The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

Not my lightest one either, 13 Jul 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII might teach us. Rees has used the source material from his other historical works to construct a readable, thoughtful and intelligent assessment of what war can teach us about ourselves as humans. The lessons might seem simplistic, but if they were, we wouldn't be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Obviously. And in a clever piece of journalism, Rees juxtaposes material from the various "sides" in the conflicts to demonstrate neatly and quietly, that no one culture can lay claim to evil or the capacity to commit it. We may vary in the way we express our basest instincts, but there's no blue print for producing bad behaviour, or for that matter, altruism. Shattering the smug assumptions about "goodies" and "baddies", which are almost universally fostered in WWII reporting, is one of the most important effects of this book.

So impressed am I, that I plan to read Rees' two other works: "Nazis: A Warning from History" and "Nightmare in the East" in due course. Meantime, in the interests of domestic harmony - "One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly and in a few hours everything was white."


Definately Thought Provoking, 22 Jun 2008
This book was not what i expected, it is a series of essay with an introduction of each essay, the essays are based on the authors meetings with the people discussed. At first the book struck me as overly patronising repeating the same ideas at the start, however after the first few pages this entirely dissapates and i somewhat regret thinking that. The book is the first time that i have ever really thought about the social -rather than military and political- implications of the Second World War. At times very critical and i felt about judgemental and bias about the actual people discussed. Often describing them as murderers which i suppose they are. However at the end of the Book it does neatly some up that however disgusting peoples actions may be in the past it is Human nature, and society that is to blame. Definately worth a read and very relevant, i for one re-evaulated my life and put it in perspective after hearing about the harring tales of murder and cannibalism. Although it was the rape that really disgusted me, Masayo Enomotos description of how easy it was to do, then later on Waltraud Reski's disturbing tale of her mothers rape at the hands of the Red Army. It really makes you question how easy it is to manipulate peoples beliefs to make them do evil and yet how it is the very belief systems themselves that make people do the most heroic things, the very fact they can stand and say "i wont let this happen" Definately worth a read. In the end this is one mans opinion of peoples circumstances, but he does also give you the evidence to make up your own minds. You can tell he worked hard on this it is very well written, and excellently researched and indexed.

Brilliance in simplicity, 08 Apr 2008
I purchased this book to work on my major A level assignment and i have to say, after years and years of analyzing books, this has to be the most simple, accesible and concise book i have read! The book consists of many interviews he has done with war time witnesses and since i was concerning myself with the holocaust, i only read the relevant interviews. Right from the start you can see that Lawrence Rees is something special. He doesnt just analyze what the person is saying to him, he gives fantastic descriptions of the person, where they met and the facial expressions that the person uses. This may seem like nothing, but when put into the context of the interview it truly makes for amazing reading.
By taking your time and really picturing the imagery provided you draw your own opinions of how truthful and in somecases purposefully vague some of the interviewees are at some points. Lawrence provides nothing short of an amazing read and leaves it open enought to draw your own conclusions but puts his own opinions in at just the right times.

Even if your not a history student, or even if your not a history fan, this book is amazing. To prove that this is not an empty statement, my friend at school (where i read most of the book) who does art and hates history couldnt keep her nose out of it! She has never studied this period or shown real interest but found it a wonderful and completely mind-opening read.

Enjoy!!

terribly sad, but so readable, 23 Dec 2007
Laurence Rees has travelled the world meeting people who faced extreme events during World War II. This book is a compilation of short chapters about each one of these cases.

As such it is of course somewhat lacking in depth, but on most of the cases covered there are separate full volumes which have been published which the reader could access if inclined after Rees's work.

Rees's writing still is, as always, fluent and highly readable. The devastating first-hand testimony he reports is a lasting contribution to our understanding of the now increasingly distant war and a powerful insight into the behaviour, good and bad, of human beings in crisis.

Perhaps the saddest case of all is that of Alex Kurzem, the little jewish boy adopted as a mascot by the SS, and subsequently shunned by many of his own people after the war.



Background to terror, 22 Oct 2007
Lawrence Rees has produced two excellent books on Nazism and the Holocaust and it is interesting to read these accounts of interviews which he conducted during his researches. The people involved in these cataclysmic events are fast declining in numbers and it is important that their personal accounts are preserved and published.

What is good about this book is the very wide range of categories of people interviewed, from resistance fighters, to concentration camp workers, from Americans fighting the Japanese, to Russians surviving service in penal batallions.

The book is easy to read as most of the chapters are very short. Lawrence Rees write a certain amount of connecting passages, and sometimes these seem a little trite, containing homilies about mans inhumanity to man etc, but on the whole he adds interesting background material.

In one sense this book gives its readers access to the historian's source material, and it is interesting from this perspective. I suspect on the whole it it better to read the final product of his researches in the other two books but this is an interesting book for those who have read those and want more, or for those who are not used to reading history and need a less demanding way in.

The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

Not my lightest one either, 13 Jul 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII might teach us. Rees has used the source material from his other historical works to construct a readable, thoughtful and intelligent assessment of what war can teach us about ourselves as humans. The lessons might seem simplistic, but if they were, we wouldn't be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Obviously. And in a clever piece of journalism, Rees juxtaposes material from the various "sides" in the conflicts to demonstrate neatly and quietly, that no one culture can lay claim to evil or the capacity to commit it. We may vary in the way we express our basest instincts, but there's no blue print for producing bad behaviour, or for that matter, altruism. Shattering the smug assumptions about "goodies" and "baddies", which are almost universally fostered in WWII reporting, is one of the most important effects of this book.

So impressed am I, that I plan to read Rees' two other works: "Nazis: A Warning from History" and "Nightmare in the East" in due course. Meantime, in the interests of domestic harmony - "One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly and in a few hours everything was white."


