Fern's book is awesome. Motherland is a quick read that brings home the horrors that the holocaust has bestowed on all it's vicims, including those not born till a generation later. I wondered why my own mom is so closed mouthed about her parents and her past. Reading about Fern's family story, and how Fern rose above to find forgiveness for many is truly inspiring. I have renewed respect for the mother-daughter relationship, and feel inspired to work on my own.

I'd like to highly recommend this book to anyone who wants and needs to have their eyes opened. I never considered the total victimization of WWII, as concerns the German Jewish survivors and "escapees" and their non-Jewish German neighbors and friends. Most of us have read The Diary of Anne Frank and were deeply moved by the horrors. What many of us did not know, or refused to consider were how things turned out in the end- now 50+ years later. I knew several Holocaust survivors while growing up in N.J., but the war was never discussed, and no one ever talked about the camps. Now as an adult, this book brought on thoughts that are very painful to consider. Whole generations- and their children- in remorse, denial, hiding. I applaud Fern and her mother for taking this painful trip- and also for attempting to mend the wounds that scarred everyone in the book. What a courageous thing to have done.

I've recommended this book to our local high school library as a further step in world history- the story not often told, but one that changes the light on everything.

A Wonderful Book!
Beautifully written. So much to talk about!

A mother daughter story of understanding and forgiveness.
The author, Fern, grew up in a home where the past was not discussed. Not until she was an adult, and pregnant with her third child, was her mother, Edith, willing to discuss her childhood. Fern and her mother travelled back to Germany together to see where Edith grew up, as one of two Jewish families in a small town where her family had lived for over 200 years. Edith's parents sent her out of Germany, to live in safety with relatives in Chicago, just before Kristallnacht.
Whether this was the ultimate act of unselfish parental love, or whether it was cruel makes riveting conversation between Fern and her mother.

This book is wonderful for book club discussions.
It is a memoir that reads like fiction.
Beautifully written, a good read, but not difficult.
Many topics to discuss - mother/daughter relationships on many levels, the sacrifices we make for our children, what we pass on to them intentionally and unintentionally. Survivor guilt versus escapee guilt. The burdens - positive and negative- that we carry from our past.

Vivid characters, stunning descriptions, can't put it down dialog. I can't wait for her to write another book!

I was concerned that it might be holocaust heavy, but it is not.
I have recomended Motherland to readers of all ages and religions, and everyone has loved it. It has quickly become the hot book club book in the Chicago area. So many book clubs around here have discussed it, and are raving about it. Stores can't keep it on the shelves.

It appeals to all of us, who are mothers and daughters.

For background, see the discussion guide, or go to the author's website.

Don't miss Motherland as an outstanding book club choice.

WOW! I just read your book, it was great. Last visited Oberammergau in 89. We plan on going back in 2002. Thanks for the memories. Our planned trip won't be until 2002, but we've already decided to change our plans from 2 nights at the General Patton Hotel in Garmisch to one night there and 2 nights in Oberammergau.

I have enjoyed your book on Oberammergau like nothing else I've seen on Oberammergau before.

I've been very lucky and lived in Oberammergau for 7 1/2 years when I was part of the Belgium Detachment at the NATO School.

Reading it brought back many memories and what I personally enjoyed most was to see the "secret" receipe of Vlado's "zauberbrot"

As you, we have a very strong connection with this village (we married in O'gau) and whenever we get back, we start dreaming about our next trip already.

You never know, one day we might even meet there ...

We were about to take our first foreign trip to Germany with our young children. We knew we wanted and needed a "home base" but had no idea where! Then we read this --- we ended up booking two weeks in an Apartment in Oberammergau from someone Don mentioned in the book. We found that reading this before we went gave us a different perspective on living, even temporarily, in a foreign country --- from the "Barvarian Pudding" produced by the town's cows to the friendly people of Oberammergau, this book helped make our vacation into an unforgettable adventure. It really helped to make us feel like Oberammergau was our home. We can't wait to return. Thank you for helping us discover this special place!

