sjj169's review
3.0
I picked this book because in the sixth grade I had one of the most amazing teacher that I can remember. She spent 9 weeks teaching us the history of the Holocaust. My son is in the sixth grade so I thought I would brush up with the history of that tragedy with this book.
This book is almost over my head. It did not work for what I had intended it for.
But does that mean it's a bad book? Of course not.
Snyder gives a detailed. (Sometimes almost mind numbingly so) recounting of Hitler's maniacal rise and then he makes you stop and think...Could something similar happen now?
Don't shake your head no so fast, buster.
He uses other for instances but it's my little review space and I tend to ramble so I'm using one that I know of recently..
My state Six Flags featured a day for each of several religions. I know that they had "Christian Day" and several other "special days" featured. Then they had "Muslim Day". People flipped their lids. Social media blew up with hate and ramblings and honestly? If I had been Muslim there is no way in heck that I would attend that event that day. Because what was being posted scared me.
Hate festers and spreads.
Then Snyder talks about world climate and how if food sources were in short supply, what would happen? Would people turn against a group of people with the whole survival of the fittest in mind?
Most of the reviews on Goodreads and everywhere else I looked have this book as a highly rated book. And it's good. But, to me the author talks over most people's head on a subject that needs to be talked about and remembered. I just wish that it had been a tad bit more understandable.
Booksource: Blogging for books in exchange for review.
Of course, everyone has differing opinions of books and their meanings. I adore my friend Elyse's review and wish that I had gotten as much from the book as she had.
This book is almost over my head. It did not work for what I had intended it for.
But does that mean it's a bad book? Of course not.
Snyder gives a detailed. (Sometimes almost mind numbingly so) recounting of Hitler's maniacal rise and then he makes you stop and think...Could something similar happen now?
Don't shake your head no so fast, buster.
He uses other for instances but it's my little review space and I tend to ramble so I'm using one that I know of recently..
My state Six Flags featured a day for each of several religions. I know that they had "Christian Day" and several other "special days" featured. Then they had "Muslim Day". People flipped their lids. Social media blew up with hate and ramblings and honestly? If I had been Muslim there is no way in heck that I would attend that event that day. Because what was being posted scared me.
Hate festers and spreads.
Then Snyder talks about world climate and how if food sources were in short supply, what would happen? Would people turn against a group of people with the whole survival of the fittest in mind?
Most of the reviews on Goodreads and everywhere else I looked have this book as a highly rated book. And it's good. But, to me the author talks over most people's head on a subject that needs to be talked about and remembered. I just wish that it had been a tad bit more understandable.
Booksource: Blogging for books in exchange for review.
Of course, everyone has differing opinions of books and their meanings. I adore my friend Elyse's review and wish that I had gotten as much from the book as she had.
joyba's review
4.0
Very consistent arguments and easy writing style. However the case of Bulgaria was not really convincing to me; I guess state destruction would not be a valid argument in that case, rather state enlargement?
davehershey's review
5.0
I recently read a study that revealed Americans have a poor understanding, or perhaps no understanding at all, of the Holocaust. This book could be a brilliant remedy to that. That said, I think I had a decent understanding of the Holocaust and this book revealed that it was much different then I had learned before. First, millions of Jews were executed by shooting in Poland, the Soviet Union and such places during and after the German offensive there before the gas chambers of Auschwitz really got going. Along with that, Snyder shows the Jews living in areas where the state was destroyed (such as Estonia) fared far worse than the Jews living where the state remained somewhat intact (Denmark). Surprisingly, Jews in Germany had a better chance to survive than Jews in elsewhere in Europe. Overall, this book is thorough and enlightening.