Definately Thought Provoking, 22 Jun 2008
This book was not what i expected, it is a series of essay with an introduction of each essay, the essays are based on the authors meetings with the people discussed. At first the book struck me as overly patronising repeating the same ideas at the start, however after the first few pages this entirely dissapates and i somewhat regret thinking that. The book is the first time that i have ever really thought about the social -rather than military and political- implications of the Second World War. At times very critical and i felt about judgemental and bias about the actual people discussed. Often describing them as murderers which i suppose they are. However at the end of the Book it does neatly some up that however disgusting peoples actions may be in the past it is Human nature, and society that is to blame. Definately worth a read and very relevant, i for one re-evaulated my life and put it in perspective after hearing about the harring tales of murder and cannibalism. Although it was the rape that really disgusted me, Masayo Enomotos description of how easy it was to do, then later on Waltraud Reski's disturbing tale of her mothers rape at the hands of the Red Army. It really makes you question how easy it is to manipulate peoples beliefs to make them do evil and yet how it is the very belief systems themselves that make people do the most heroic things, the very fact they can stand and say "i wont let this happen" Definately worth a read. In the end this is one mans opinion of peoples circumstances, but he does also give you the evidence to make up your own minds. You can tell he worked hard on this it is very well written, and excellently researched and indexed.

Brilliance in simplicity, 08 Apr 2008
I purchased this book to work on my major A level assignment and i have to say, after years and years of analyzing books, this has to be the most simple, accesible and concise book i have read! The book consists of many interviews he has done with war time witnesses and since i was concerning myself with the holocaust, i only read the relevant interviews. Right from the start you can see that Lawrence Rees is something special. He doesnt just analyze what the person is saying to him, he gives fantastic descriptions of the person, where they met and the facial expressions that the person uses. This may seem like nothing, but when put into the context of the interview it truly makes for amazing reading.
By taking your time and really picturing the imagery provided you draw your own opinions of how truthful and in somecases purposefully vague some of the interviewees are at some points. Lawrence provides nothing short of an amazing read and leaves it open enought to draw your own conclusions but puts his own opinions in at just the right times.

Even if your not a history student, or even if your not a history fan, this book is amazing. To prove that this is not an empty statement, my friend at school (where i read most of the book) who does art and hates history couldnt keep her nose out of it! She has never studied this period or shown real interest but found it a wonderful and completely mind-opening read.

Enjoy!!

terribly sad, but so readable, 23 Dec 2007
Laurence Rees has travelled the world meeting people who faced extreme events during World War II. This book is a compilation of short chapters about each one of these cases.

As such it is of course somewhat lacking in depth, but on most of the cases covered there are separate full volumes which have been published which the reader could access if inclined after Rees's work.

Rees's writing still is, as always, fluent and highly readable. The devastating first-hand testimony he reports is a lasting contribution to our understanding of the now increasingly distant war and a powerful insight into the behaviour, good and bad, of human beings in crisis.

Perhaps the saddest case of all is that of Alex Kurzem, the little jewish boy adopted as a mascot by the SS, and subsequently shunned by many of his own people after the war.



Background to terror, 22 Oct 2007
Lawrence Rees has produced two excellent books on Nazism and the Holocaust and it is interesting to read these accounts of interviews which he conducted during his researches. The people involved in these cataclysmic events are fast declining in numbers and it is important that their personal accounts are preserved and published.

What is good about this book is the very wide range of categories of people interviewed, from resistance fighters, to concentration camp workers, from Americans fighting the Japanese, to Russians surviving service in penal batallions.

The book is easy to read as most of the chapters are very short. Lawrence Rees write a certain amount of connecting passages, and sometimes these seem a little trite, containing homilies about mans inhumanity to man etc, but on the whole he adds interesting background material.

In one sense this book gives its readers access to the historian's source material, and it is interesting from this perspective. I suspect on the whole it it better to read the final product of his researches in the other two books but this is an interesting book for those who have read those and want more, or for those who are not used to reading history and need a less demanding way in.

Real life, real stories, 13 Feb 2003
If you are the sort of person that ends up chatting to the bloke or woman next to them at Railway Stations then this is the book for you. Terkels basically interviewed people over a number of years about their jobs and how they feel about them. If that sounds boring then just keep your head in another book next time you are sat on a train - I found it a fascinating read.

Great Book, 26 Feb 1999
I read this book 30 years ago. It has probably kept me unemployed for most of that time. Warning if you read this book you may quit your job.

Fascinating look at what we do with the bulk of our time, 08 Apr 1998
Working profiles the working lives of scores of Americans. From prostitute to chief executive, coal mine worker to major league ballplayer- a myriad of professions are covered. The book reads like a documentary (which it is). Terkel has included the most interesting aspects of each case study's working life, and ultimately you see why each continues to pursue their career in that chosen field- or at least what satisfaction they get from showing up everyday. It's a great book to pick up and spend 5 to 10 minutes or so reading about how someone else's working life has parallels to your own. The interviews were conducted mostly during the late 60's and early 70's but while it is slightly dated, even that fact makes for an interesting historical perspective.

The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

Not my lightest one either, 13 Jul 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII might teach us. Rees has used the source material from his other historical works to construct a readable, thoughtful and intelligent assessment of what war can teach us about ourselves as humans. The lessons might seem simplistic, but if they were, we wouldn't be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Obviously. And in a clever piece of journalism, Rees juxtaposes material from the various "sides" in the conflicts to demonstrate neatly and quietly, that no one culture can lay claim to evil or the capacity to commit it. We may vary in the way we express our basest instincts, but there's no blue print for producing bad behaviour, or for that matter, altruism. Shattering the smug assumptions about "goodies" and "baddies", which are almost universally fostered in WWII reporting, is one of the most important effects of this book.

So impressed am I, that I plan to read Rees' two other works: "Nazis: A Warning from History" and "Nightmare in the East" in due course. Meantime, in the interests of domestic harmony - "One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly and in a few hours everything was white."


Definately Thought Provoking, 22 Jun 2008
This book was not what i expected, it is a series of essay with an introduction of each essay, the essays are based on the authors meetings with the people discussed. At first the book struck me as overly patronising repeating the same ideas at the start, however after the first few pages this entirely dissapates and i somewhat regret thinking that. The book is the first time that i have ever really thought about the social -rather than military and political- implications of the Second World War. At times very critical and i felt about judgemental and bias about the actual people discussed. Often describing them as murderers which i suppose they are. However at the end of the Book it does neatly some up that however disgusting peoples actions may be in the past it is Human nature, and society that is to blame. Definately worth a read and very relevant, i for one re-evaulated my life and put it in perspective after hearing about the harring tales of murder and cannibalism. Although it was the rape that really disgusted me, Masayo Enomotos description of how easy it was to do, then later on Waltraud Reski's disturbing tale of her mothers rape at the hands of the Red Army. It really makes you question how easy it is to manipulate peoples beliefs to make them do evil and yet how it is the very belief systems themselves that make people do the most heroic things, the very fact they can stand and say "i wont let this happen" Definately worth a read. In the end this is one mans opinion of peoples circumstances, but he does also give you the evidence to make up your own minds. You can tell he worked hard on this it is very well written, and excellently researched and indexed.

