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Title: Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentration Camps by Tzvetan Todorov, Abigail Pollak, Arthur Denner ISBN: 0805042644 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: April, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75
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: The Fragility of Goodness: Why Bulgaria's Jews Survived the Holocaust by Tzvetan Todorov, Arthur Denner ISBN: 0691088322 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Survival In Auschwitz by Primo Levi ISBN: 0684826801 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Ordinary Men RI by Christopher R. Browning ISBN: 0060995068 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Voices from the Gulag: Life and Death in Communist Bulgaria by Tzvetan Todorov, Robert Zaretsky ISBN: 0271019611 Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $31.50 |
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Title: Modernity and the Holocaust by Zygmunt Bauman ISBN: 0801487196 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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