continued on in some capacity at the mercy of the Third Reich, but they were always at risk of search and closure. There was a desperate feel as they tried to put on a show and entertain the people, but always knowing that anything could happen at any time. That feeling definitely permeated much of the story. It is also clear that the author spent a lot of time understanding the circus and this felt very real and was not just used as a backdrop for a story. It was very much a living character with a life of its own.

Throughout the story I kept harkening back to two books that I felt had much in common with this one: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Circus Fire by Stewart O’Nan. Both of these books (the former a novel and the latter non-fiction) involve circus disasters as their central focal point, and while that might not be quite the same in The Orphan’s Tale, there is the feeling of impending disaster that will come at some point, and it does, which brought both of those circus disasters (both real and fake) to mind. More directly, the way The Orphan’s Tale is framed, an elderly individual going to great lengths to attend a circus exhibit and then share their tale, immediately connected me to Water for Elephants, and that prior reading experience possibly colored how I perceived the character in this novel. It was an interesting exploration of how a prior experience can affect how you connect with a book and I would love to talk with someone who had not read Water for Elephants previously and see if they had the same experience that I did.

At its heart, this is a story of relationships in the very worst situations. While there are a couple romantic relationships, it really is about friendships. How those change and evolve over time, how people act under stressful situations, how friendship can take on different meanings, and how someone can be so critical in your life at the right time – all these are explored within this novel. Noa and Astrid are the two main characters whose perspective we see the world from and they are both coming from very different worlds, but are very similar in some ways. Their courage in the face of disaster ties them together, but their differences in past experience and secrets they have keep them at odds with each other. As a reader you go through a push-pull of emotions, at times seeing the perspective of one and then the other, which keeps you on your toes.

There was one element that I didn’t completely buy into and that was the frame for the story. It begins and ends set in the present with a character (who you don’t know who it is at the opening of the novel, but it is revealed at the end) who travels to an event held to remember the circus. This event and the artifacts there mean a lot to this person as they are trying to figure something out that they have clearly held on to for a long time. I changed my mind several times throughout the reading as to who this person was, and boy was I wrong! That is one thing that Jenoff carries off here that I also applauded in my review of The Ambassador’s Daughter, the ability to keep the reader off the track and then surprise them with a shocking revelation. I didn’t find this character totally believable in the driving reason to seek out this event and to try to reconnect with the past. I also struggle with the title and how that plays into who the bookending character is. It felt as if a different character being the focus of the present day storyline would have been more appropriate and make more sense in the larger scope of the story.

However, overall the story worked for me. I will admit to shedding a few tears as well toward the end of the book, which is difficult for a novel to achieve.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• A Literary Vacation
• The Lit Bitch

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Pam Jenoff:

The Kommandant’s Girl

The Diplomat’s Wife

The Ambassador’s Daughter
[My Review]

The Things We Cherished

The Winter Guest

Almost Home

The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach

A Hidden Affair

The Other Girl

The Last Embrace

Find Pam Jenoff: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Follow the Tour:

On TLC Book Tours Website

Monday, February 20th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, February 20th: Barbara Khan

Tuesday, February 21st: Savvy Verse and Wit

Wednesday, February 22nd: Caryn, The Book Whisperer

Thursday, February 23rd: West Metro Mommy

Friday, February 24th: Reading is My SuperPower

Friday, February 24th: A Bookish Affair

Monday, February 27th: Building Bookshelves

Monday, February 27th: Just Commonly

Tuesday, February 28th: Bibliotica

Wednesday, March 1st: Kahakai Kitchen

Wednesday, March 1st: Susan Peterson

Thursday, March 2nd: A Literary Vacation

Friday, March 3rd: Cindy Burnett

Monday, March 6th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Monday, March 6th: Literary Quicksand

Tuesday, March 7th: The Lit Bitch

Wednesday, March 8th: The Romance Dish

Thursday, March 9th: Just One More Chapter

Friday, March 10th: Suzy Approved

Monday, March 13th: Reading Reality

Monday, March 13th: Diary of an Eccentric

Tuesday, March 14th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, March 15th: Bibliophiliac

Thursday, March 16th: The Maiden’s Court

Friday, March 17th: View from the Birdhouse

Monday, March 20th: A Bookish Way of Life

Tuesday, March 21st: Write Read Life

Wednesday, March 22nd: 100 Pages a Day

Thursday, March 23rd: Silver’s Reviews

Friday, March 24th: Not in Jersey

Friday March 24th: SJ2B House of Books

Tuesday, March 28th: Travelling Birdy

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa
Unabridged, 10 hr. 48 min.
Simon & Schuster Audio
Joy Osmanski (Narrator)
October 18, 2016
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received audiobook download for review from publisher

A stunningly ambitious and beautiful debut novel, perfect for fans of Sarah’s Key and All the Light We Cannot See, the story of a twelve-year-old girl’s harrowing experience fleeing Nazi-occupied Germany with her family and best friend, only to discover that the overseas asylum they had been promised is an illusion.