Brilliance in simplicity, 08 Apr 2008
I purchased this book to work on my major A level assignment and i have to say, after years and years of analyzing books, this has to be the most simple, accesible and concise book i have read! The book consists of many interviews he has done with war time witnesses and since i was concerning myself with the holocaust, i only read the relevant interviews. Right from the start you can see that Lawrence Rees is something special. He doesnt just analyze what the person is saying to him, he gives fantastic descriptions of the person, where they met and the facial expressions that the person uses. This may seem like nothing, but when put into the context of the interview it truly makes for amazing reading.
By taking your time and really picturing the imagery provided you draw your own opinions of how truthful and in somecases purposefully vague some of the interviewees are at some points. Lawrence provides nothing short of an amazing read and leaves it open enought to draw your own conclusions but puts his own opinions in at just the right times.

Even if your not a history student, or even if your not a history fan, this book is amazing. To prove that this is not an empty statement, my friend at school (where i read most of the book) who does art and hates history couldnt keep her nose out of it! She has never studied this period or shown real interest but found it a wonderful and completely mind-opening read.

Enjoy!!

terribly sad, but so readable, 23 Dec 2007
Laurence Rees has travelled the world meeting people who faced extreme events during World War II. This book is a compilation of short chapters about each one of these cases.

As such it is of course somewhat lacking in depth, but on most of the cases covered there are separate full volumes which have been published which the reader could access if inclined after Rees's work.

Rees's writing still is, as always, fluent and highly readable. The devastating first-hand testimony he reports is a lasting contribution to our understanding of the now increasingly distant war and a powerful insight into the behaviour, good and bad, of human beings in crisis.

Perhaps the saddest case of all is that of Alex Kurzem, the little jewish boy adopted as a mascot by the SS, and subsequently shunned by many of his own people after the war.



Background to terror, 22 Oct 2007
Lawrence Rees has produced two excellent books on Nazism and the Holocaust and it is interesting to read these accounts of interviews which he conducted during his researches. The people involved in these cataclysmic events are fast declining in numbers and it is important that their personal accounts are preserved and published.

What is good about this book is the very wide range of categories of people interviewed, from resistance fighters, to concentration camp workers, from Americans fighting the Japanese, to Russians surviving service in penal batallions.

The book is easy to read as most of the chapters are very short. Lawrence Rees write a certain amount of connecting passages, and sometimes these seem a little trite, containing homilies about mans inhumanity to man etc, but on the whole he adds interesting background material.

In one sense this book gives its readers access to the historian's source material, and it is interesting from this perspective. I suspect on the whole it it better to read the final product of his researches in the other two books but this is an interesting book for those who have read those and want more, or for those who are not used to reading history and need a less demanding way in.

Real life, real stories, 13 Feb 2003
If you are the sort of person that ends up chatting to the bloke or woman next to them at Railway Stations then this is the book for you. Terkels basically interviewed people over a number of years about their jobs and how they feel about them. If that sounds boring then just keep your head in another book next time you are sat on a train - I found it a fascinating read.

Great Book, 26 Feb 1999
I read this book 30 years ago. It has probably kept me unemployed for most of that time. Warning if you read this book you may quit your job.

Fascinating look at what we do with the bulk of our time, 08 Apr 1998
Working profiles the working lives of scores of Americans. From prostitute to chief executive, coal mine worker to major league ballplayer- a myriad of professions are covered. The book reads like a documentary (which it is). Terkel has included the most interesting aspects of each case study's working life, and ultimately you see why each continues to pursue their career in that chosen field- or at least what satisfaction they get from showing up everyday. It's a great book to pick up and spend 5 to 10 minutes or so reading about how someone else's working life has parallels to your own. The interviews were conducted mostly during the late 60's and early 70's but while it is slightly dated, even that fact makes for an interesting historical perspective.

Superb!, 14 Sep 2008
This book details the experiences of ordinary men and women serving in the Royal Navy from 1914-45.I found it really interesting,as many accounts are told.The battle of Jutland,the disastrous Gallipoli affair.The harsh training one could expect.There's many stories from the inter-war years,that I knew nothing about.The Second World War experiences are excellently described.There are also many tales of heartbreak and tragedy.Its a shame a lot of our younger generation don't have the same spirit today.Every one who told their story here,deserves to be saluted.

The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

Not my lightest one either, 13 Jul 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII might teach us. Rees has used the source material from his other historical works to construct a readable, thoughtful and intelligent assessment of what war can teach us about ourselves as humans. The lessons might seem simplistic, but if they were, we wouldn't be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Obviously. And in a clever piece of journalism, Rees juxtaposes material from the various "sides" in the conflicts to demonstrate neatly and quietly, that no one culture can lay claim to evil or the capacity to commit it. We may vary in the way we express our basest instincts, but there's no blue print for producing bad behaviour, or for that matter, altruism. Shattering the smug assumptions about "goodies" and "baddies", which are almost universally fostered in WWII reporting, is one of the most important effects of this book.

So impressed am I, that I plan to read Rees' two other works: "Nazis: A Warning from History" and "Nightmare in the East" in due course. Meantime, in the interests of domestic harmony - "One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly and in a few hours everything was white."


Definately Thought Provoking, 22 Jun 2008
This book was not what i expected, it is a series of essay with an introduction of each essay, the essays are based on the authors meetings with the people discussed. At first the book struck me as overly patronising repeating the same ideas at the start, however after the first few pages this entirely dissapates and i somewhat regret thinking that. The book is the first time that i have ever really thought about the social -rather than military and political- implications of the Second World War. At times very critical and i felt about judgemental and bias about the actual people discussed. Often describing them as murderers which i suppose they are. However at the end of the Book it does neatly some up that however disgusting peoples actions may be in the past it is Human nature, and society that is to blame. Definately worth a read and very relevant, i for one re-evaulated my life and put it in perspective after hearing about the harring tales of murder and cannibalism. Although it was the rape that really disgusted me, Masayo Enomotos description of how easy it was to do, then later on Waltraud Reski's disturbing tale of her mothers rape at the hands of the Red Army. It really makes you question how easy it is to manipulate peoples beliefs to make them do evil and yet how it is the very belief systems themselves that make people do the most heroic things, the very fact they can stand and say "i wont let this happen" Definately worth a read. In the end this is one mans opinion of peoples circumstances, but he does also give you the evidence to make up your own minds. You can tell he worked hard on this it is very well written, and excellently researched and indexed.

