The Unknown Black Book provides a revelatory compilation of testimonies from Jews who survived open-air massacres and other atrocities carried out by the Germans and their allies in the occupied Soviet territories during World War II―Ukraine; Belorussia; Lithuania; Latvia; Estonia; and Crimea. These documents are first-hand accounts by survivors of work camps; ghettos; forced marches; beatings; starvation; and disease. Collected under the direction of two renowned Soviet Jewish journalists; Ilya Ehrenburg and Vasily Grossman; they tell of Jews who lived in pits; walled-off corners of apartments; attics; and basement dugouts; unable to emerge due to fear that their neighbors would betray them; as often happened.
#1382796 in Books Carol G Thomas Craig Conant 2003-01-21 2003-01-21Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x .72 x 6.12l; .90 #File Name: 0253216028240 pagesCitadel to City State The Transformation of Greece 1200 700 BCE
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. The Greek dark agesBy Robert J. CrawfordThis book covers the 500 years from the collapse of Mycenean domination of the Greek mainland; through the dark ages; to the beginnings of the polis; or city-state. Due to lack of sources beyond archaeology and the occasional reference in later literature; the treatment is of necessity academic and technical in detail. Thomas structures the book to cover a single city or geographical area in some detail as the embodiment of each of these stages.The book begins with Mycenae (think Agamemnon); which dominated almost the entire Greek world during the Bronze Age. This was the time of the citadel; an elite administrative enclave of palaces; food storage facilities; and workshops with walls to bar commoners from access. Residences of the majority of the population (peasants and slaves; who doubled as cannon fodder) were outside and obscure. The workshops produced a wide range of goods; principally for export to the other elite enclaves of the Bronze Age; in such places as Egypt; Anatolia; and Mesopotamia. There was a rudimentary system of writing; Linear B; for keeping accounts; though its inflexibility as a syllabic system made the composition of poetry difficult if not impossible.For unknown reasons; this civilization completely collapsed some time during the 12C BCE. Thomas reviews the possible causes - invasion; revolt; climate change; plague; natural catastrophe - and chooses the current consensus view that it was a "systems failure"; whereby whatever it was sparked a self-reinforcing downward spiral. The result was a near-complete breakdown in trade (and artisanal production); the complete loss of literacy; and a precipitous decline in population; probably due to starvation and violence.The middle of the book covers what happened in a variety of cities. While there are too many distinctions to cover in a review; it boils down to a subsistence economy; the renewed importance of an oral cultural tradition; and the reorganization of small groupings in isolated locales to marshal resources for survival and security. Mycenae remained a somewhat active urban center for much of the dark age; Athens rose as a relatively dynamic area; but most of the Greek cities sunk into near-oblivion. The settlements were run by "big men"; anthropologists believe; who governed by competence and their riches rather than by hereditary rights of sovereigns; they could lose their status quickly if they did not deliver the goods.Finally; we see the rise of larger agglomerations as precursors to the golden era of the city state. Corinth is the model in this section. As the "big man" organization no longer sufficed; a new socio-political organization began to emerge; i.e. as the population and trade revived; larger groupings came together for purposes of defense and resource management as they dealt with a wider world also in recovery. This sowed the seeds; according the to authors; of a unique political culture of duty and honor as a means to glorify the city-state; i.e. the well known traits of Classical antiquity; including in some places alternating leadership. Literacy was recovered and so many great oral poems were written down (i.e. Homer) in the easier alphabet that was adapted from the Phoenician system. There is also a wonderful chapter on Hesiod (of Ascra); the first Greek poet identified as an individual of the early city-state era.While I think the book errs on the side of inevitability of the city-state culture - we are never told why it arose in Greece the way it did - it is an interesting review and solid argument. The polis emerged as self-governing; each with its own culture; and resulted in an era of prolific experimentation in all areas.As a classics major who has dabbled in ancient history ever since; I found the book a treat; if occasionally dry; and very well written. Though there is nothing particularly original about it; the book offers a nice review as based on concrete evidence and inference from physical remains. Nonetheless; I would recommend the book only for serious history buffs or undergraduate students - it does not cross into the territory of popular history.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. InterestingBy Larry N. StoutAn interesting look at the apparent diversity and complexity of post-Bronze Age evolutions of Mycenaean population centers in Greece; as inferred from archaeological data; with reference to (variously problematical) ancient sources of later times. The archaeological data; unfortunately; are in most cases not as extensive and cogent as we might wish; as a consequence; some inferences of the authors (one an amateur) are perhaps less than self-evident; or too confidently stated. (One of the five sites treated in this work is Ascra; which had not even been excavated when the book was published! The inferences are based solely on surface finds.) I've learned from this book (although I find it rather unseemly that senior author Thomas has deigned to post her own high rating of it).2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Well organiozed introduction to the eraBy American GothicThis is a well organized work of an understudied era - Greece between the collapse of the Bronze Age and the beginnings of the Classical era. This so-called Dark Age may lack a literature or the intriguing art and sudden collapse of the bronze age; but is interesting nontheless.This work is pleasant to read; and I recommend it to anyone interested in ancient history.