In 1939 before everything changed, Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. Her family moved in Berlin’s highest social circles, admired by friends and neighbors. Eleven-year-old Hannah was often taken by her mother for an afternoon treat at the tea room of the beautiful Adlon Hotel, both dressed in their finest clothes. She spent her afternoons at the park with her best friend Leo Martin.

But, in an instant, that sunlit world vanished. Now the streets of Berlin are draped with red, white, and black flags; their fine possessions are hauled away, and they are no longer welcome in the places that once felt like home. The two friends make a pact: come what may, they promise to have a future together.

As Hannah and Leo’s families desperately begin to search for a means of escape, a glimmer of hope appears when they discover the Saint Louis, a transatlantic liner that can give Jews safe passage to Cuba. After a frantic search to obtain visas, the Rosenthals and the Martins depart from Hamburg on the luxurious passenger liner bound for Havana. Life aboard the ship is a welcome respite from the gloom of Berlin—filled with masquerade balls, dancing, and exquisite meals every night.

As the passengers gain renewed hope for a bright future ahead, love between Hannah and Leo blossoms. But soon reports from the outside world began to filter in, and dark news overshadows the celebratory atmosphere on the ship; the governments of Cuba, the United States, and Canada are denying the passengers of the St. Louis admittance to their countries, forcing them to return to Europe as it descends into the Second World War. The ship that had seemed their salvation seems likely to become their death sentence.

After four days anchored at bay, only a handful of passengers are allowed to disembark onto Cuban soil, and Hannah and Leo must face the grim reality that they could be torn apart. Their future is unknown, and their only choice will have an impact in generations to come.

Decades later in New York City on her eleventh birthday, Anna Rosen receives a mysterious envelope from Hannah, a great-aunt she has never met but who raised her deceased father. In an attempt to piece together her father’s mysterious past, Anna and her mother travel to Havana to meet Hannah, who is turning eighty-seven years old. Hannah reveals old family ties, recounts her journey aboard the Saint Louis and, for the first time, reveals what happened to her father and Leo. Bringing together the pain of the past with the mysteries of the present, Hannah gives young Anna a sense of their shared histories, forever intertwining their lives, honoring those they loved and cruelly lost.

Like many historical fiction readers I have enjoyed my fair share of novels set during WWII; there are so many on the market that it is difficult to not run into one. What I loved about the premise of The German Girl is it takes the reader somewhere new and explores an oft overlooked event during the early days of the war. This is not a novel that will feel familiar or a rehash of events that you have read before, but it will pull at your heartstrings.

The story is told through a dual narrative – sort of. There are two distinct timelines: that beginning in 1939 and following Hannah Rosenthal and also that of Anna Rosen in 2014. These two timelines do come together in 2014, and it is early on when Anna meets her great-aunt Hannah, and then we get the story from 1939 forward as Hannah tells Anna and her mother the story of how she fled Germany in the early days of the war. I was certainly more committed to the 1939 story line. This was the fascinating and new part for me. I had never heard of the Saint Louis and the plight of the passengers who had fled Nazi Germany aboard it only to find extreme difficulty upon arriving in Havana, Cuba. The 2014 storyline and references to events during Anna’s life during the 2000s really held no interest for me. Because of this, I found the earliest chapters a little bit of a slog because I didn’t really care about Anna, her mother, or how her father died. I think that the novel could have held its own just fine being told only from the historical storyline without the distractions of the present. That being said, I do understand why the author chose to include the present-day narrative: it allowed him to draw character parallels between Anna now who is learning what happened to her family and Hannah then at the time the events were transpiring as she was the same age as Anna is now. And that worked just fine.

