The Holocaust: For Beginners - Bresheeth, Hood & Jansz

Haim Bresheeth, Stuart Hood and Litza Jansz - The Holocaust: For Beginners (1994)
Illustrated History – 180 pages - my copy (paperback; 1994) borrowed from the University of Plymouth library during November 2011
- 2 nods out of 5 -



Readers of the Worm’s very recent reviews out there might have noticed a slight slant towards the period of Nazi Germany. We’ve had Taylor’s The Course of German History and then a chronology of Hitler’s life and times. The next instalment: The Holocaust.

The death of millions is never an easy historical period to approach: many documentaries, books and films have been criticised for trivialising or not getting to the heart of the matter and failing to represent the tremendous loss of life. At first glance, The Holocaust: For Beginners appears to fall into the same camp. Normally “beginner” books are for those who wish to cook pasta dishes, speak French or learn how to play the guitar. However, the series from Icon is intent on dealing with galaxy-sized issues to the uninitiated reader. For example, how about: Feminism: For Beginners, Marx: For Beginners, Ecology: For Beginners, and yes, The Universe: For Beginners.

In the space of 180 pages these authors are able to use a sparse amount of wording to get across a great amount of information. This, along with its illustration, is the book’s key to a certain amount of success. The timeline stretches from the Dark Ages (‘the guilt of the Jews’), through to the twentieth century; whilst the major events of the Nazi period are headed, including: The Warsaw Ghetto, The Industrialisation of Mass Murder, and The Killing Centres.

The illustrations are in stark black and white. One such harrowing image is that of compacted dark, gloomy faces in a train, the running caption reading: DOES ANYONE REALLY BELIEVE THAT OUR CRIES WERE NOT HEARD? Yet some of its most striking pages are a sparse amount of text; take for example page 24:

1. You have no right to live among us as Jews.
2. You have no right to live among us.
3. You have no right to live.

During the timeline of the 1930s and 1940s there is little in the way of analysis: that is left to the reader to decide. The final pages are dedicated to a surprisingly in-depth conclusion, about revisionist historians, Holocaust deniers, as well as modern parallels on how the Israeli state treats Palestinians. Will anything ever be learned from History?

It would be false to claim that this book stands toe-to-toe with other, meatier, heavier books on the Holocaust. But, that is not its aim. It is an introduction to the horror and the timeline, allowing the reader to move onwards after reading in search of more truths in this haunting period of human history.


But it here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Holocaust_for_beginners.html?id=yuCSQgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Hitler: A Chronology of his Life & Time - Milan Hauner

Milan Hauner – Hitler: A Chronology of his Life and Time (2008)
History – 220 pages – my copy borrowed from the University of Plymouth Library and read during November 2011
- 3 nods out of 5 -



Another book on Hitler? The author, Milan Hauner, is the first to put his hands up, commenting: ‘Thousands of books have been written about Adolf Hitler, and yet more will be written.’ But why outpouring after outpouring? Hauner is keen to point to another author’s statement that: ‘We are not finished with Hitler yet.’ Yes, not finished by a long chalk.

The Worm, like many others out there in Book-Reading-Land, has done more than his fair share of Hitler-reading, including the good, the bad and the ugly. But something always draws us back for more. An explanation of how it came to be, analysis of Hitler as a man and a leader. It is the great human quest to continue to ask: WHY?

Hauner is one of many thousands of other authors who have attempted such explanation. However, where this book deviates is its complete lack of descriptive narrative and analysis; but rather a mere chronology of events and facts. At first, the reader may ask what is the point in such a task? In the words of W.G. Hoskins, it is the mere meat and potatoes of History; and not the finalised cooked meal. But the Worm argues that it is just this reason that makes Hauner’s book so readable and worthy. It is down to the reader to analyse, to investigate, and see the woods for the trees.

And to be fair, it is not a mere, drab recording of Hitler’s life (from day one as a baby to the cyanide death in the Berlin bunker), but rather a fantastic collection of quotes and events. We, the reader, are with Hitler, day by day, as he jets off to campaign for more votes across Germany, as he calls in the generals for the invasion of Soviet Russia, and in his manic, rabble of an end as he spits against those who have conspired against him.

