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Best Holocaust History

Man's Search for Meaning
At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, Man's Search for Meaning had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. The book begins with a lengthy, austere, and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years, and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell," describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps.
Reviews
"Read this book, read this book."
"Those that had developed purpose and meaning to the harsh conditions got out of bed every morning to face another unbearable day."
"Frankl is able to find meaning in a concentration camp."
"One of the best works you can take in."
"Life would have been easier if I had read this book sooner in life."
"A little twist of ideas as to why some people survive the worst and why others don't survive medium bad."
"If you're a student of any religion or ideology trying to figure out how to reach a point where you can take control of your own experience of life, and truly see the world from your internal perspective rather than from your external perspective this is an invaluable text for you to read through."
"The second part of the book is an analysis of logotherapy and a description of Frankl's studies on the subject."
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Outcry - Holocaust Memoirs
Manny Steinberg (1925-2015) spent his teens in Nazi concentration camps in Germany, miraculously surviving while millions perished. Outcry - Holocaust Memoirs is the candid account of a teenager who survived four Nazi camps: Dachau, Auschwitz, Vaihingen an der Enz, and Neckagerach. Manny Steinberg relates how he was served human flesh and was forced to shave the heads of female corpses and pull out their teeth. Cherishing a picture of his beloved mother in his wooden shoe, he miraculously survived the terror of the German concentration camps together with his father and brother. When the Americans arrived in April 1945, Manny was little more than a living skeleton, with several broken ribs and suffering from a serious lung condition, wearing only a dirty, ragged blanket. Outcry has become a classic of holocaust literature and human survival, and is recommended reading for college students and the younger generation in general. I would highly recommend this to any history class that deals with this time period and to any book club that wants to touch on a reality we can hardly fathom. Although Manny spent his early years in German Camps and never attended school past the 7th grade, he managed to always support his family while providing a foundation of strength and love. "Outcry - Holocaust Memoirs", Manny's life story, has captured the miracle of one man's determined will to survive.The autobiography was written to fulfil a promise the author made to himself during the first days of freedom. "Not a day goes by that I do not think of my childhood or family, but as long as I'm allowed to be here on earth, I will wake up everyday feeling fortunate and blessed."
Reviews
"This memoir was heartbreakingly riveting."
"Finally the day came when his family was loaded onto the train and separated into those horrible lines when the Jewish people already knew what the lines meant.... his step-mother and young brother in one line...his father and middle brother in the work line for the work camps. His brother had the foot of his and the foot of the person on the other side slipped under his feet to look older/taller so he could be in his brother's line."
"As a matter of fact, Hilter's term "Aryan" was of the same derivation as the term "Iranian" and they all, whether Nazi, Sunni Extremists, or the terrorist sanctioning Shiite mullahs of Iran... I'm so glad this man has survived, and persevered through the vagaries of life to write this memoir."
"A very well written book."
"I very seldom watch or read anything holocaust related....saw Diary of Anne Frank...Life is Beautiful....that's it....wanted to watch Schindlers List but couldn't work up the courage....I am uncomfortable imagining the horror endured by Jews and others during that dark period in human existence ...I was compelled for some unknown impulse to read Outcry:Holocaust Memoirs ."
"The description of the attacks on the people in the Jewish getto were almost more than I could bear to read. How could someone suffering under the same hardships as you actually spy on you, or turn you in to what they knew would be horrible cruelty or death for an extra slice if bread?"
"The fact that two brothers and their father could stay together the whole time was truly amazing."
"The story of the triumph of the human spirit and the love of Manny for his family and all his Jewish friends made my heart swell with such pride in Manny and joy at his freedom and his life."
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Night (Night Trilogy)
Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be. In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night , a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? Wiesel has taken his painful memories and channeled them into an amazing document which chronicles his most intense emotions every step along the way.” ―Jose Del Real, Anchorage Daily News.
Reviews
"This story moved me in a very similar way as did the well known "Schindler's List" written by author, Thomas Keneally."
"Elie Wiesel wrote his experiences in an elegant style that will be remembered as classic literature."
"I bought this a while ago for one of the kid's school required reading."
"Elequently and poignantly written."
"Saying that I loved it however is not quite correct as the content is horrible to comprehend."
"First hand account of the life of a young teenager in a Nazi concentration camp."
"This book should be read and we should never forget...I cried while reading most of this book but I needed to read it so I will never forget."
"I found it thought provoking and amazing in it's ability to transport the reader into the conscious mind of the author."
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Best World History