The historical narrative can be divided into three distinct segments: Berlin, the trans-Atlantic crossing aboard the Saint Louis, and then Cuba. The part set in Berlin gives the reader a perspective of what life had been like before the Nazi regime took over as Hannah describes the life her glamorous mother had led. You also witness events like Kristallnacht through the eyes of a young girl who doesn’t understand at all what is going on. I don’t believe she ever uttered the word “Nazi” and instead calls them “the ogres” when describing what was happening. All of this escalating terror and destruction is juxtaposed against childhood fancies and games, such as hiding outside a man’s window to listen to the radio and running around with her friend, Leo. It gave it all a sort of surreal perspective. The same can be said about the experience aboard the Saint Louis. The passengers viewed it as a successful escape from the clutches of the Nazi and both children and the adults thoroughly enjoyed their voyage, until they reached Cuba to find out very, very few of them would actually be disembarking the ship – among them Hannah and her mother. Cuba takes a decidedly depressing turn as the family struggles to figure out what has happened to their family and friends and decide what to do in this country that doesn’t want them and in which they do not want to be. We also witness Cuba later in the throws of its revolution and Hannah draws uncomfortable parallels between it and what they lived through it Germany.

This was a fantastically written novel. Even with my misgivings about the present storyline being a little superfluous I would enthusiastically recommend this book to any historical fiction or WWII fan. You will love the characters and the passion for the subject shines through the writing. It will open your eyes to niche experiences beyond the typical stories of WWII. I would also be remiss if I didn’t point out that I think that this could certainly be a novel read by young adults; it is something I would have read if it was available when I was 12-15. The two girls through much of the narrative are young teens that many could relate to. The material is heavy at points, so as a parent you might want to decide for yourself if it is something your child should read, but there are no violent scenes, romance/sex, or foul language (there might be one scene where someone is beat up during the Berlin portion, but I can’t remember if it was onscreen or off, and there is a scene during the rebellion in Cuba, but either way it isn’t graphic).

★★★★☆

One of the things that I always note is how well the narrator pronounces phrases when there is foreign language used throughout a novel. As one might expect, there is German in this novel, but also Spanish as they spend extensive time in Cuba, as well as French. While I know very little German and am far from fluent in Spanish or French, I feel that the narrator handled these segments well. They sounded good to my ear and enhanced my enjoyment of listening to a book and made it feel more accurate (because let’s face it, if I was reading the print version I would have butchered those parts in my head). Ultimately I think I would have appreciated having 2 narrators, one for Anna and another for Hannah, just to make it easier to differentiate the two in case you do not stop at a chapter header. The pace of the reading was very even, however it sometimes bordered on being too slow and I felt the need for the pace to be picked up. The narration overall, however, is strong.

You can get a feel for this audiobook by checking out this excerpt from the production.

 

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Man of La Book
• Worn Pages and Ink

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Find Armando Lucas Correa: Website | Facebook | Twitter

 

Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: Fall of Giants by Ken Follet

Fall of Giants by Ken Follet

Book 1 of Fall of Giants Trilogy

Unabridged, 30 hr. 41 min.

Penguin Audio

John Lee (Narrator)

September 28, 2010

★★★★☆

 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Personal purchase from Audible

It is 1911. The Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family, is linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners. Lady Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London. Their destiny is entangled with that of an ambitious young aide to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and to two orphaned Russian brothers, whose plans to emigrate to America fall foul of war, conscription and revolution. In a plot of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, "Fall Of Giants" moves seamlessly from Washington to St Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.

Wow, this is quite a hefty novel, even reading it took quite some time! The First World War and the events surrounding it can be confusing to break down and unpack – all of the alliances, behind the scenes conversations, and upheaval. In The Fall of Giants, Follet takes us back and forth across the globe and behind the front lines to the depth of the action. We go from inside the lives of the powerful to the virtual nobody. And somehow, it is easier to digest this way.

Throughout the novel, we follow the lives of interconnected families from a variety of backgrounds and belligerent nations. This gives a relatively well rounded world view of the events as they unfold. Sometimes we are privy to more information than others as we have some characters that are in political power positions and others who are just surviving the results of everyday life. Sometimes, I admit, it feels a little contrived that our characters happen to be in the same place to interact with one another, but I was able to put that aside as I dove into the sheer breadth of the novel.

