World War II (1931-1945)
“The Second World War presented a mirror to the human condition which blinded anyone who looked into it.” — Norman Mailer, “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster” (1957)
Of the endless ocean of books on the Second World War, we have dozens and dozens of new and carefully chosen titles. I define it as beginning with the Japanese Empire’s invasion of Manchuria and ending with not only V-E and V-J Days but also the immediate crises of displaced people, the Soviet Union’s creation of the Iron Curtain, and the growing revelations of the extent of the Holocaust.
In significant ways the Second World War was the defining crucible of the 20th Century. The First World War was prelude, the legacy of the 19th Century’s imperialism, and the Cold War was the sequel. Of the making of books about it there is no end — but the persistence of good research and good writing, and good publication underscores the war’s centrality of the world we live in today and the world our descendents will live in for the foreseeable future.
The Jewish Revolt: A Warsaw Ghetto Exhibition
The Jewish Revolt: A Warsaw Ghetto Exhibition
As one of only three survivors of the secret Ringelblum archive in the Warsaw Ghetto, Rachel Auerbach spent the rest of her life guarding the sacred flame of Holocaust memory. Finally translated into English, her impassioned post-war account of the ghetto uprising reminds us of our duty to remember, to learn the facts, and to respect the sacrifice of the victims.
Includes a powerful collection of rare photographs – a 55-page photo essay entitled “Yellow Star” that graphically shows the tragic history of European Jewry. New technology was used to find the names of many of the people in the photos,