During the 2nd WW, I spent a good deal of time selling newspapers in the days before vending machines took over. I now live in Huntsville, Al. so thought I should read something by this author,who is best known for "Rocket Boys." However,when I came across this title, I decided to go with U-boats. It was a subject which had great news exposure in the papers I sold . Well I never realized how close the sea war really was to our shores in the early going. This is an well documented account of Nazi sub activity which was apparently kept quiet at the time. As a matter of fact there are so many accounts of ship sinkings that I almost gave up reading Torpedo Junction; rather like having to endure a losing football team for several seasons. This all changes at about p.200 when Hickman proceeds to give a most exciting account of a battle twixt the 'Icarus'(coast guard cutter) and U-352 which was the first German submarine sunk by our side . If you are interested in this aspect of the war which was a critical effort in which we were losing badly, this is your book. For those who like their desert first, start on p 200 of the paperback edition. If you are a "senior" like me get the nore expensive edition with larger type!

this book is for you. Homer Hickam is an exceptional writer and a great researcher. This true story reads like an exciting adventure novel. It focuses on the tiny coast guard cutters that fought the German U-boats that attacked the American east coast during World War II. Thoroughly documented, the reader will be introduced to a huge, bloody battle that took place just off American shores (including the Gulf coast). This is the same Homer Hickam who wrote October Sky and The Coalwood Way. He actually dived on the U-boat wrecks and the freighters and tankers he writes about. Highly recommended for the World War II buff or if you just like adventure books. Every bit as good as The Perfect Storm. It reminded me of that book.

The only dry part to this book I saw was a necessary review of World War II U-boat activities up to December 1941. After that, with the arrival of the U-boats off New York and then the bloody carnage off Hatteras, this book is a gripping, bloody true tale of American and British courage on the high seas against a determined German onslaught of the American coast. Read it for knowledge and for its fascinating personal stories of seamen at battle. You'll feel like you've also rode on the deck of the little coast guard cutters as they battle the U-boats and, at the end, you'll never forget the unsung heroes who fought and died so close to our shores.

There are dozens of books about the Holocaust - and other horrible tragedies man has perpetrated on his fellow man before and since. Where many of these dehumanize the victims by focusing on the specifics of the crimes, this book is alive and all human.

That these two men, Bernat and Fritz, were able to overcome their past and become friends is as moving a story as any you'll find. More than anything, I came away feeling that it is possible to move beyond our historic differences and hatreds. Its a warm, human, and hopeful message. Perhaps there's hope for Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Rwanda...and for all of us.

Fritz Tubach's account of the parallels and perils of his and Bernie Rosner's youth are enriched through a unique and captivating perspective. Tubach, a native of Nazi Germany must narrate the story of Rosner's holocaust survival in his own words. The challenge and contradiction of communicating such an opposing experience is resolved through the evident strength of the two men's adult friendship and their profound level of empathy and understanding. This book is a facinating read, and illustrates the horrors of the holocaust while resonating with the evidence of man's better nature: human compassion and cultural tolerance.

An Uncommon Friendship is a book telling a compelling story about how two youths took opposite paths to an eventual mature friendship that overcame unbelievable odds. Bernie Rosner, a Hungarian Jew, who as a youth survived the horrors of concentration camps and Fritz Tuback whose father was a German Army officer followed those unlikely experiences to a succesful if uncommon friendship. The young experiences of both Bernie and Fritz are told in a single voice by Fritz. The distinct routes that each took through a horrible, trying time in history makes for a most interesting and absorbing book.