I think the most interesting sections for me were those set in Russia especially during the revolution. This is a country that I have always said doesn’t get the treatment it deserves in historical fiction, but it gets ample time here. I felt that the events here were the most desperate and high-stakes, whereas all the other choices that characters had to make were about personal choices, not world changing decisions. Additionally, we are seeing the events from those who are right in the thick of leading the revolution, not from the perspective of the powerful as is typical. As a matter of fact, we don’t even see the Russian royal family once.

One part that did begin to feel a bit wearing was all the “baby-mama-drama” occurring across the globe! I get that the purpose of this was to set up characters to take over the storytelling reins in the next installment, Winter of the World, but it got a tad bit crazy at times. However, I will say that it did break up the political drama.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book if you have some reading time on your hands. You don’t have to be a war buff to enjoy it as there are so many different elements to this story.

★★★★★

I have to say, John Lee knocked it out of the park here. Not only did he have A LOT to narrate (I can’t even begin to imagine how long it took to record all of this book) but he had a lot of different types of action and people to contend with. He admirably voiced the characters so that each was distinctive and you had a very clear idea of who was speaking lending even more to the development of characters. His reading pace was fantastic and allowed me to digest what I was reading. Even though it took me quite a while to complete this book that wasn’t due to not being interested in the story being told or the way it was told – I just get the opportunity to listen in small chunks and with a book this long that took a while.

You can check out this book sample below:

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Literary Corner Café
• A Little Rebellion

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

 
Also by Ken Follet:

The Century Trilogy includes the following:

Winter of the World (Book 2)

Edge of Eternity


Find Ken Follet: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Find John Lee: AudioFile Magazine
 
 


Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Two Sides to Every Story: The Thirty Years War: Result of Religious Strife or Excessive Greed

Today I have the opportunity to present the newest Two Sides to Every Story entry in the series and it is with a guest post by author Laura Libricz.  This topic, The Thirty Years War, is interesting to me as I just covered this subject matter in my recent semester of class.  Check it out!

The Thirty Years War: Result of Religious Strife or Excessive Greed

Christianity is a religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and has over two billion followers, about one-third of the world’s population. Since the dawn of Christianity some 2000 years ago, major divisions have been founded, the largest of which are the Western and Eastern Christian groups. The subdivisions within these two families are numerous and diverse. Today the largest of these subdivisions include the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East. These divisions have been everything but simple. In Central Europe, the division of  Roman Catholicism into its Protestant factions in the 15th and 16th century was one of the largest contributing factors in Europe’s bloodiest and most devastating war, the Thirty Years War.

Roman Catholicism had deep-rooted ties to the Holy Roman Empire. The Empire was the political ruling body in central Europe from the 8th century until 1806. It began when the Duke of the Franks and the grandfather of Charlemagne, Charles Martel, united the Frankish and Germanic tribes to fight the Muslims that had invaded from Spain. The conversion of the tribes of pagan folk to Christianity followed. After that, the Holy Roman Empire functioned as the non-religious counterpart to the Catholic Church and was a symbol of the unity of Western Christianity. 

Holy Roman Empire
Image Credit:Jaspe from ru [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons 

By the end of the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had grown swollen, rich, and powerful and was sinking into debauchery. And they had ways of raising revenues to support their excesses. Relationships between the people and the church were often based on money. Positions in the church could be bought. Salvation could also be bought in the form of indulgences. The church sold relics and earned money from those on pilgrimages.

Reformers had been known to protest the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church, their worldly rule and abuse of power and money. In the early 1400’s, the preacher Jan Hus from Prague spoke out openly against the church and its decadence. Bohemian aristocracy supported Hus, even after he was excommunicated. Although he had their support, he was executed, burned at the stake, by the German king Sigismund, in 1415. 

One hundred years later, Martin Luther set out to reform the Catholic Church as well. He was not intending to create a new one. The famed story reads that he nailed a document called the 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg in 1517. The main points of the Theses disputed and condemned the practice of the church selling indulgences to people in order to insure their souls’ entrance to heaven. This famous incident is credited to be the birth of Protestantism. 

What made Martin Luther’s cause different from the other protests, giving him so much attention and splitting the Roman Catholic religion in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire into two? 

One contributing factor was the availability of printed material. Martin Luther’s teachings were able to spread quickly. Students would listen to his teachings during his lectures or his ‘Tischreden,’ and take notes. Later these lectures were printed into flyers and books for the masses to read. And during his exile he translated the New Testament into German so that the people didn’t need the clergy to interpret scripture. It was published in 1522 and the Old Testament followed in 1534, though some may differ with his interpretation of scripture. The Catholic Church differed with his interpretation and his intention, believing that only clergy could deliver the scripture to the masses to avoid misunderstanding.

