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Title: Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentration Camps by Tzvetan Todorov, Arthur Denner, Abigail Pollak ISBN: 0-8050-4263-6 Publisher: Henry Holt & Co Pub. Date: 01 January, 1996 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Powerful
Comment: In the field of holocaust writing this author is probably one of the better, maybe the best. Therefore, I was interested in the book just because his name was attached to it. The concept is very interesting and a new one, examining the way the victims of the holocaust and the USSR prison camps dealt with their time in the camps and how they survived from an emotional perspective. It is a powerfully written book and the author pours a lot of himself into the pages. This book focuses on the human condition, how they survived and how they cam out in he end. It does not act as a history of the camps, numbers of imprisoned people or methods. If you are interested in the human element in this horrible time in our history then I would suggest this book.
Rating: 2
Summary: Extreme disappointment
Comment: I eagerly looked forward to reading this book, and gaining further insight into questions of morality in the moral crucble of concentration camps. But Todorov's thinking is fuzzy in the extreme, moving from cliche to nonsense. There are many extremely good books that cover the same material. The Nazi Doctors, by Robert Jay Lifton is infinitely better, as are The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness by Erich Fromm, Treblinka by Jean-Francois Steiner, and Modernity and the Holocaust by Zygmunt Bauman. The only reason I give this two stars instead of one is that the original quotes by concentration camp survivors that he sprinkles liberally throughout the text are extremely interesting. The quotes themselves give insight. Too bad the analysis doesn't match the subject.
Rating: 4
Summary: Ethics in duress: Choices and consequences in genocide
Comment: Tzvetan Todorov's work is a must read for someone trying to understand the multiple, competing decision points for everyone trapped in the maelstrom of totalitarian genocide. Much like Hilberg's Victims, Perpetrators, Bystanders, Facing the Extreme tries to consider the mental evaluation processes of everyone during this period of history.
The most useful chapters are in the second section, entitled "Neither Monsters nor Beasts." Many aspects of personal character, coping mechanisms, and consequences are detailed in these chapters.
While Todorov's style (or the translation) are sometimes difficult to follow, the essence of what he is saying is dynamic, challenging reading. The chapter on Depersonalization is especially attention grabbing; while it focuses on life in concentration camps, in our present culture and its problems, it has many applicable lessons.
Todorov also makes many references to other salient works of Holocaust/genocide literature. For the new student of genocide, this may appear somewhat daunting, but Todorov does a fine job of quoting at length those passages that repeating, rather than leave you wondering what the stage whisper allusion was.
For anyone who teaches about genocide, this is a must read. For anyone willing to peel aside the dark curtain and look into the abyss of true dark humanity, this is a must read. Eva Fogelman's e & COurage" is a far more uplifting, positive book than Todorov's, but Todorov exposes dark thoughts that need not be kept like mushrooms, but should be brought forward for discussion and reflection.
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Title: Survival in Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity by Primo Levi, Stuart Woolf ISBN: 0684826801 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Auschwitz and After by Charlotte Delbo, Rosette C. Lamont, Lawrence L. Langer ISBN: 0300070578 Publisher: Yale University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi ISBN: 067972186X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps by Terrence. Des Pres ISBN: 0195027035 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1980 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land by Sara Nomberg-Przuytyk ISBN: 0807841609 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1985 List Price(USD): $14.30 |
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