Brilliance in simplicity, 08 Apr 2008
I purchased this book to work on my major A level assignment and i have to say, after years and years of analyzing books, this has to be the most simple, accesible and concise book i have read! The book consists of many interviews he has done with war time witnesses and since i was concerning myself with the holocaust, i only read the relevant interviews. Right from the start you can see that Lawrence Rees is something special. He doesnt just analyze what the person is saying to him, he gives fantastic descriptions of the person, where they met and the facial expressions that the person uses. This may seem like nothing, but when put into the context of the interview it truly makes for amazing reading.
By taking your time and really picturing the imagery provided you draw your own opinions of how truthful and in somecases purposefully vague some of the interviewees are at some points. Lawrence provides nothing short of an amazing read and leaves it open enought to draw your own conclusions but puts his own opinions in at just the right times.

Even if your not a history student, or even if your not a history fan, this book is amazing. To prove that this is not an empty statement, my friend at school (where i read most of the book) who does art and hates history couldnt keep her nose out of it! She has never studied this period or shown real interest but found it a wonderful and completely mind-opening read.

Enjoy!!

terribly sad, but so readable, 23 Dec 2007
Laurence Rees has travelled the world meeting people who faced extreme events during World War II. This book is a compilation of short chapters about each one of these cases.

As such it is of course somewhat lacking in depth, but on most of the cases covered there are separate full volumes which have been published which the reader could access if inclined after Rees's work.

Rees's writing still is, as always, fluent and highly readable. The devastating first-hand testimony he reports is a lasting contribution to our understanding of the now increasingly distant war and a powerful insight into the behaviour, good and bad, of human beings in crisis.

Perhaps the saddest case of all is that of Alex Kurzem, the little jewish boy adopted as a mascot by the SS, and subsequently shunned by many of his own people after the war.



Background to terror, 22 Oct 2007
Lawrence Rees has produced two excellent books on Nazism and the Holocaust and it is interesting to read these accounts of interviews which he conducted during his researches. The people involved in these cataclysmic events are fast declining in numbers and it is important that their personal accounts are preserved and published.

What is good about this book is the very wide range of categories of people interviewed, from resistance fighters, to concentration camp workers, from Americans fighting the Japanese, to Russians surviving service in penal batallions.

The book is easy to read as most of the chapters are very short. Lawrence Rees write a certain amount of connecting passages, and sometimes these seem a little trite, containing homilies about mans inhumanity to man etc, but on the whole he adds interesting background material.

In one sense this book gives its readers access to the historian's source material, and it is interesting from this perspective. I suspect on the whole it it better to read the final product of his researches in the other two books but this is an interesting book for those who have read those and want more, or for those who are not used to reading history and need a less demanding way in.

Real life, real stories, 13 Feb 2003
If you are the sort of person that ends up chatting to the bloke or woman next to them at Railway Stations then this is the book for you. Terkels basically interviewed people over a number of years about their jobs and how they feel about them. If that sounds boring then just keep your head in another book next time you are sat on a train - I found it a fascinating read.

Great Book, 26 Feb 1999
I read this book 30 years ago. It has probably kept me unemployed for most of that time. Warning if you read this book you may quit your job.

Fascinating look at what we do with the bulk of our time, 08 Apr 1998
Working profiles the working lives of scores of Americans. From prostitute to chief executive, coal mine worker to major league ballplayer- a myriad of professions are covered. The book reads like a documentary (which it is). Terkel has included the most interesting aspects of each case study's working life, and ultimately you see why each continues to pursue their career in that chosen field- or at least what satisfaction they get from showing up everyday. It's a great book to pick up and spend 5 to 10 minutes or so reading about how someone else's working life has parallels to your own. The interviews were conducted mostly during the late 60's and early 70's but while it is slightly dated, even that fact makes for an interesting historical perspective.

Superb!, 14 Sep 2008
This book details the experiences of ordinary men and women serving in the Royal Navy from 1914-45.I found it really interesting,as many accounts are told.The battle of Jutland,the disastrous Gallipoli affair.The harsh training one could expect.There's many stories from the inter-war years,that I knew nothing about.The Second World War experiences are excellently described.There are also many tales of heartbreak and tragedy.Its a shame a lot of our younger generation don't have the same spirit today.Every one who told their story here,deserves to be saluted.

With a pinch of salt, 17 Jun 2008
At the heading to one chapter an anonymous contributor states that a woman on seeing incendiaries falling over London, puts up her umbrella and goes out 'singing in the rain'. As 'singing in the rain' was made in 1952, it quite probably isn't true! I also don't believe the one about the RAF pilot being killed by farm workers who wouldn't accept he was British. he only had to tell them to where to go, so to speak.

Perhaps memories are becoming a little fuzzy with time.

The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

Not my lightest one either, 13 Jul 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII might teach us. Rees has used the source material from his other historical works to construct a readable, thoughtful and intelligent assessment of what war can teach us about ourselves as humans. The lessons might seem simplistic, but if they were, we wouldn't be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Obviously. And in a clever piece of journalism, Rees juxtaposes material from the various "sides" in the conflicts to demonstrate neatly and quietly, that no one culture can lay claim to evil or the capacity to commit it. We may vary in the way we express our basest instincts, but there's no blue print for producing bad behaviour, or for that matter, altruism. Shattering the smug assumptions about "goodies" and "baddies", which are almost universally fostered in WWII reporting, is one of the most important effects of this book.

So impressed am I, that I plan to read Rees' two other works: "Nazis: A Warning from History" and "Nightmare in the East" in due course. Meantime, in the interests of domestic harmony - "One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly and in a few hours everything was white."


