Category Archives: WWII
A Divided Life: A Personal Portrait of the Spy Donald Maclean – Robert Cecil
(Reviewed by Ila Bullinger) Who was Donald Mclean? The son of a parliament member born to class in Marylebone, London in 1913. He was privileged, educated, handsome and charismatic. So why did he become a spy? Could you be persuaded … Continue reading
The Ghetto Swinger: A Berlin Jazz-Legend Remembers – Coco Schumann (Author), John Howard (Translator)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I am a musician, a musician who was imprisoned in a concentration camp, not a concentration camp inmate who also plays some music. The camps and the fear fundamentally changed my life, but it was shaped … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Jazz & Blues, Non-fiction, Our Best, WWII
Tagged anti-antisemitism, Berlin, Germany, jazz, music, Nazism
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Five Days That Shocked the World: Eyewitness Accounts from Europe at the End of World War II – Nicholas Best
(Reviewed by Glenda W. Anderson) Another WWII book? Since this reviewer devours this period of history, before even opening the pages, I thought, “Ah, the last days in the bunker, the Russians getting the honor of performing the coup de … Continue reading
Posted in History, Our Best, WWII
Tagged Audrey Hepburn, book reviews, Hitler, Non-fiction, WWII
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The Hideout – Egon Hostovsky (Translated from the Czech by Fern Long)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “I keep having the feeling that a good half of the human race got drunk in a kind of gigantic space where the air is all breathed out. The born fighters and brawlers started to … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, Lost and almost forgotten, Skinny reads, Slavic Literature, World Literature, WWII
Tagged adultery, Czech, France, introspection, loyalty, WWII
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The Butcher’s Daughter: A Memoir – Florence Grende
(Reviewed by Judy Deutsch ) The Butcher’s Daughter is a personal story of a young girl in Poland during The Holocaust and how she and her family survived. The book reads like a diary and is filled with descriptions during … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Our Best, Skinny reads, WWII
Tagged Holocaust, memoirs, survivors, WWII
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Adua – Igiaba Scego (Translated from the Italian by Jamie Richards)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “In Somalia I was a young girl who was full of dreams and wanted to see the world. In just a few months they’ve manipulated, abused, used, transformed me. It feels like years, not months, have … Continue reading
Posted in African Literature, Culture, Historical Fiction, Immigration, Italian Literature, Our Best, Social Justice, World Issues, World Literature, WWII
Tagged Africa, colonialism, Ethiopia, fiction, Somalia
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Savaged Lands – Lana Kortchik
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Kiev was still burning and executions at Babi Yar continued, even though the river of condemned people had gradually dwindled to a creek. Not because the Germans relented, no. Because there was hardly anyone left to … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, WWII
Tagged book reviews, Romance, Ukraine, WWII
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Sailor Man: The Troubled Life and Times of J.P. Nunnally, U.S. Navy – Del Staecker
(Reviewed by Glenda Anderson) Tremendously touching and skillfully written, Del Staecker’s Sailor Man is succinct yet powerful. And it stunned me. This is a true story of a sixteen-year-old so anxious to join the Navy in WWII and so patriotic to do … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Non-fiction, Our Best, WWII
Tagged biography, book reviews, WWII
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In Secret Service – Mitch Silver
Reviewed by Lillian Thurston Ian Fleming may be gone, but this fascinating tale of a 40-year-old secret resurrects the old master. Raymond Greenberg of New Haven, Connecticut, is dead. As executor to his will, his granddaughter, Amy Greenberg, a young … Continue reading