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. Tackling evolutionary concepts from a historian’s perspective, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind , describes human development through a framework of three not-necessarily-orthodox “Revolutions”: the Cognitive, the Agricultural, and the Scientific. His ideas are interesting and often amusing: Why have humans managed to build astonishingly large populations when other primate groups top out at 150 individuals? Because our talent for gossip allows us to build networks in societies too large for personal relationships between everyone, and our universally accepted “imagined realities”--such as money, religion, and Limited Liability Corporations—keep us in line. Though the concepts are unusual and sometimes heavy (as is the book, literally) Harari’s deft prose and wry, subversive humor make quick work of material prone to academic tedium. He’s written a book of popular nonfiction (it was a bestseller overseas, no doubt in part because his conclusions draw controversy) landing somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram of genetics, sociology, and history. An engrossing read.” (Dan Ariely, New York Times Bestselling author of Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality , and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty ). “Yuval Noah Harari’s celebrated Sapiens does for human evolution what Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time did for physics.… He does a superb job of outlining our slow emergence and eventual domination of the planet.” ( Forbes ). “Writing with wit and verve, Harari…attempts to explain how Homo sapiens came to be the dominant species on Earth as well as the sole representative of the human genus.… Provocative and entertaining.” ( Publishers Weekly ). “In this sweeping look at the history of humans, Harari offers readers the chance to reconsider, well, everything, from a look at why Homo sapiens endured to a compelling discussion of how society organizes itself through fictions.” ( Booklist Best Books of the Year).
Reviews
"Parts of it were downright fascinating such as "imagination" being a keystone to human activity, e.g. corporations, money, and religion. Finally he keeps touching on the fact that animals have paid a terrible price for the rise of sapiens. Incidentally our family has a farm background and I eat no chicken, turkey, pork, or beef. Now I didn't give the book five stars because he makes positive references to the misguided but widely read Jared Diamond. Let me emphasize that on this snowy March day the cat and I are both glad we don't need to go out and scavenge something off the frozen earth."
"A standard history of the human race begins with Paleolithic proto-humans, traces the development of modern man or homo sapiens sapiens, then chronicles the beginnings and expansions of human civilization from agriculture to the present. He asks how "An Animal of No Significance" managed to become the dominant life form, and whether that animal's learning to produce his own food and then to further harness the natural world to his will through science were boons or setbacks, both for that animal and for the rest of the biosphere."
"A fascinating read that clarified many ideas I had on how our species has come to dominate and systematically destroy much of this wonderful planet."
"Every chapter had mind-bending insights into our history."
"Not simply cataloging history without opinion or perspective, Mr. Harari's analysis examines the happiness quotient as the central judgment of man's success as a social animal."
"a well written master piece that gives the reader unique insight in our history, while making some of the difficult trade-offs in our society visible and comprehensible."
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Best Historical European Biographies

Man's Search for Meaning
At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, Man's Search for Meaning had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. The book begins with a lengthy, austere, and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years, and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell," describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps.
Reviews
"Read this book, read this book."
"Those that had developed purpose and meaning to the harsh conditions got out of bed every morning to face another unbearable day."
"Frankl is able to find meaning in a concentration camp."
"One of the best works you can take in."
"Life would have been easier if I had read this book sooner in life."
"A little twist of ideas as to why some people survive the worst and why others don't survive medium bad."
"If you're a student of any religion or ideology trying to figure out how to reach a point where you can take control of your own experience of life, and truly see the world from your internal perspective rather than from your external perspective this is an invaluable text for you to read through."
"The second part of the book is an analysis of logotherapy and a description of Frankl's studies on the subject."
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Best Existential Psychology

Man's Search for Meaning, Gift Edition
With a foreword by Harold S. Kushner, Frankl’s classic is presented here in an elegant new edition with endpapers, supplementary photographs, and several of Frankl’s previously unpublished letters, speeches, and essays. One of the classic psychiatric texts of our time, Man's Search for Meaning is a meditation on the irreducible gift of one's own counsel in the face of great suffering, as well as a reminder of the responsibility each of us owes in valuing the community of our humanity. "Dr. Frankl's words have a profoundly honest ring, for they rest on experiences too deep for deception… A gem of a dramatic narrative, focused upon the deepest of human problems." "An inspiring document of an amazing man who was able to garner some good from an experience so abysmally bad… Highly recommended."
Reviews
"Read this book, read this book."
"Those that had developed purpose and meaning to the harsh conditions got out of bed every morning to face another unbearable day."
"One of the best works you can take in."
"Life would have been easier if I had read this book sooner in life."
"A little twist of ideas as to why some people survive the worst and why others don't survive medium bad."
"The second part of the book is an analysis of logotherapy and a description of Frankl's studies on the subject."
"I am just now to the place he talks about how thinking of his wife and having mental conversations with her gave him strength to stay alive!"
"I have been questioning again and again about meaning of my life and many suffering that I'd passed through and this book has changed my perspective about life."
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