Definately Thought Provoking, 22 Jun 2008
This book was not what i expected, it is a series of essay with an introduction of each essay, the essays are based on the authors meetings with the people discussed. At first the book struck me as overly patronising repeating the same ideas at the start, however after the first few pages this entirely dissapates and i somewhat regret thinking that. The book is the first time that i have ever really thought about the social -rather than military and political- implications of the Second World War. At times very critical and i felt about judgemental and bias about the actual people discussed. Often describing them as murderers which i suppose they are. However at the end of the Book it does neatly some up that however disgusting peoples actions may be in the past it is Human nature, and society that is to blame. Definately worth a read and very relevant, i for one re-evaulated my life and put it in perspective after hearing about the harring tales of murder and cannibalism. Although it was the rape that really disgusted me, Masayo Enomotos description of how easy it was to do, then later on Waltraud Reski's disturbing tale of her mothers rape at the hands of the Red Army. It really makes you question how easy it is to manipulate peoples beliefs to make them do evil and yet how it is the very belief systems themselves that make people do the most heroic things, the very fact they can stand and say "i wont let this happen" Definately worth a read. In the end this is one mans opinion of peoples circumstances, but he does also give you the evidence to make up your own minds. You can tell he worked hard on this it is very well written, and excellently researched and indexed.

Brilliance in simplicity, 08 Apr 2008
I purchased this book to work on my major A level assignment and i have to say, after years and years of analyzing books, this has to be the most simple, accesible and concise book i have read! The book consists of many interviews he has done with war time witnesses and since i was concerning myself with the holocaust, i only read the relevant interviews. Right from the start you can see that Lawrence Rees is something special. He doesnt just analyze what the person is saying to him, he gives fantastic descriptions of the person, where they met and the facial expressions that the person uses. This may seem like nothing, but when put into the context of the interview it truly makes for amazing reading.
By taking your time and really picturing the imagery provided you draw your own opinions of how truthful and in somecases purposefully vague some of the interviewees are at some points. Lawrence provides nothing short of an amazing read and leaves it open enought to draw your own conclusions but puts his own opinions in at just the right times.

Even if your not a history student, or even if your not a history fan, this book is amazing. To prove that this is not an empty statement, my friend at school (where i read most of the book) who does art and hates history couldnt keep her nose out of it! She has never studied this period or shown real interest but found it a wonderful and completely mind-opening read.

Enjoy!!

terribly sad, but so readable, 23 Dec 2007
Laurence Rees has travelled the world meeting people who faced extreme events during World War II. This book is a compilation of short chapters about each one of these cases.

As such it is of course somewhat lacking in depth, but on most of the cases covered there are separate full volumes which have been published which the reader could access if inclined after Rees's work.

Rees's writing still is, as always, fluent and highly readable. The devastating first-hand testimony he reports is a lasting contribution to our understanding of the now increasingly distant war and a powerful insight into the behaviour, good and bad, of human beings in crisis.

Perhaps the saddest case of all is that of Alex Kurzem, the little jewish boy adopted as a mascot by the SS, and subsequently shunned by many of his own people after the war.



Background to terror, 22 Oct 2007
Lawrence Rees has produced two excellent books on Nazism and the Holocaust and it is interesting to read these accounts of interviews which he conducted during his researches. The people involved in these cataclysmic events are fast declining in numbers and it is important that their personal accounts are preserved and published.

What is good about this book is the very wide range of categories of people interviewed, from resistance fighters, to concentration camp workers, from Americans fighting the Japanese, to Russians surviving service in penal batallions.

The book is easy to read as most of the chapters are very short. Lawrence Rees write a certain amount of connecting passages, and sometimes these seem a little trite, containing homilies about mans inhumanity to man etc, but on the whole he adds interesting background material.

In one sense this book gives its readers access to the historian's source material, and it is interesting from this perspective. I suspect on the whole it it better to read the final product of his researches in the other two books but this is an interesting book for those who have read those and want more, or for those who are not used to reading history and need a less demanding way in.

Real life, real stories, 13 Feb 2003
If you are the sort of person that ends up chatting to the bloke or woman next to them at Railway Stations then this is the book for you. Terkels basically interviewed people over a number of years about their jobs and how they feel about them. If that sounds boring then just keep your head in another book next time you are sat on a train - I found it a fascinating read.

Great Book, 26 Feb 1999
I read this book 30 years ago. It has probably kept me unemployed for most of that time. Warning if you read this book you may quit your job.

Fascinating look at what we do with the bulk of our time, 08 Apr 1998
Working profiles the working lives of scores of Americans. From prostitute to chief executive, coal mine worker to major league ballplayer- a myriad of professions are covered. The book reads like a documentary (which it is). Terkel has included the most interesting aspects of each case study's working life, and ultimately you see why each continues to pursue their career in that chosen field- or at least what satisfaction they get from showing up everyday. It's a great book to pick up and spend 5 to 10 minutes or so reading about how someone else's working life has parallels to your own. The interviews were conducted mostly during the late 60's and early 70's but while it is slightly dated, even that fact makes for an interesting historical perspective.

Superb!, 14 Sep 2008
This book details the experiences of ordinary men and women serving in the Royal Navy from 1914-45.I found it really interesting,as many accounts are told.The battle of Jutland,the disastrous Gallipoli affair.The harsh training one could expect.There's many stories from the inter-war years,that I knew nothing about.The Second World War experiences are excellently described.There are also many tales of heartbreak and tragedy.Its a shame a lot of our younger generation don't have the same spirit today.Every one who told their story here,deserves to be saluted.

With a pinch of salt, 17 Jun 2008
At the heading to one chapter an anonymous contributor states that a woman on seeing incendiaries falling over London, puts up her umbrella and goes out 'singing in the rain'. As 'singing in the rain' was made in 1952, it quite probably isn't true! I also don't believe the one about the RAF pilot being killed by farm workers who wouldn't accept he was British. he only had to tell them to where to go, so to speak.

Perhaps memories are becoming a little fuzzy with time.

Stunning, 29 Jan 2008
A marvellous collection of interviews from the archives of the frankly superb "The World At War" television series.
The interviewees range from the civilian to the military & the victors to the defeated but all had their lives indelibly marked by the Second World War.
This is a hefty volume of thirty five chapters covering not only the major campaigns & battles such as Barbarossa, the Battle Of Britain & North Africa but also recounts the witness testimonies of those affected by the Holocaust & also examines Japanese Militarism, Winston Churchill & a large number of other topics which were so well covered in the television programme.
This is an excellent collection of the testimonies of those who saw it all happen - a superb oral history.