Can you imagine being torn from all you know in just one moment? well that is exactly what happened to Marion Blumethal and her family, which included her father, Walter, her mother named Ruth, and her brother Albert. This story of loses and triumph is told by Marion herself. She explains what she and all of the millions of jews in Europe had to go through each and everyday. Marion and her family lived in a nice comfortable town in Germany called Hoya. Her father had a small shop where he sold shoes and men's and boy's clothing and her mother was a secretary and did bookkeeping. The Blumethal's were happy and very content with their lives until a man entered their lives that would change then forever. He would not only affect them but but millions of families across the world. He was known as Hitler. He started to become more noticed in the 1930's when he became known as the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' party, also known as the Nazi. They were against Jews, Communists, Gypsies, Slavic peoples, and deformed or crippled people. This hatred led to the death of millions of people and the Blumethal's were there for it all After Ruth and Walter found out about Hitler's plan, they decided to move to Holland and try to get papers to the U.S. But unfortunatly they did not get them in time and were taken away by the Nazi. For the next six and a half years, the Blumenthal's would go through a lot. When they were first taken away, they were taken to Westerbork which was in Holland, and then were taken to Bergen-Belsen which was in Germany. But through all their hardships, the Blumethal's survived. Finally in 1945, they were released. They were taken to eastern Germany and let free. But one thing would change, Walter, their father would no longer be with them anymore. He got a bad case of typhus just after the liberation and wasn't strong enough to survive. Now that mother, Marion, and Albert were free, they still wanted to go to the United States for a new life. It took three years until they got the necessary papers to get into the U.S. It was a very tough and tragic road but they had survived, and that was the most important thing.

FOUR PERFECT PEBBLES is a story of a family that amazingly stays together through the most desperate of times. During the rise of Hitler their lives, like all other Jewish families, were shifted into remote dispare. But behind the hatred and riticule, the strength and courage that the Bumenthal family possesed kept them together as a family. Told through the eyes of a child, Marion Bumenthal, this novel is painful, but easy to read because of the comforting spirit of survival through out the storyline.

Brief summary and Review:

Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story is a wonderful book of how a family stays together through thick and thin. The story is about one Jewish family's struggle for survival during the Nazi occupation of Europe. The family includes Ruth Blumenthal, the mother, Walter Blumenthal, the father, Marion Blumenthal, the daughter, and Albert Blumenthal, the son. The Blumenthals lived in concentration camps for six years which included Westerbork in Holland and the notorious concentration camp of Bergen-Belson in Germany. Conditions in these camps were so terrible that nearly half the camps population died of disease, starvation, exposure, exhaustion, or brutal beatings. The book received its name from young Marion's search to find four perfect pebbles of almost the same size. If Marion could manage to find these four pebbles, she felt that it meant her family would remain whole and be strong enough to survive the Nazi reign. This game kept young Marion's mind on things other than dead bodies lying around, the rumbles of her starving tummy, and the want for her family and life to go back to normal. This is a great story about the importance of family and diversity. I would encourage everyone to take this book home with them today and experience the true account of one family's struggle through the Holocaust.

Future generations will be most thankful that we had as Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill. Not only for his leadership, which undoubtedly saved the world from Nazism, but also because of his memoirs. Reading this book, it felt like I was actually there, feeling the tension as Hitler prepared on new conquests, the revulsion as France & Britain allowed Germany to destroy Czechoslavakia, the disbelief as neutral countries, USSR,Belgium, Netherlands, Norway etc, clung to their neutrality as it meant anything to Hitler, admiration for the British people as they resisted such overwhelming odds at great cost, and triumph as the Grand Alliance combines to crush Germany. Also there are so many parts of the book which describe so vividly so many great moments, such as when Churchill first meets Stalin. A top read!

Churchill's book is really astonishing, not only for the sheer size, but for the vast expand of knowledge displayed and the personal experience behind it. Churchill includes hundreds of documents and thus gives ample proof of what he writes. His strongest moments are his criticism of British appeasement policy and the account of 1940/41, where his will to survive and his pertinacity can still be felt through the pages. His personal experience is always there, though he refrains from giving his readers too many anecdotes. In spite of the fact the everything was written very shortly after the war, most things are quite accurate, though the pages on Nazi Germany are not always enlightened. But - being German - I have never felt any hatred towards my people as a whole and one can well join in with his disgust of Germany at that time. The book, or rather books, never bore. An absolute masterpiece of historical writing.

A masterpiece of world literature. Anyone remotely interested in twentieth century history should read Churchill's accounts of WWI and WWII.

Churchill begins the Second World War by noting that the "volumes [are] a continuation of the story of the First World War...set out in The World Crisis, The Eastern Front, and The Aftermath". As great as the Second World War is in scope and insight, it is even greater when considered together with his treatment of WWI. It is a pity his account of WWI and its aftermath are currently no longer in print, available only through university libraries and sellers of rare books (if any publishers are reading, I beg them to consider republishing his accounts of WWI).