For example, here a couple of selected quotes from the mind of Hitler that Hauner sees fit to place in the book:

23 May 1939
Hitler tells Raeder he recognises three kinds of secrets:
‘The first is between you and me, the second I keep secret to myself, and the third concerns problems of the future which even I have not completely thought through to their logical conclusion.’

3 September 1939
Britain and France declare war on Germany. Paul Schmidt describes Hitler’s reaction:
‘Hitler sat immobile, gazing before him. He was not at a loss, as was afterwards stated, nor did he rage as others allege. He sat completely silent and unmoving. After an interval, which seemed an age, he turned to Ribbentrop… “What now?”’

11 August 1941
‘I shall no longer be there to see it, but I rejoice on behalf of the German people that one day we will see England and Germany marching together against America… They have an exampled cheek, these English! It doesn’t prevent me from admiring them. In this sphere, they still have a lot to teach us.’


And perhaps the most ghastly and horrifying of all:

17 October 1941
‘We’ll take away its character of an Asiatic steppe, we’ll Europeanise it. With this object, we have undertaken the construction of roads that will lead to the southernmost point of the Crimea and to the Caucasus. These roads will be studded along their whole length with German towns, and around these towns our colonists will settle… I shall no longer be here to see all that, but in twenty years the Ukraine will already be home for 20,000,000 inhabitants besides the natives. In 300 years the country will be one of the loveliest gardens in the world. As for the natives, we’ll have to screen them carefully. The Jew, the destroyer, we shall drive out… We shan’t settle in the Russian towns, and we’ll let them fall to pieces without interrupting. And, above all, no remorse on the subject! We’ll confine ourselves, perhaps, to setting up a radio transmitter under our control. For the rest, let them know just enough to understand our highway signs, so that they won’t get themselves run over by our vehicles! For them the word “liberty” means the right to wash on feast days. If we arrive bringing soft soap, we’ll obtain no sympathy.. There’s only one duty: to Germanise this country by the immigration of Germans and to look upon the natives as Redskins. If these people had defeated us, Heaven have mercy! All those who have the feeling for Europe can join us in our work. In this business I shall go straight ahead, cold-bloodedly. What they may think about me, at this juncture, is to me a matter of complete indifference. I don’t see why a German who eats a piece of bread should torment himself with the idea that the soil that produces this bread has been won by the sword. When we eat wheat from Canada, we don’t think about the despoiled Indians.’


These quotes and events – the entirety of Hitler’s life summed up into two hundred pages – gives a fresh insight into the mind of the man; its development and its projection on the entire world. Hauner’s selection is terse to the point, but yet it opens a window of discussion, of debate, and reflection that is expansive and wide.

For those who cannot get enough of the Nazi period and cannot resist asking the question: WHY, Hauner’s chronology is a must-buy for the book shelves. An enjoyable and worthwhile read; if not the cooked meal of Hoskins’ statement, then a well arranged and colourful plate of informed and seasoned salad.


Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.ca/Hitler-Chronology-his-Life-Time/dp/0230202845

Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons – Watchmen (1987)
Graphic Novel – 420 pages – borrowed from the Comic Library of Colin Channon, read during November 2011
- 5 nods out of 5 -




‘Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.’

And so begins an except from Rorschach’s journal in the first panel of Watchmen. Never heard of this book before? Allow the Worm to enlighten you. Watchmen was a twelve issue comic book in the mid-1980s, cryptically and hauntingly written by Alan Moore (yes, he of V for Vendetta) and wonderfully illustrated by Dave Gibbons (and how about a shout out for the colourist, John Higgins). It is set in an alternate 1985: Nixon is still president of the United States, costumed heroes once patrolled the streets of the cities, and nuclear war with the Soviet Union is close on the horizon.

The writing is indepth and intellectually challenging, and the art-work can make the reader gawp at the page for minutes on end. A thriller and film-noir in comic form, Moore and Gibbons take the reader on a page turner of a mystery centring on a group of former costumed heroes. One of them, The Comedian (a neo-Nazi of a man, yet intriguingly intimate) has been killed and Rorschach is out to find out who is behind it.