The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

Not my lightest one either, 13 Jul 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII might teach us. Rees has used the source material from his other historical works to construct a readable, thoughtful and intelligent assessment of what war can teach us about ourselves as humans. The lessons might seem simplistic, but if they were, we wouldn't be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Obviously. And in a clever piece of journalism, Rees juxtaposes material from the various "sides" in the conflicts to demonstrate neatly and quietly, that no one culture can lay claim to evil or the capacity to commit it. We may vary in the way we express our basest instincts, but there's no blue print for producing bad behaviour, or for that matter, altruism. Shattering the smug assumptions about "goodies" and "baddies", which are almost universally fostered in WWII reporting, is one of the most important effects of this book.

So impressed am I, that I plan to read Rees' two other works: "Nazis: A Warning from History" and "Nightmare in the East" in due course. Meantime, in the interests of domestic harmony - "One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly and in a few hours everything was white."


Definately Thought Provoking, 22 Jun 2008
This book was not what i expected, it is a series of essay with an introduction of each essay, the essays are based on the authors meetings with the people discussed. At first the book struck me as overly patronising repeating the same ideas at the start, however after the first few pages this entirely dissapates and i somewhat regret thinking that. The book is the first time that i have ever really thought about the social -rather than military and political- implications of the Second World War. At times very critical and i felt about judgemental and bias about the actual people discussed. Often describing them as murderers which i suppose they are. However at the end of the Book it does neatly some up that however disgusting peoples actions may be in the past it is Human nature, and society that is to blame. Definately worth a read and very relevant, i for one re-evaulated my life and put it in perspective after hearing about the harring tales of murder and cannibalism. Although it was the rape that really disgusted me, Masayo Enomotos description of how easy it was to do, then later on Waltraud Reski's disturbing tale of her mothers rape at the hands of the Red Army. It really makes you question how easy it is to manipulate peoples beliefs to make them do evil and yet how it is the very belief systems themselves that make people do the most heroic things, the very fact they can stand and say "i wont let this happen" Definately worth a read. In the end this is one mans opinion of peoples circumstances, but he does also give you the evidence to make up your own minds. You can tell he worked hard on this it is very well written, and excellently researched and indexed.

Brilliance in simplicity, 08 Apr 2008
I purchased this book to work on my major A level assignment and i have to say, after years and years of analyzing books, this has to be the most simple, accesible and concise book i have read! The book consists of many interviews he has done with war time witnesses and since i was concerning myself with the holocaust, i only read the relevant interviews. Right from the start you can see that Lawrence Rees is something special. He doesnt just analyze what the person is saying to him, he gives fantastic descriptions of the person, where they met and the facial expressions that the person uses. This may seem like nothing, but when put into the context of the interview it truly makes for amazing reading.
By taking your time and really picturing the imagery provided you draw your own opinions of how truthful and in somecases purposefully vague some of the interviewees are at some points. Lawrence provides nothing short of an amazing read and leaves it open enought to draw your own conclusions but puts his own opinions in at just the right times.

Even if your not a history student, or even if your not a history fan, this book is amazing. To prove that this is not an empty statement, my friend at school (where i read most of the book) who does art and hates history couldnt keep her nose out of it! She has never studied this period or shown real interest but found it a wonderful and completely mind-opening read.

Enjoy!!

terribly sad, but so readable, 23 Dec 2007
Laurence Rees has travelled the world meeting people who faced extreme events during World War II. This book is a compilation of short chapters about each one of these cases.

As such it is of course somewhat lacking in depth, but on most of the cases covered there are separate full volumes which have been published which the reader could access if inclined after Rees's work.

Rees's writing still is, as always, fluent and highly readable. The devastating first-hand testimony he reports is a lasting contribution to our understanding of the now increasingly distant war and a powerful insight into the behaviour, good and bad, of human beings in crisis.

Perhaps the saddest case of all is that of Alex Kurzem, the little jewish boy adopted as a mascot by the SS, and subsequently shunned by many of his own people after the war.



Background to terror, 22 Oct 2007
Lawrence Rees has produced two excellent books on Nazism and the Holocaust and it is interesting to read these accounts of interviews which he conducted during his researches. The people involved in these cataclysmic events are fast declining in numbers and it is important that their personal accounts are preserved and published.

What is good about this book is the very wide range of categories of people interviewed, from resistance fighters, to concentration camp workers, from Americans fighting the Japanese, to Russians surviving service in penal batallions.

The book is easy to read as most of the chapters are very short. Lawrence Rees write a certain amount of connecting passages, and sometimes these seem a little trite, containing homilies about mans inhumanity to man etc, but on the whole he adds interesting background material.

In one sense this book gives its readers access to the historian's source material, and it is interesting from this perspective. I suspect on the whole it it better to read the final product of his researches in the other two books but this is an interesting book for those who have read those and want more, or for those who are not used to reading history and need a less demanding way in.

Real life, real stories, 13 Feb 2003
If you are the sort of person that ends up chatting to the bloke or woman next to them at Railway Stations then this is the book for you. Terkels basically interviewed people over a number of years about their jobs and how they feel about them. If that sounds boring then just keep your head in another book next time you are sat on a train - I found it a fascinating read.

Great Book, 26 Feb 1999
I read this book 30 years ago. It has probably kept me unemployed for most of that time. Warning if you read this book you may quit your job.

Fascinating look at what we do with the bulk of our time, 08 Apr 1998
Working profiles the working lives of scores of Americans. From prostitute to chief executive, coal mine worker to major league ballplayer- a myriad of professions are covered. The book reads like a documentary (which it is). Terkel has included the most interesting aspects of each case study's working life, and ultimately you see why each continues to pursue their career in that chosen field- or at least what satisfaction they get from showing up everyday. It's a great book to pick up and spend 5 to 10 minutes or so reading about how someone else's working life has parallels to your own. The interviews were conducted mostly during the late 60's and early 70's but while it is slightly dated, even that fact makes for an interesting historical perspective.

Superb!, 14 Sep 2008
This book details the experiences of ordinary men and women serving in the Royal Navy from 1914-45.I found it really interesting,as many accounts are told.The battle of Jutland,the disastrous Gallipoli affair.The harsh training one could expect.There's many stories from the inter-war years,that I knew nothing about.The Second World War experiences are excellently described.There are also many tales of heartbreak and tragedy.Its a shame a lot of our younger generation don't have the same spirit today.Every one who told their story here,deserves to be saluted.