Some historians believe that Germany would have wholly converted to a religion based on Protestant teachings, as did Sweden and Denmark, had not the Imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church intervened. But the Church saw themselves as the image of Christendom and the Empire saw itself as the continuation of ancient Rome. The Roman church was the only one competent enough to interpret the word of God. Lutheran teachings claimed that the word of God should not be left to the interpretation of wayward clergy. The two sides of this story were the main conflicts that fueled the war known up until World War I as The Great War in Germany—the Thirty Years War.

Laura Libricz was born and raised in Bethlehem PA and moved to Upstate New York when she was 22. After working a few years building Steinberger guitars, she received a scholarship to go to college. She tried to ‘do the right thing’ and study something useful, but spent all her time reading German literature.

She earned a BA in German at The College of New Paltz, NY in 1991 and moved to Germany, where she resides today. When she isn’t writing she can be found sifting through city archives, picking through castle ruins or aiding the steady flood of Höfner musical instruments into the world market.

Her first novel, The Master and the Maid, is the first book of the Heaven's Pond Trilogy. The Soldier’s Return and Ash and Rubble are the second and third books in the series.  You can find Laura on her website or blog and on social media at Facebook and Twitter.

Book Blurb:

The Master and the Maid (Available Soon!)
Book One of the Heaven's Pond Trilogy

She’s lost her work, her home and her freedom. Now, harboring a mysterious newborn, she could lose her life.

In 17th Century Germany on the brink of the Thirty Years War, 24-year-old Katarina is traded to the patrician Sebald Tucher by her fiancé Willi Prutt in order to pay his debts. En route to her forced relocation to the Tucher country estate, Katarina is met by a crazed archer, Hans-Wolfgang, carrying a baby under his cloak. He tells her an incredible story of how his beloved was executed by a Jesuit priest for witchcraft right after the birth and makes Katarina—at sword point—swear on her life to protect the child. But protecting the child puts Katarina at risk. She could fall in disfavor with her master. She could be hunted by the zealots who killed his beloved. She could be executed for witchcraft herself. Can Katarina's love for the baby and Sebald Tucher's desire for her keep the wrath of the zealots at bay?

Set in Franconia, The Master and the Maid is an accurate, authentic account of a young woman's life in Germany in the 1600's, her struggle for freedom and her fight for those she loves.

 
 


Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Auschwitz by Laurence Rees

Auschwitz: A New History by Laurence Rees
AKA: Auschwitz: The Nazis and the “Final Solution”
E-Book, Kindle, 368 pages
PublicAffairs
January 2, 2005
★★★★☆

Genre: Non-Fiction

Source: Purchased for Masters Class

Auschwitz-Birkenau is the site of the largest mass murder in human history. Yet its story is not fully known. In Auschwitz, Laurence Rees reveals new insights from more than 100 original interviews with Auschwitz survivors and Nazi perpetrators who speak on the record for the first time. Their testimonies provide a portrait of the inner workings of the camp in unrivalled detail—from the techniques of mass murder, to the politics and gossip mill that turned between guards and prisoners, to the on-camp brothel in which the lines between those guards and prisoners became surprisingly blurred.

Rees examines the strategic decisions that led the Nazi leadership to prescribe Auschwitz as its primary site for the extinction of Europe's Jews—their "Final Solution." He concludes that many of the horrors that were perpetrated in Auschwitz were driven not just by ideological inevitability but as a "practical" response to a war in the East that had begun to go wrong for Germany. A terrible immoral pragmatism characterizes many of the decisions that determined what happened at Auschwitz. Thus the story of the camp becomes a morality tale, too, in which evil is shown to proceed in a series of deft, almost noiseless incremental steps until it produces the overwhelming horror of the industrial scale slaughter that was inflicted in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

This is a very different take on the oft written account of the Holocaust and Nazi movement. The events that transpired over the course of the war are viewed from the perspective of the camp at Auschwitz and how it grew, transformed, and evolved based on the plans and needs of the party. It was a reflection of the greater movement. One of the things that I appreciated about this book was that so much of it is based on interviews that the author personally conducted with people who lived through the Holocaust. There are quotes and narrative segments interspersed with the discussion from the author that lend an “on the ground” feel to the text. While it isn’t a narrative text, it certainly flows differently than your standard non-fiction. This book would not serve well as a standalone text if the reader did not already have at least a basic understanding of these events of World War II, however I think that it serves as a great supplemental text for those looking to expand their experience and understanding.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• History in Review
• Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, Inc.