The gang includes the spectatclar (Dr Manhatten) and the not so sublime (Nite Owl and Silk Spectre); with a great range of back-stories and flashblack utlisied. As Rorscach - by far the most interesting and disturbed character of Moore’s creations – treads deeper and deeper, a frightening plot is revealed. The ending is one to test the reader’s own moral view-point: what price is peace? And do the means ever justify the end?



The combined issue graphic novel format has a great attention to detail, including fictionalised excerpts of autobiographies, pages from toy catalogues, and interviews with some of the main characters. All in all, it makes this edition a treasure trove of a read; and after borrowing this read, the Worm is intent on buying his own copy for the vaults.

Watchmen is not a read to be missed. Not a fan of comic books? (or “graphic novels”, as us snobs wish to call them) - then the Worm orders you now to forget any previous reading inhibitions and pick up a copy today. It won’t save your life, but it might make you a better person.





Buy it here today:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/1852860243

The Course of German History - A.J.P. Taylor

A.J.P. Taylor – The Course of German History (1945)
History – 270 pages – my copy (paperback; 2007) borrowed from University of Plymouth library
- 4 nods out of 5 -



Written during the end of the bloody and shattering Second World War, A.J.P. Taylor’s The Course of German History is a polemical condemnation of the German nation. Condemnation of its militaristic need to seize land and expand; condemnation of its leaders; and condemnation of its very own people. Hitler, Taylor controversially argues, is a natural progression from Bismarck in the 1800s.The falling bombs and advance of the Soviet army into Nazi Germany is almost predestined; as Taylor states eloquently in the book’s final sentence:

‘The “many great nations”, whom Bismarck had dismissed with scorn, now sat in the seats of Frederick the Great, of Hitler, and of Bismarck himself. German history had run its course.’

Such a viewpoint was reconfirmed in the first paragraph of the preface from 1961:

‘…it shows that it was no more a mistake for the German people to end up with Hitler than it is an accident when a river flows into the sea, though the process is, I daresay, unpleasant for the fresh water.’

Much of Taylor’s work has now been discredited. But the author excels in stirring up a debate, on adding new interpretations, and entertaining his readership. The writing style is lively and engaging; Taylor truly has the novelist’s touch for drama. For example, read his description on the murder of the socialist leaders in 1919:

‘…the “Free Corps”, organisations of out-of-work officers, who would fight against anyone – at first against the Spartacists and Independents, later against any democratic movement, true condottieri, without any principle or belief other than that of the bullet in the back. These gentlemen, deprived of the pleasures of foreign domination, asked nothing better than to slaughter German workers and liberals; and it was officers of the Guards who murdered Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg brutally and without excuse, and also without protest from the Social Democratic government. The Sparticists were broken; but broken too was the life of the German republic.’

Taylor takes the read from the end of the 1700s, through Bonapartist Germany, the rise of Prussia and the forging of the Second Reich, of the burning defeat in the First World War and the uncertainty that came from the Weimar years.

Typical of Taylor, he has divided the past two centuries into emphasised dates (such as chapter 10 the rule of the German Army, 1916-19); whilst the reoccurring divide is that of the “two Germanies”: the past of princes and paupers; of Hohenzollern Prussia and Habsburg Austria; of the Catholic south and the Protestant north. It is almost fitting – in a somewhat morbid sense – that at the book’s close the two Germanies theme continues with the split between West and East.

But had German history run its course in 1945? No, of course not. The river would keep flowing, through the pain and suffering of the Cold War to a reunion once more in 1990. The united Germany is now a pillar of the European Union, a potential force of good in the coming uncertainty of the twenty-first century. Such a reunion was beyond Taylor’s knowledge and remit; but the historian is never positive about Germany’s future, being more in the camp of dividing and weakening this colossus rather than endure the pain of a potential World War Three.