With a pinch of salt, 17 Jun 2008
At the heading to one chapter an anonymous contributor states that a woman on seeing incendiaries falling over London, puts up her umbrella and goes out 'singing in the rain'. As 'singing in the rain' was made in 1952, it quite probably isn't true! I also don't believe the one about the RAF pilot being killed by farm workers who wouldn't accept he was British. he only had to tell them to where to go, so to speak.

Perhaps memories are becoming a little fuzzy with time.

Stunning, 29 Jan 2008
A marvellous collection of interviews from the archives of the frankly superb "The World At War" television series.
The interviewees range from the civilian to the military & the victors to the defeated but all had their lives indelibly marked by the Second World War.
This is a hefty volume of thirty five chapters covering not only the major campaigns & battles such as Barbarossa, the Battle Of Britain & North Africa but also recounts the witness testimonies of those affected by the Holocaust & also examines Japanese Militarism, Winston Churchill & a large number of other topics which were so well covered in the television programme.
This is an excellent collection of the testimonies of those who saw it all happen - a superb oral history.

Brilliant portraits and gripping journalism, 29 Jan 2007
This is a great two-hander if you like photography books with a little more of the background on their subjects. Fennell's portraits are very good - revealing, touching and poignant. And the stories Bunbury has written for each of the people who appear in the book add an extra, brilliant dimension. Look at the portraits, read the story and then go back and see how much more history you can see written in the faces of these beautiful, stoic people.

Rather than whinge about how life might have changed in a modern country, most of those who sat before Fennell's lens accepted their lot with the same grace and charm with which they have accepted hardship, misfortune and tragedy, as they lived their lives in some of the least clement parts of that fair isle.

What impresses the reader most, is the love for life and great joy these people also experienced in their communities. By focusing on individuals within different hamlets around the country, we get an insight into what life was like long before Ireland became prosperous. It is one of the best treatise I've ever read on how happiness is never measured by the amount of gold in your pocket. That comes from your love of life.

I look forward to reading volume 2




vanishing ireland , 07 Jan 2007
if it is possible to request A. Rogers the recent reviewer of Vanishing Ireland to contact the author of Vanishing Ireland Turtle Bunbury via email at ;tbunbury@gmail.com
Turtle would like to communicate with A. Rodgers,
to discuss some of his comments and ideas,
thank you , declan doyle

Barely Scratches the Surface, 22 Dec 2006
I bought this book thinking it would be a somewhat detailed chronicling of the traditional ways of life in Ireland that are rapidly fading away but it doesn't get under the surface of rural, traditional Ireland at all.

This book is very much an outsiders view of what traditional Irish life is like, even if the author is Irish himself it is quite clear he doesn't have much of a conception of the way of life he is trying to depict. It would also appear that he has not spent a great deal of effort trying to really get to know this way of life so that he can better represent it in his book. His book states that it is attempting to show traditional Irish life that is rapidly fading away with the emergence of the Celtic Tiger when in fact his book is nothing more than a chronicling of some elderly people's lives and a brief summation of their life's history and sometimes their family history. This style which merely describes the lives of some elderly people living out traditional lives is surely not the best way to really get under the skin and really show to outsiders what traditional Irish life is really like. It seems that the author has a certain market in mind and it is not one that really wants to know and find out about traditional Ireland but rather one which is interested in a typical clichéd view of traditional Ireland.

The main flaw with the book is that it chooses to depict a traditional way of life through individuals rather than through communities and society. After all this is a large part of what makes traditional life different from modern life, the fact that community spirit was so strong in traditional society. It is simply impossible to represent that in a book that focuses narrowly on individuals and to a lesser extent their families.

The photographs in the book also follow the same style as the narrative, ie they don't really give an accurate representation of traditional life. Almost all of the photos are of individual people. The people they show are always posing in their best clothes, whether they be in front of some landscape or a house or in their homes. Again to draw a parallel with the narrative the photos take the people out of the communities, societies and livelihoods that they live and show them as individuals.

It is quite ironic that this book's main aim is to depict a rapidly disappearing traditional Ireland and that it fails because it is in fact a part of the "brave new Ireland" that is sweeping it away.


Beautiful, 01 Dec 2006
This book moved me to tears, the prose and photography demonstrate a sensitivity and love of an almost vanished Ireland. They have managed to capture what is left of our soul before we sold it to the Celtic Tiger. A must buy and a magnificent book...

Vanishing Ireland - Excellent !, 07 Nov 2006
I bought this book last week - MAGIC ! Congratulations
I have read it cover to cover - it is such an excellent account on our true Irish people.
I would hightly recomend this book as it gives a great insight into the real charactors of Ireland who will "Vanish" soon.

Max Arthur's compilation of First World War memories, Forgotten Voices of the Great War, offers a reminder of the scale of human experience within the 1914-18 conflict. Arthur, a military historian best known for his history of the RAF and his account of the Falklands campaign in 1982, has assembled hundreds of excerpts from the sound archives of the Imperial War Museum. Officers, rank-and-file troops, Australians, Americans, war widows, women in the munitions factories, and German soldiers too, all left oral testimony of their experiences, and these interviews provide the basis of the book. Arthur has put them in chronological and campaign order, and provided a general commentary, but beyond that, has left the rich and moving record to speak for itself.

The sheer humdrum ordinariness of modern warfare--the mud and rain, the relentless loss of life and inevitability of death, the pointless routine of attrition--come over in the matter-of-fact recollections of so many. But so too does the humanity and morality of the ordinary soldier--a factor that rather belies the recent emphasis amongst some historians on how soldiers loved to kill. Arthur might have intruded more. No biographical information is given about the owners of these "voices", nor does he say when, where and how this oral testimony was gathered.

These quibbles aside this is a worthwhile read and should encourage people not only to observe a minute's silence on Remembrance Day, but also to spend a few hours in the Imperial War Museum itself. --Miles Taylor

The Dambuster raid comes alive, 11 Nov 2008
There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

Not my lightest one either, 13 Jul 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII might teach us. Rees has used the source material from his other historical works to construct a readable, thoughtful and intelligent assessment of what war can teach us about ourselves as humans. The lessons might seem simplistic, but if they were, we wouldn't be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Obviously. And in a clever piece of journalism, Rees juxtaposes material from the various "sides" in the conflicts to demonstrate neatly and quietly, that no one culture can lay claim to evil or the capacity to commit it. We may vary in the way we express our basest instincts, but there's no blue print for producing bad behaviour, or for that matter, altruism. Shattering the smug assumptions about "goodies" and "baddies", which are almost universally fostered in WWII reporting, is one of the most important effects of this book.