Churchill's chronicles of WWI and WWII are a invaluable account of the incomprehensible turmoil that characterized the first half of the 20th century. The scope of this literary achievement is made even more precious and amazing when one considers the firsthand perspective given by Churchill. During both wars, he occupied important government roles, putting him in a unique position to chronicle events during that era. The World Crisis, The Eastern Front, The Aftermath, and the volumes of the Second World War are personal memoirs as much as monumental histories. They are compelling on many levels, the stories of many through one.

I feel I share a miniscule slice of Klemperer's heroism by reading every word of his (as translated) diaries. I wish his LTI was translated in English and widely(and affordably) available. If you consider human nature an important matter, or remember your sixth-grade introduction on "man's inhumanity to man" (excuse the gender mess there)and wonder why that was worth reading about, you must read this book. So many insightful philosophical, theological and sociological wrtings came from the WWII era because the essential truths of humanity's condition were laid bare for many of the observer-participants in the horrible conflict. Klemperer precisely and heroically relates what amounts to some of that exposed raw data, from a perspective that is tragically and wildly underrepresented--that of a German civilian Jew, alive and in Germany throughout the war, but in at least occasional contact with others: Jew, gentile and monstrosity.

Depending on your understanding of God and God's intervention in human affairs, this book may have much more (and very complex)to say about God's place in Klemperer's life and Klemperer's in God's universe.

Of the other comments, I find only one impression that strikes me as troubling. I think that neither Klemperer' personal, astounding ability to adapt to misery and maintain self-truth nor the occasional pleasant human interactions nor Nazi Germany's eventual military defeat nor the failure of the "final solution" to eliminate all of the Jews of Nazi-occupied territory signify an ultimate victory for good over evil, etc. If you imagine all the books that all those Klemperer describes being abused,lied to, humiliated, injured, herded, deloused, robbed and murdered(etc.) would write, and the sad and disgusting track record of humanity since...including the commonplace manipulations of language and atrocious applications of perverted science by so many subsequent evil rulers, there is precious little over which to organize a victory dance for humanity's use of language, technology or other human beings.

I wish more people were buying it.

Victor Klemperer is a spokesman. With characteristic German precision, he articulates the daily victimization and humiliation of the Jews by the Third Reich as it removes the privileges of citizenship one by one, from tram tickets to life itself. Each day becomes a surreal ritual of survival, finding food bereft of rations, hiding anything that might offend an uninvited Gestapo searching his home, speaking softly to discern the fate of those shipped to labor camps, trying to divine the future and to understand the past while utterly damning the present. Klemperer's testimony alone is worth our time, so that we may better understand how far we can stray from civilization.

But then Victor Klemperer is also a hero. As I read his diaries, I began to realize the bravery of his writing and of those who hid the pages for him. Klemperer's opinions of the Third Reich are explicit. Exposure would have ended his life immediately. I kept wondering whether I could ever do that, say, if the mayor declared Italians to be the Master Race and blue-eyed blonds were systematically searched, deported and killed. Would I care so much for posterity, and for the future of humanity, that I would dare to write what is right no matter the consequence, to expose evil in the midst of it, and perhaps to die for it? Victor did. Reading his diary is to honor that heroism.

But then Victor Klemperer is also a human being. He wrestles mightily with his German heritage, with his privileges by marriage to an Aryan, with his being alive while others disappeared. Through all the terror, he is still willing to seek out trust when mistrust is the word to live by. He is saddened by the devastating bombing of Dresden, not vengeful. When I expect his words to be filled with hatred, I am struck by their frequent ambivalence and even passion. Klemperer is a complex person, like most human beings, like you and me. This is a diary that confirms that, when ordinary people are put into extraordinary circumstances, they become extraordinary. As is this book.

Is 'extraordinary' a powerful enough word for this book?

On reading it, I almost couldn't believe that it was genuine...but no writer of fiction could have created something as extraordinary,(I've used the word again,) as this.