Buy it here and pick your side of the argument!:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Course-German-History-Routledge-Classics/dp/0415254051

Read more about Taylor here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._P._Taylor

Henry VI: Part Two - William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare – Henry VI: Part Two (1591)
Play – read on the wonderful Shakespeare iPhone app during October 2011
- 4 nods out of 5 -

Everything comes in ‘a trilogy’ these days: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, X-Men and even (sigh) Transformers. It seems that Hollywood isn’t content to bore us with just one instalment; the “fun” must be spread over a series of years to keep us entertained (and also keep toy manufacturers in business during the Christmas season).

But here is a trilogy before George Lucas, before Frodo set out on his journey across Middle Earth, before film was invented and before crappy merchandise was utilised to its awful full potential; a trilogy written by the man, the genius, the writer himself: William Shakespeare. Regular readers of the blog may have glanced an eye across the review of the first part of this series, on which Henry comes to the throne and squanders his father’s inheritance of the French lands. Tensions are bubbling beneath, between the rival houses of Lancaster and York. Part Two is where the shedding of blood begins.

The second part of a trilogy can sometimes bring greater rewards than the original (notably Godfather Part II), and Shakespeare himself pulls off a similar trick here. After laying the ground work of potential friction, he gets to town in this play in destroying and laying havoc to the hefty character list (the largest in any Shakespeare play). The house of York are on the rise, and intrigue against Henry’s closest advisors; the first to feel the force of York is Henry’s trusted uncle, Gloucester. Facing trumped up charges, the moral compass of Part One is isolated and victimised, before being murdered to remove him from the picture all completely.

‘Ah, thus King Henry throws away his crutch
Before his legs be firm to bear his body.
Thus the shepherd is beaten from thy side,
And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first.’

Rivalries continue from Part One – such as that between York and Somerset – before being settled in York’s favour; all while Shakespeare demonstrates the flair and ability that illuminates his later masterworks. In ridding the king of his companions, York goes further to stirring up rebellion in the person of Jack Cade, who he hopes will set the match alight to provide his triumph over Lancaster. The comedy element of the play comes in the form of the rise of the rebellion of Jack Cade, and in his stirring cries to his rabble:

CADE:
My father was a Mortimer –

DICK (aside):
He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer.

CADE:
My mother a Plantagenet –

DICK (aside):
I knew her well, she was a midwife.

CADE:
My wife descended of the Lacies –

DICK (aside):
She was indeed a pedlar’s daughter, and sold many laces.

CADE:
Therefore I am of an honourable house.

DICK (aside):
Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable, and there was he born, under a hedge; for his father had never a house but the cage.

CADE:
Valiant I am.

DICK (aside):
‘A must needs, for beggary is valiant.

Cade leads a bloody rampage in London, yelling out to his rebels: ‘Up Fish Street! Down Saint Magnus’ Corner! Kill and knock down! Throw them into the Thames!’ All before being put to flight and ignominious death after a rousing speech delivering by Henry’s confidant, Clifford; reminiscent of the fate suffered by Brutus after the murder of Julius Caesar.

All of the mayhem, the killings and murders finds it climax when the royal families take sides at the battle of St Albans. York returns from Ireland to claim what he believes his rightful inheritance, and all “kicks off” in true, bloody Shakespearian style.

York and Clifford - the saviour of the rebellion – come to fisticuffs in a fight. York tells him: ‘I am resolved for death or dignity.’ Clifford responds: ‘The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.’ But yet York retorts: ‘You were best to go to bed and dream again…’ The fight ends in Clifford’s death; whilst elsewhere on the field of battle York’s son – the future Richard III – kills York’s bête noir, the Duke of Somerset under the sign of the Castle Inn.

Fearing all is lost, Henry flees with his remaining troops back to London. The victorious York calls on his support and asks the Duke of Warwick: ‘What says Lord Warwick? Shall we after them?’ Warwick concludes on a cliff-hanger:

‘After them! Nay, before them, if we can.
Now, by my faith, lords ‘twas a glorious day.
Saint Albons battle won by famous York
Shall be eterniz’d in all age to come.
Sound drum and trumpets, and to London all,
And more such days as these to us befall!’

Such an ending beautifully sets up the scene for the third and final part of Shakespeare’s Henry VI. The sides have formed, the Wars of the Roses has begun. And what is to become of King Henry and the Duke of York? Stay tuned to future editions of the Four Eyed Book Worm to find out.