Finally, I can't help but think of how people use the rhetoric of fear of encroaching Nazism today in America. After reading this book, it seems like we are very far from Nazi style Holocaust (Trump is no Hitler). At the same time, we have our own unique demons in our past (perhaps rather than looking to a Nazi-style Holocaust here, we should look to our own history of slavery and Native American genocide?). Also, though we are far from such a Holocaust, Snyder shows in the final chapter how we are never too far. Factors such as climate change and lack of food and water combined with other factors could always bring us back to similar global situations that led to the Holocaust. Most chilling is the realization that most of us would probably have gone along with the Holocaust if we lived in Germany. We all like to think we'd be rescuers and heroes, putting our own lives at risk. But we probably wouldn't be:
"Most of us would like to think that we possess a “moral instinct.” Perhaps we imagine that we would be rescuers in some future catastrophe. Yet if states were destroyed, local institutions corrupted, and economic incentives directed towards murder, few of us would behave well. There is little reason to think that we are ethically superior to the Europeans of the 1930s and 1940s, or for that matter less vulnerable to the kind of ideas that Hitler so successfully promulgated and realized."
God help us and give us the courage to always be moral. And may we never forget the Holocaust.
Finally, I can't help but think of how people use the rhetoric of fear of encroaching Nazism today in America. After reading this book, it seems like we are very far from Nazi style Holocaust (Trump is no Hitler). At the same time, we have our own unique demons in our past (perhaps rather than looking to a Nazi-style Holocaust here, we should look to our own history of slavery and Native American genocide?). Also, though we are far from such a Holocaust, Snyder shows in the final chapter how we are never too far. Factors such as climate change and lack of food and water combined with other factors could always bring us back to similar global situations that led to the Holocaust. Most chilling is the realization that most of us would probably have gone along with the Holocaust if we lived in Germany. We all like to think we'd be rescuers and heroes, putting our own lives at risk. But we probably wouldn't be:
"Most of us would like to think that we possess a “moral instinct.” Perhaps we imagine that we would be rescuers in some future catastrophe. Yet if states were destroyed, local institutions corrupted, and economic incentives directed towards murder, few of us would behave well. There is little reason to think that we are ethically superior to the Europeans of the 1930s and 1940s, or for that matter less vulnerable to the kind of ideas that Hitler so successfully promulgated and realized."
God help us and give us the courage to always be moral. And may we never forget the Holocaust.
senordustin's review
4.0
Really incredible work of research here - I can't believe how much detail Snyder provides. Almost too dense for a single book. I will revisit this one day, but its sad, rough, sometimes intensely dull reading.
darcytisgreat's review
5.0
Third book this year by Snyder (Tyranny and Unfreedom being the other two), and I am increasingly impressed with each turn of the page.
Snyder gives the full history of German and Soviet politics which would lead up to the largest mass killings in human history. By analyzing the effects of Soviet and German state destruction, Snyder paints a 1930's and 1940's Europe where the largest thing to fear was losing your statehood, and being denounced citizenship.
If your state ceased to exist, you were no longer a citizen. If you were no longer a citizen, your chances of survival sank. If you were a Jewish non-citizen, the odds of survival were nearly zero. In this sense, the holocaust serves as warning for the 21st century, as we see moving, aggressive states (Russia) creating a population of non-citizens in their wake (Ukrainians).
Another piece of history from Snyder I cannot recommend highly enough.
Snyder gives the full history of German and Soviet politics which would lead up to the largest mass killings in human history. By analyzing the effects of Soviet and German state destruction, Snyder paints a 1930's and 1940's Europe where the largest thing to fear was losing your statehood, and being denounced citizenship.
If your state ceased to exist, you were no longer a citizen. If you were no longer a citizen, your chances of survival sank. If you were a Jewish non-citizen, the odds of survival were nearly zero. In this sense, the holocaust serves as warning for the 21st century, as we see moving, aggressive states (Russia) creating a population of non-citizens in their wake (Ukrainians).
Another piece of history from Snyder I cannot recommend highly enough.
guuran62's review against another edition
4.0
https://boklaadan.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/den-svarta-jorden/