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

 
A well-made, 6-part BBC documentary was made based on this book, and is a fascinating film, if you would rather watch than read:

Also by Laurence Rees:

Hitler’s Charisma: Leading Millions into the Abyss

Horror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of World War 2

World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West

Find Laurence Rees: Website

 


Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: War and Genocide by Doris L. Bergen

War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust by Doris L. Bergen
Kindle, e-Book, 263 pages
Rowman and Littlefield Publishers
October 23, 2002
★★★★☆

Genre: Non-Fiction

Source: Personal purchase for my Masters class

In examining one of the defining events of the 20th century, Doris Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural and military contexts. Unlike many other treatments of the Holocaust, Nazism, World War II and the Holocaust discusses not only the persecution of Jews, but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis: gypsies, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet POWs, the handicapped, and other groups deemed undesirable. With clear and eloquent prose, Bergen explores the two interconnected goals that drove the Nazi program of conquest and genocide - purification of the so-called Aryan race and expansion of its living space - and discusses how these goals affected the course of World War II. Including first-hand accounts from perpetrators, victims and eyewitnesses, the book is immediate, human and eminently readable.

I found War and Genocide to be an interesting read because it covered some niche areas that were not focused on in other books I was reading at that same time. While Bergen doesn’t spend as much time on the broad concepts of the war (she definitely touches on them), she digs in to smaller issues, for example, other victims of the Nazi actions. She analyzes the effects on the Jews, but also homosexuals, Communists, the disabled, and more. This was what I found new and informative because I had not heard of attacks on other populations during the rise of the Nazi party in other classes or readings which focus primarily on the attack on Jews. Bergen sticks with her thesis of the Nazi race and space rationale throughout the entire book.

The structure of this book is one that is easily readable and actually lends itself to bite sized reading; the sections are short and many, so you can certainly read this in between different events in your day. Also included, throughout the text, are many photos that enhance the reading. I always find photos integrated into the text more useful than a section centralized to the center of the text because you are provided with context. Interspersed in the text are anecdotal stories of everyday people who experienced something related to the focus of that section: for example, the stories of children forced into hiding.

At the end of the text the author provides an extensive list of sources that you can go to for further reading (broken up by chapters), but it doesn’t have a standard bibliography or footnotes which makes it challenging to fact check, but makes the book more readable.

If you are looking for a book that will give you a solid overview and understanding of the Nazi evolution and WWII, this isn’t that book. But if you already have an understanding of the generalities and are looking for a book that will dig in to different aspects this might be the book for yet.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• High Culture

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

 
Also by Doris Bergen:

The Holocaust

Twisted Cross

 
 













Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: A Concise History of Nazi Germany by Joseph W. Bendersky

A Concise History of Nazi Germany by Joseph W. Bendersky
Kindle, e-Book, 228 pages
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
September 11, 2006
★★★★☆

Genre: Non-Fiction

Source: Purchased for my Masters class

This balanced history offers a concise, readable introduction to Nazi Germany. Combining compelling narrative storytelling with analysis, Joseph Bendersky presents an authoritative survey of the major political, economic, and social factors that powered the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Now in its third edition, the book incorporates the significant research of recent years. Delving into the complexity of social life within the Nazi state, it also reemphasizes the crucial role played by racial ideology in determining the policies and practices of the Third Reich. Bendersky paints a fascinating picture of how average citizens negotiated their way through both the threatening power behind certain Nazi policies and the strong enticements to acquiesce or collaborate. His classic treatment provides an invaluable overview of a subject that retains its historical significance and contemporary importance.

Bendersky’s A Concise History of Nazi Germany offers an excellent short introduction to Germany as it existed under Nazi control. It covers the elements that contributed to the Nazis attaining power and the downfall of the Weimar Republic, the peak of power, and lastly the collapse of Nazi power following the Second World War. I especially appreciated the last two chapters with a look at the propaganda and the Nuremburg trials. It didn’t just abruptly end with the end of the war as some other books on the subject do, but looked at the extended legacy. This account read as balanced and not incendiary or with an agenda.