Klemperer was a Jew, who managed to survive the war living within Nazi Germany because he was married to a Christian woman & 'luckily' for us, he wrote EVERYTHING down. Every. Tiny. Detail.

A superbly intelligent & witty man. Sometimes these kinds of books are just fascinating as eye-witness accounts, but what's unusual about this, is the fact that this man could actually write AND SO well.

SO sad & frustrating that it wasn't published within his lifetime.

I can't say any more. I'll never be able to say enough.

Probably the most extraordinary eye-witness account about life in Nazi Germany available...NO!...that will EVER be available.

Definetely the most extraordinary, (yes, it IS the right word,) book I've personally EVER read.

I'm honoured in being able to recommend this to you.

Even those with little knowledge of the Second World War know the names "Dessert Fox" and Rommel. For those more familiar with WWII history and the great generals, they know a lot of what is general knowledge is hype more than fact. For example, while Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was certainly a brilliant tactician and strategist, he was not - contrary to popular belief - the originator of the Blitz style of armored warfare. Certainly he was one of its most successful practitioners, but not the originator. That credit belongs to English military minds and was put into practice by General Heinz Gurderian (see Panzer Leader by Gurderian). Rommel was a brilliant self-promoter - with humility though. And he was a favored son of Hitler in the beginning, although the "father" forced him to commit suicide in the end. Rommel did have some amazing victories and equally appalling defeats. All are chronicled in this stirring, well-written pseudo-autobiography. The Rommel Papers was written from Rommels own personal diaries made during his numerous campaigns. He was a voracious writer who sat down on a near daily to preserve the events of the day. Thus we are treated to a wonderful story of the Blitz through western Europe in 1939-40, the swift victories in northern Africa and slow arduous defeats that followed, and finally to Rommel's attempts to stem the Allied tide that was threatening to rush the Western shores of France in 1944. This is a fun and insightful read for anyone who wants to see war from the perspective of the German public's most favored Marshall. Certainly worth the time spent reading it! Highly recommended.

This book takes you through the events of World War II using the unedited writing of General Rommel. Hart does a great job of insuring the thoughts of Rommel are preserved. The hard bound version of this book, has chalk drawing of Rommels battle plans.

If you want to read about Nazi's than this is not the book for you, but if you want to read about a true german soldier and honorable man, than I highly recommend this. What an incredible account of war! War without hate, that was the phrase in one of the commentary lines. It's hard to imagine, but Rommel's book shows how it was his job as a soldier. It also gives accounts of how prisoners of war were treated by Rommel and gives you a real sense of the honor of being a soldier no matter which side you were on.

I especially liked the added notes and commentary by Gen. Bayerlein and Rommel's son Manfred. I predict as you read this book you will feel the development of a relationship with Rommel, a friendship and consern for his well being. Feel his heartfelt consern for his troops and desire to save them from destruction. Feel the anger towards the "High Command" as they tell Rommel to fight to the death. It's a book that will take you on a rollercoaster of emotion that closes in the inevitable and tragic end of your new found friend. The book was finished by Manfred Rommel who gave a truly tragic and heart breaking view of the final moments between him and his father.

For most of the past century, there have been two schools of thought about Hitler and Stalin. One states that Stalin wasn't really so bad, because he fought the Fascists; the other insists that Hitler wasn't really so bad, because he fought the Communists. Alan Bullock leaves both viewpoints in the dustheap of history, where they belong. Both Hitler and Stalin came as close to pure evil as human beings ever get; both stood for the utter repression of the human spirit and the annihilation of anyone who might possibly be suspected of standing in their way. Bullock demonstrates this in exhaustive, but never exhausting, detail. More people should read this book, if only to be cured forever of any temptation to support any form of totalitarianism, any time, anywhere.

What is most fascinating about this novel dual biographical approach toward understanding both Hitler and Stalin is the startling degree to which such an unorthodox approach illuminates one's understanding not only of their remarkable similarities, but also their philosophical, tactical, and personal differences. This truly is a fascinating and absorbing book, and it is well enough written that the narrative seems to spin along on its own strength, and we find ourselves captivated by the degree to which these two seem star-crossed in terms of their destinies. As Bullock deftly illustrates, the main differences between the two dictators were found in their personalities. Yet, even after all these crucial differences in both personal style and substance are considered, the degree to which they were similar is both remarkable and frightening to comprehend.

