2 comments about Deception: Growing Ip in an Amish-Jewish Cult (Growing Up in An Amish-Jewish Cult).

1. Patricia Hochstetler
   Baker Trittin Press (2007)
   ISBN 9780978731656
   Reviewed by Carol Hoyer for Reader Views (9/08)
   
   "Deception" is book two of three, where Ms. Hochstetler continues her story of living in a religious cult. During the ages of six to sixteen she describes how her name was changed to one of the Bible and how all married couples were not allowed to cohabitate. It is a dramatic story of one man's ability to deceive all in the name of the Lord.
   
   Many are looking to receive salvation through God and are willing to sacrifice their own children to live a life of spirituality. Never hearing the words "I love you," or listening to music, read books is a sacrifice these families made.
   
   In "Deception," Ms. Hochstetler warns us that this could happen to us - in our search for the good life we too can fall prey to any man who presents himself as the spokesperson for God.



2. Books 1 and 3 are written much better. Unfortunately, the author rambles and goes back-and-forth in her timeline, and the storyline isn't very coherent. There are, however, additional stories and events told in this book that one cannot read in books 1 and 3. If the reader wants to know as much as possible about the happenings in the author's life, then it should be read; if not, skip it.

No comments about Let Me Continue to Speak the Truth: Bertha Pappenheim as Author and Activist (Monographs of the Hebrew Union College).

1 comments about A Blaze in the Darkening Gloom: The Life of Rav Meir Shapiro.

1. Charles Wengrov's English translation of the original Yiddish manuscript of Rabbi Yehoshua Baumol, a close disciple of Rabbi Meir Shapiro, is one of the most well-written, informative, and inspiring biographies in Judaic literature. The biography is supplemented with historical background, as well as many of the sagacious teachings of Rabbi Meir Shapiro.

2 comments about The Dreyfus Affair: "J`Accuse" and Other Writings.

1. Emile Zola is today the most well known "fighter" in the war to clear Alfred Dreyfus' name in what became known as the Dreyfus Affair in 1890s France. This book compiles Zola's letters (public and not) during this period, with the most famous being J'Accuse, one that earned him a conviction along with stiff fines that eroded his fortune.
   
   Zola is very passionate in Dreyfus' defense, though his passion never leaves behind a devastating logic that made it so difficult to ignore. This is an amazing defense of religious freedom and justice, against prejudice and hatred. Zola manages to weaken, in time, two of the most powerful institution in France at the time: the military and the church. Ten years later the military would no longer play as significant a role in French life, and by 1905 France would pass the law separating Church and State.
   
   After reading the letters, one is filled with Zola's enthusiasm and idealism. Makes one want to go fight injustice and make this a better world. There are very few books about which this can be said.



2. This is an excellent presentation of historical events by a contemporary.

No comments about Rebellious Spirit: Gisela Konopka.

1 comments about Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah.

1. Previously published as "Kinderlager" (1998), "Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah" is the companion book for the PBS special of the same title. In 2001 "Surviving Auschwitz" was named to the Top 10 List of Holocaust Books by the Institute for Higher European Studies in The Hague. For more reviews and comments see "Kinderlager: An Oral History of Young Holocaust Survivors."

1 comments about Ponary Diary, 1941-1943: A Bystander's Account of a Mass Murder.

1. I've decided to read this book because I visited Vilnius (Lithuania) last month and there I visited the KGB museum. The museum is very impressive, but where it does show a lot of wrongs of the KGB (when the Soviets were in power in Lith.), it hardly mentions anything at all about the significant role local Lithuanians played in the Holocaust during WW II. I stumbled upon this title by surfing Amazon, and then decided to order it. The 'Ponary Diary' is hard to digest realy. It is an almost casual diary of a Polish journalist who lived in the area of the infamous killing fields of Ponary. What I found so hard to digest, is the matter-of-fact style in which the entries are written. There is no emotion whatsoever, Sakowicz could have been describing the local cattle slaugther-house. But maybe it is a good thing he writes in such a distanced way, so the facts (the things he actually witnessed with his very own eyes) don't get blurred. I'm glad I read this book, but I would not want to read it again. It is that hard to take. (What bothered me also a bit, was the fact that nothing was written by way of an epilogue, of what happened to those sadistic Lithuanian and German mass-murderers. They remain nameless and faceless for the most part).

No comments about Father of the Orphans: 2 (Jewish Biography Series).

1 comments about James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Construction of Jewish Identity: Culture, Biography, and 'the Jew' in Modernist Europe.

1. An essential guide to understanding Bloom's perception of himself. Davison makes it clear that Joyce's undrstanding of Jews was fluid.

2 comments about The Jewish Book Of Lists.

1. There is no end to making lists, and certainly no end to making lists about the Jews.
   In this work Samberg takes the lighter road, and very much the American - Jewish one. He has sixty events about American- Jewish history , and long lists about Jewish comedians, but he has nothing about Jewish religious thinkers or about turning points in the life of modern Israel.
   In other words this is a kind of peek and skim work which can provide information and amusement, but not serious instruction.



2. This book is one that can keep the attention of anyone. It is filled with interesting and fun facts. It is very enjoyable that even my 17 year old son and my 70 year old mother enjoyed it. Pick this book up and if you do manage to put it down, you'll pick it back up any chance you get. It is an easy read, but if you like fun humor and interesting facts, this is the book for you.