false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170356670m/48840.jpg 48840 2 Decades after the end of World War II, the Holocaust remains as inexplicable and morbidly fascinating as ever. Countless books have been written about it--accounts of survivors, biographies of Hitler and his cronies, poetry and fiction informed by an event no poet or novelist could have imagined for him- or herself. Along with the deluge of responses to the horror, there have arisen two assumptions: first, that it was a unique event in world history; and, second, that it is impossible to understand the motivations of the Nazi perpetrators. Australian anthropologist Inga Clendinnen challenges both these suppositions in her controversial revisiting of the Holocaust.<p> It is understandable that earlier chroniclers (and survivors) of the Nazi genocide, such as Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel, would have difficulty approaching it with the scholar's objectivity or compulsion to examine all sides of the issue--indeed, in Levi's mind, trying to understand the motivations of the Nazis was tantamount to endorsing them. Clendinnen, an expert in ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures, carefully differentiates between comprehending one's subject and identifying with it. She suggests that only by understanding the minds behind the Final Solution--and not just Hitler and Himmler but the average man in the street and buck private in the army, as well--can we hope to place the Holocaust in historical context. The author divides her study into three parts: in the first (and perhaps most controversial), she discusses the problems inherent in eyewitness accounts; in the second, she examines Nazi psychology; and in the last section, she looks at artistic representations of the Holocaust. Throughout, she amply represents the views of important Holocaust commentators and the many theories that abound. Best of all, she does it in highly readable prose. <I>Reading the Holocaust</I> is a thoughtful, provocative look at an old and troubling question. 47781 1999 Reading the Holocaust (Canto) total:20|5:6|4:8|3:4|1:2| 20 76 36 2 1 0 false false Sun Feb 10 22:17:51 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 06 22:10:10 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 10 22:17:11 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 14:10:57 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 20 10:55:54 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Thu Dec 03 09:37:17 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 03 09:37:17 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 02 16:11:13 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 16:11:13 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jun 30 19:23:14 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 19:23:18 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jun 17 12:46:56 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 12:46:56 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Mar 21 13:24:12 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 13:24:12 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Mar 02 12:26:31 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 12:26:33 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jan 10 19:02:51 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 19:02:51 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jan 06 20:31:39 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 20:31:39 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Dec 20 17:34:55 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 17:34:55 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Thu Aug 14 12:18:57 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 14 12:18:57 -0700 2008 1 0 false false Fri Jul 18 02:13:41 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 18 02:13:41 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Jun 01 07:13:36 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 01 07:13:36 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Fri May 09 06:12:38 -0700 2008 Fri May 09 06:12:38 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Fri Apr 18 07:59:12 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 18 07:59:17 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Fri Apr 11 20:35:07 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 11 20:35:07 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Mar 05 06:11:34 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 06:11:34 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Mon Mar 03 02:13:26 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 03 02:13:43 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Mon Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Mon Feb 25 14:33:08 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 14:33:39 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=48840