Stalin was a creature of bureaucracy, the ultimate insider, someone who knew how to use the organization bonding the Communist Party together for his own rise to prominence and power, an increasingly clever, adroit, and masterful practitioner of power politics. He was nothing if not careful, cautious, deliberate, and shrewd. Hitler, on the other hand, was a gambler, a masterful politician, a bold, easily bored, and endlessly distracted dreamer whose natural ability to charm, captivate, and enchant helped him to rise by extraordinary means. In many ways, these men came to prominence in quite different ways; Stalin, by mastering the art of bureaucratic manipulation and quietly assuming key roles within the organization that gave him friendships, alliances, and information that he used masterfully to rise through the ranks of the faithful, and Hitler, the manic-depressive natural leader whose charismatic popular appeal and desperate, authoritarian, and often violent measures were used to gain political power through extraordinary means.

Yet Bullock shows how similar both men were in terms of the way they used their power once established to execute their national responsibilities, and in the way they ruthlessly pursued their goals without mercy, remorse or any concern for others who suffered for their sake. Both used extralegal means to maintain position, both cruelly purged potential rivals through purges or political overthrows. Both bordered on being psychotic; Hitler coming close to being declared certifiably insane, and Stalin by having all the symptoms of classic paranoia. Certainly both had personal histories that can most kindly be described as bizarre in terms of the ways in which they treated those close to them as well as the populace in general. Both also seemed convinced of their own central and unique role in terms of their country's destiny, and indeed each identified his own importance in terms of succeeding in accomplishing that historical mission. Also, both were guilty of massive crimes against humanity, both against the opposing forces they captured and their own subjects. Hitler persecuted German citizens who were Jewish, Gypsies, or otherwise "undesirables", while Stalin persecuted Ukrainians in general and peasant farmers in particular, not to mention the systematic purges of thousands of Army, Navy, and Air Force officers he or his cronies suspected of potential disloyalty.

This is a wonderful book in terms of its insights, unusual research sources, and provocative speculations regarding each of these two quite unique historical figures. The narrative carries itself in an entertaining, edifying, and comprehensible fashion, and his use of photographs and maps serves the text well. All in all, I would have to describe this book as a must-read for anyone seriously interested in how the personalities and characteristics of these two key leaders in 20th century history figured into the unholy calculus of madness and mayhem, otherwise referred to as World War Two. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

To describe Sir Alan Bullock's Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives as a duel biography does not do it justice. It is no less than a history of the formation and evolution of the most violent and pathological dictatorships in the history the world, and an understanding of these dictatorships is necessary to an understanding of the twentieth century. However, Sir Alan Bullock tells this story primarily through the two men whose efforts, paranoias, prejudicies, and impressive if ultimately evil intellects made their regimes possible. Without a doubt, he tells their stories masterfully, interweaving their lives within the context of twentieth century history and ideas yet maintaining their distinct personal and political identities, talents, and mistakes. His book is both interesting narrative and unquie analytical fair for both the general reader and specialist. In their latest book, Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison, Sir Ian Kershaw and Moshe Levin write of their subjects: "Studying the history of inhumanity, perpetrated on such a vast, unprecedented scale, has an emotional and psychological cost. It is not like studying the history of philosohpy, the Renaissance, or the age of the cathedrals. The subject matter is less uplifting than almost any other conceivable topic of historical enquiry. But it is history al the same. And it is important. The emotional involvement has to be contained, even when the very effort to arrive at some balanced and reasoned interpretation seems an affront. . . There is nothing else . . . than to adhere to scholarly methods in the hope that knowledge might inform action to prevent any conceivable repetition of such political pathologies as characterised Stalinism and Nazism." With his most recent work, Sir Alan Bullock has gone a long way toward achieving the ideals set forth by Kershaw and Lewin. I highly recommend this book

I bought this book due to the HBO documentary of the same name. Although I was not born yet, I believe this book is important in educating those of us too young to know the real history of the problems in the Middle East.