Bendersky includes a lot of information into this short book, however it does not feel dense or fact-packed as can tend to happen in short tomes. This is an excellent starting point or refresher for anyone wanting to understand the developments of Nazi Germany and it was an excellent text for class. It does not have the space to dig deeply into the individual elements, but gives enough information on a wide variety of elements to be a sound starting point. For more depth it would benefit to be paired with another work as well.

I would have appreciated the inclusion of footnotes throughout this work, or even endnotes. Instead it was structured where at the end of the text sources were presented in paragraph form based on subject. This makes it difficult if you are to use the work for any sort of research, but helpful if you just want to find further reading.

 
Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

 
Also by Joseph W. Bendersky:

The Jewish Threat: Anti-Semitic Politics of the American Army

 













Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: The Zimmermann Telegram by Barbara W. Tuchman

The Zimmermann Telegram by Barbara Tuchman
Paperback, 256 pages
Random House
March 12, 1985
★★★★☆

Genre: Non-fiction

Source: Purchased for assigned reading for WWI class

“In January 1917, the war in Europe was, at best, a tragic standoff. Britain knew that all was lost unless the United States joined the war, but President Wilson was unshakable in his neutrality. At just this moment, a crack team of British decoders in a quiet office known as Room 40 intercepted a document that would change history. The Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message to the president of Mexico, inviting him to join Germany and Japan in an invasion of the United States. How Britain managed to inform the American government without revealing that the German codes had been broken makes for an incredible story of espionage and intrigue as only Barbara W. Tuchman could tell it.”

Author Barbara W. Tuchman does an excellent job of bringing to light all of the detailed little events that transpired in the lead up to the decision for the United States to enter the war on the side of the Allies. The Zimmerman Telegram was one of the last attempts, of many made by Germany, to tie up the United States in its wartime belligerency with events on its own side of the Atlantic, thus allowing Germany to execute their submarine plan to bring Britain to its knees in a matter of months. Within a very short amount of pages, Tuchman clearly and concisely elucidates the leading actions as well as the immediate aftermath of the telegram’s revelation. Despite being published in the 1950s, her work is still relevant today, albeit with some criticisms.

One of the great strengths of this work is that it is written as narrative non-fiction. The events covered by this book effortlessly lend themselves to this style of writing. Each act of espionage and the inner machinations of Britain’s ubiquitous Room 40 read like the events of a James Bond novel. Tuchman equally infuses the narrative with fact as well with a writing style that oozes modern day action thriller. With no trouble I could envision this facet of history of the First World War playing out on screen today.

By focusing the scope of her work tightly on this signature event in the entrance of the United States into the war, Tuchman is able to bring forward the real importance of the proposed German/Mexican/Japanese alliance. The Zimmermann Telegram is often covered in works on the First World War, however in all of the books I have read on the subject I never felt the importance or believable reality of this alliance. Tuchman spends chapters explaining how during this time period the United States was concerned with the very real threat that Mexico, with the aid of the Germans or the Japanese, could bring to them at home.

One of the things that should be noted is that this book was originally published in 1958. This brings up the issue that some facts surrounding this event have had to be inferred because a lot of the information was still concealed at the time of publication (and even after the revision in 1966). Tuchman speaks to this point to some extent in her author’s note. I have not read anything else this in-depth on this event, but it does make me wonder if in the last sixty years any additional information has been released from various archives that changes the perception of these events. Maybe an exploration of a more recently published book on this subject would be beneficial to my understanding of these events to serve as a comparison to Tuchman’s work.

My one real critique of The Zimmermann Telegram is that Tuchman does occasionally allow for her bias and opinions to bleed into her writing. I know that it can be a very difficult exercise to refrain from including bias in non-fiction writing, but that is a general expectation in non-fiction. One example (of many) in the text of the author’s visible bias is as follows, “Field Marshal von Hindenburg, despite a vague uneasiness stirring the heavy processes of his mind, had allowed himself to be persuaded by his demonic colleague, General Ludendorff” (Tuchman 126). Even just this little slip in the use of the word “demonic” to describe General Ludendorff can show the reader the author’s bias toward the man, certainly, but they could further infer (correctly or not) her views on Germany and Germans in general. It certainly made me wonder if I should believe her account entirely or question it to some extent.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• WWII Diaries
• Resolute Reader

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Barbara Tuchman:

The Guns of August

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914

The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45

The First Salute

Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour

 

Find Barbara Tuchman: Random House Website

 

 

Copyright © 2015 by The Maiden’s Court