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.If This Is a Man / The Truce

by: Primo Levi

January 01, 1991
If you want to understand the holocaust, how and why it happened, then you need to read If This Is A Man. Levi dispenses with his emotional responses and describes what happened with a frightening detachment. Through his eyes, Levi shows us how the Nazi machine sought to rob their victims of all vestiges of their humanity and thereby justify their treatment of the camp victims. This in turn led to the horrible events that we all know so well. Levi, however, does not just aim to show us the horror of the events, but understand them. Thus, amongst the debasement of life in the camps, we see how necessary it becomes to bathe with dirty water - not to clean yourself, but to regain fragments of your own humanity. This book is essential if we are ... Read More:
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.The Periodic Table (Penguin Modern Classics)

by: Primo Levi

September 07, 2000
I saw a negative review here, and so I want to say something in this book's defence. It's not that the great Primo Levi needs me, simply that The Periodic Table is the book I have most enjoyed reading in, say, the past couple of years.

Levi was by profession a chemist. Every chapter is a story from his remarkable life; each has a chemical element for its title and that element is somehow a part of the story, either literally or metaphorically. In the first chapter, Levi tells something of the history of his family: Jews in southern France, Venice and lastly in the city of Turin, where Primo Levi grew up (except during the war he lived in the same apartment for his whole life). The first chapter is slightly harder going than the rest ... Read More:
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.Survival in Auschwitz

by: Primo Levi

February 19, 2000
There has been much great literature written by holocaust survivors, and this one is just about as good as any.

Primo Levi describes in "Survival in Auschwitz" the scheme by which those who could were able to maintain some sort of existance. Those unable to work are gassed, shot or beaten to death. Those who manage to survive are those who find ways to make themselves useful, without actual serioius exertion on the meagre rations. The lifeblood of the camp is "organising" - a black market where a stolen bar of soap is traded for a slice of bread; a potato for a scarf.

One difference between Levi and other Holocaust memoirs, is that he does not rely on an emotional appeal. He produces a trully excellent and insightful disposition of ... Read More:
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Used Price: £1.60

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.If This Is a Man (Everyman's Library Classics)

by: Primo Levi

August 25, 2000
Primo Levi's book is an eyewitness account of what went on not just within the fences of Auscwitz but within the minds and hearts of the human beings trapped inside. The author tells a story with its characters and settings but most of all he shows how even in the suffering that was the order of the day in the camp, he keeps his human dignity and does not resort to any kind of retribution. Primo Levi's great lesson is that what the Jews went through in the camp teaches us that one can destroy the body but not the spirit of man. Levi's simplicty of narration and language are disarmingly effective in conveying this profound message. His experience of suffering was a purification and this is perhaps the greatest merit of the book: how man can overcome his oppressor's ... Read More:
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Used Price: £6.52

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.The Drowned and the Saved (Abacus Books)

by: Primo Levi

February 01, 1991
The author, Primo Levi, tries to understand the rationale behind Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen. Dismissing stereotyped images of brutal Nazi torturers and helpless victims, Levi draws extensively on his own experiences and substantial intelect to delve into the minds and motives of oppressors and oppressed alike. Describing the difficulty and shame of remembering, the limited forms of collaboration between inmates and SS goalers, the exploitation of "useless violence" and the plight of the intellectual, Levi writes about the issue of power, mercy and guilt, and their effects on the lives of the ordinary people who suffered so incomprehendingly. A sad tale of an attempt to rationalise mans behaviour in the most extreme of circumstances.

I found this to be ... Read More:
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Used Price: £1.24

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.If Not Now, When? (Penguin Modern Classics)

by: Primo Levi

September 07, 2000
My review of 'Mila 18' by Leon Uris seems to have got lost somewhere in cyberspace. Never mind. If you want to read a book about a group of Jews fighting back during WWII, this one is much better, anyway. It starts rather slowly, but as more characters are introduced, a tapestry of pictures and stories emerge from what begins as a rather grey fabric. By the end of the book they had become my family. They are a small band of men and a few women who carry on small scale guerilla warfare on the German side of the eastern front during the Russian advance across eastern Europe. They tramp from White Russia, through the Pripet Marshes, through Poland and Germany, eventually ending up in post-war Italy. They fight no great battles, and are under no illusions about their place in ... Read More:
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.The Periodic Table (Abacus Books)

by: Primo Levi

July 21, 1994
I saw a negative review here, and so I want to say something in this book's defence. It's not that the great Primo Levi needs me, simply that The Periodic Table is the book I have most enjoyed reading in, say, the past couple of years.

Levi was by profession a chemist. Every chapter is a story from his remarkable life; each has a chemical element for its title and that element is somehow a part of the story, either literally or metaphorically. In the first chapter, Levi tells something of the history of his family: Jews in southern France, Venice and lastly in the city of Turin, where Primo Levi grew up (except during the war he lived in the same apartment for his whole life). The first chapter is slightly harder going than the rest of the book (it has interesting ... Read More:
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.The Periodic Table (Essential Penguin)

by: Primo Levi

February 22, 2001
I saw a negative review here, and so I want to say something in this book's defence. It's not that the great Primo Levi needs me, simply that The Periodic Table is the book I have most enjoyed reading in, say, the past couple of years.

Levi was by profession a chemist. Every chapter is a story from his remarkable life; each has a chemical element for its title and that element is somehow a part of the story, either literally or metaphorically. In the first chapter, Levi tells something of the history of his family: Jews in southern France, Venice and lastly in the city of Turin, where Primo Levi grew up (except during the war he lived in the same apartment for his whole life). The first chapter is slightly harder going than the rest of the book (it has interesting information ... Read More:
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Used Price: £1.85

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.Moments of Reprieve (Abacus Books)

by: Primo Levi

1994-10
I approached this book with a degree of reluctance after it was recommended by a friend. A book about the Holocaust atrocities sounded very heavy going. I was delighted to find it to be one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read. The stories, beautifully told in crystal clear language, are filled with the humanity that still struggled along in this darkest of places. It's full of little details that bring the events to life with heart-rending effectiveness, and yet it leaves you sharing the author's belief that humanity is stronger still.
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.Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz

by: Rudolph Hoss

March 01, 1996
The background information on Hoess' life is interesting but the details are lacking about the day to day details about how camp life really was. Reading this, you would say that Hoess cared a great deal about prisoners but that doesn't seem to be the case. Hoess provides interesting information about other SS figures. Well worth reading but one must read other material. The foreword goes a little overboard with emotion, just give us the facts please.
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Used Price: £7.84