So impressed am I, that I plan to read Rees' two other works: "Nazis: A Warning from History" and "Nightmare in the East" in due course. Meantime, in the interests of domestic harmony - "One grey morning the first snow began to fall in the Valley of the Moomins. It fell softly and quietly and in a few hours everything was white."


Definately Thought Provoking, 22 Jun 2008
This book was not what i expected, it is a series of essay with an introduction of each essay, the essays are based on the authors meetings with the people discussed. At first the book struck me as overly patronising repeating the same ideas at the start, however after the first few pages this entirely dissapates and i somewhat regret thinking that. The book is the first time that i have ever really thought about the social -rather than military and political- implications of the Second World War. At times very critical and i felt about judgemental and bias about the actual people discussed. Often describing them as murderers which i suppose they are. However at the end of the Book it does neatly some up that however disgusting peoples actions may be in the past it is Human nature, and society that is to blame. Definately worth a read and very relevant, i for one re-evaulated my life and put it in perspective after hearing about the harring tales of murder and cannibalism. Although it was the rape that really disgusted me, Masayo Enomotos description of how easy it was to do, then later on Waltraud Reski's disturbing tale of her mothers rape at the hands of the Red Army. It really makes you question how easy it is to manipulate peoples beliefs to make them do evil and yet how it is the very belief systems themselves that make people do the most heroic things, the very fact they can stand and say "i wont let this happen" Definately worth a read. In the end this is one mans opinion of peoples circumstances, but he does also give you the evidence to make up your own minds. You can tell he worked hard on this it is very well written, and excellently researched and indexed.

Brilliance in simplicity, 08 Apr 2008
I purchased this book to work on my major A level assignment and i have to say, after years and years of analyzing books, this has to be the most simple, accesible and concise book i have read! The book consists of many interviews he has done with war time witnesses and since i was concerning myself with the holocaust, i only read the relevant interviews. Right from the start you can see that Lawrence Rees is something special. He doesnt just analyze what the person is saying to him, he gives fantastic descriptions of the person, where they met and the facial expressions that the person uses. This may seem like nothing, but when put into the context of the interview it truly makes for amazing reading.
By taking your time and really picturing the imagery provided you draw your own opinions of how truthful and in somecases purposefully vague some of the interviewees are at some points. Lawrence provides nothing short of an amazing read and leaves it open enought to draw your own conclusions but puts his own opinions in at just the right times.

Even if your not a history student, or even if your not a history fan, this book is amazing. To prove that this is not an empty statement, my friend at school (where i read most of the book) who does art and hates history couldnt keep her nose out of it! She has never studied this period or shown real interest but found it a wonderful and completely mind-opening read.

Enjoy!!

terribly sad, but so readable, 23 Dec 2007
Laurence Rees has travelled the world meeting people who faced extreme events during World War II. This book is a compilation of short chapters about each one of these cases.

As such it is of course somewhat lacking in depth, but on most of the cases covered there are separate full volumes which have been published which the reader could access if inclined after Rees's work.

Rees's writing still is, as always, fluent and highly readable. The devastating first-hand testimony he reports is a lasting contribution to our understanding of the now increasingly distant war and a powerful insight into the behaviour, good and bad, of human beings in crisis.

Perhaps the saddest case of all is that of Alex Kurzem, the little jewish boy adopted as a mascot by the SS, and subsequently shunned by many of his own people after the war.



Background to terror, 22 Oct 2007
Lawrence Rees has produced two excellent books on Nazism and the Holocaust and it is interesting to read these accounts of interviews which he conducted during his researches. The people involved in these cataclysmic events are fast declining in numbers and it is important that their personal accounts are preserved and published.

What is good about this book is the very wide range of categories of people interviewed, from resistance fighters, to concentration camp workers, from Americans fighting the Japanese, to Russians surviving service in penal batallions.

The book is easy to read as most of the chapters are very short. Lawrence Rees write a certain amount of connecting passages, and sometimes these seem a little trite, containing homilies about mans inhumanity to man etc, but on the whole he adds interesting background material.

In one sense this book gives its readers access to the historian's source material, and it is interesting from this perspective. I suspect on the whole it it better to read the final product of his researches in the other two books but this is an interesting book for those who have read those and want more, or for those who are not used to reading history and need a less demanding way in.

Real life, real stories, 13 Feb 2003
If you are the sort of person that ends up chatting to the bloke or woman next to them at Railway Stations then this is the book for you. Terkels basically interviewed people over a number of years about their jobs and how they feel about them. If that sounds boring then just keep your head in another book next time you are sat on a train - I found it a fascinating read.

Great Book, 26 Feb 1999
I read this book 30 years ago. It has probably kept me unemployed for most of that time. Warning if you read this book you may quit your job.

Fascinating look at what we do with the bulk of our time, 08 Apr 1998
Working profiles the working lives of scores of Americans. From prostitute to chief executive, coal mine worker to major league ballplayer- a myriad of professions are covered. The book reads like a documentary (which it is). Terkel has included the most interesting aspects of each case study's working life, and ultimately you see why each continues to pursue their career in that chosen field- or at least what satisfaction they get from showing up everyday. It's a great book to pick up and spend 5 to 10 minutes or so reading about how someone else's working life has parallels to your own. The interviews were conducted mostly during the late 60's and early 70's but while it is slightly dated, even that fact makes for an interesting historical perspective.

Superb!, 14 Sep 2008
This book details the experiences of ordinary men and women serving in the Royal Navy from 1914-45.I found it really interesting,as many accounts are told.The battle of Jutland,the disastrous Gallipoli affair.The harsh training one could expect.There's many stories from the inter-war years,that I knew nothing about.The Second World War experiences are excellently described.There are also many tales of heartbreak and tragedy.Its a shame a lot of our younger generation don't have the same spirit today.Every one who told their story here,deserves to be saluted.

With a pinch of salt, 17 Jun 2008
At the heading to one chapter an anonymous contributor states that a woman on seeing incendiaries falling over London, puts up her umbrella and goes out 'singing in the rain'.