The book is about the 1972 Olympic hostage crisis, where most of the Israeli delegation were taken hostage and subsequently killed by a Palestinian group calling themselves Black September (named so because of a battle in which many Palestians were killed by Israeli's in September 1967).

Mr. Reeves has done an excellent job in researching this book, to the point that one is amazed at the almost keystone cop-like appoach made by many German officials in dealing with this problem. Obviously, they (the Germans) were facing an uphill battle dealing with a fanatical terrorist group, all in front of a worldwide audience expecting to watch sporting events pitting country against country. This said, the mistakes are many and made by many different people. In the book, there are the "hawks" and there are the "doves", then there are the Israeli's on foriegn soil trying to get their countrymen safely back home. Mr. Reeves does a great job on the background of the terrorists, giving the personal reasons for (but not justifying) the actions that they took. Great detail is given to the debacle at the airport where everyone was killed. Many questions are raised about what went down there, such as why none of the snipers were given walkie talkies to communicate with one another allowing them to discern who was going to take down who? It was this situation geon awry that made the Germans create GSG-9, their counter-terrorism unit. Mr. Reeves also touched on Operation "Wrath of God". the Isreali revenge mission to assassinate surviving members of the group. This part of the book is just as fascinating and reads like a novel. It shows the resolve of the Isreali's to seek revenge on those who did them wrong. They had there own problems though when they assassinated a suspected member of Black September, who turned out to be an innocent waiter.

All in all, the book is not "enjoyable" but is an important piece of history. ... I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Middle East conflict and/or terrorism.

One Day in September is a fascinating and well researched book about the events surrounding the 1972 Munich Olympics takeover and subsequent massacre of members of the Israeli Olympics team by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.

The book provides extraordinary details of events leading up to and during the takeover, the negotiations to free the hostages, the events at the airport in which all of the Israeli hostages and many of the terrorists were killed, and the aftermath; including the "Operation Wrath of God" (the Israeli retaliation), the cover-up of mistakes and miscues made by the German government and police, and the thoughts of survivors on all sides in retrospect. There is also a chapter dedicated to providing a short but comprehensive history on what led to the current problems in the Middle East - an excellent lesson for someone like myself who is a novice in this department.

This is one of the most interesting books I've ever read. I had a hard time putting it down once I started reading it. It is a must read for those who have an interest in history, and/or have their own personal memories of the Olympic games of Munich, 1972.

I bought this book due to the HBO documentary of the same name. Although I was not born yet, I believe this book is important in educating those of us too young to know the real history of the problems in the Middle East.

The book is about the 1972 Olympic hostage crisis, where most of the Israeli delegation were taken hostage and subsequently killed by a Palestinian group calling themselves Black September (named so because of a battle in which many Palestians were killed by Israeli's in September 1967).

Mr. Reeves has done an excellent job in researching this book, to the point that one is amazed at the almost keystone cop-like appoach made by many German officials in dealing with this problem. Obviously, they (the Germans) were facing an uphill battle dealing with a fanatical terrorist group, all in front of a worldwide audience expecting to watch sporting events pitting country against country. This said, the mistakes are many and made by many different people. In the book, there are the "hawks" and there are the "doves", then there are the Israeli's on foriegn soil trying to get their countrymen safely back home. Mr. Reeves does a great job on the background of the terrorists, giving the personal reasons for (but not justifying) the actions that they took. Great detail is given to the debacle at the airport where everyone was killed. Many questions are raised about what went down there, such as why none of the snipers were given walkie talkies to communicate with one another allowing them to discern who was going to take down who? It was this situation geon awry that made the Germans create GSG-9, their counter-terrorism unit. Mr. Reeves also touched on Operation "Wrath of God". the Isreali revenge mission to assassinate surviving members of the group. This part of the book is just as fascinating and reads like a novel. It shows the resolve of the Isreali's to seek revenge on those who did them wrong. They had there own problems though when they assassinated a suspected member of Black September, who turned out to be an innocent waiter.

All in all, the book is not "enjoyable" but is an important piece of history. One has to think of the irony that Jews would again be hostages on German soil not half a century after the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Middle East conflict and/or terrorism.