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Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chamber

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Filip Muller

August 24, 1999
Truly the worst holocaust testimony ever written.So many mistakes throughout the whole text.Two examples of which were when Mr Muller mentions the camp orchestra in Birkenau,there was none.He also quotes that Kramer was in Birkenau and had came from Auschwitz 2.Both are one and the same place But important errors like these were repeated in every chapter and the worry for me is that Holocaust deniers may pick up on these simple blunders.Mr Mullers over use of adjectives and repetition of statements at times resulted in the book bordering on being boring.It read more like a students written essay who wasnt fully informed ,rather than an actual Holocaust survivors memoirs.Ive read many more imformative Holocaust testimonies and even Mr Muller ... Read More:

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (Arena Books)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Dee Brown

January 03, 1998
This book makes you ashamed to be a white man, it angers you to hear how the native american indians were treated.

I knew before reading the book that the white man had treated the indians so badly, but I was not ready to read exactly how badly.

As an indian says in the book " They broke all there promises, except one. they promised to take all our land".

My heart goes out to all the native Ameican people.

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3 Commando Brigade

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Ewen Southby-Tailyour

August 28, 2008
This book makes you ashamed to be a white man, it angers you to hear how the native american indians were treated.

I knew before reading the book that the white man had treated the indians so badly, but I was not ready to read exactly how badly.

As an indian says in the book " They broke all there promises, except one. they promised to take all our land".

My heart goes out to all the native Ameican people.

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Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Jung Chang

April 05, 2004
This is probably the most boring and unenlightening book I have ever read. My wife was asked to read it as part of a literature appreciation group and said it was shocking in its revelations. I bought another copy of it from Waterstones for one of her friends and the assistant was gushing in her enthusiasm for it. I decided to read it and thus wasted an unnecessary amount of valuable time.
If you can believe 10% of what Jung Chang asks you to believe you will be stretching credulity. She is obsessed with her own family's righteousness in the face of unmitigated evil and her attention to trivialities shows a great sense of imagination.
Instead of a simple family tree we have a long boring tirade of the minutiae of everyday life affecting ... Read More:

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If This Is a Man / The Truce

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Primo Levi

January 01, 1991
If you want to understand the holocaust, how and why it happened, then you need to read If This Is A Man. Levi dispenses with his emotional responses and describes what happened with a frightening detachment. Through his eyes, Levi shows us how the Nazi machine sought to rob their victims of all vestiges of their humanity and thereby justify their treatment of the camp victims. This in turn led to the horrible events that we all know so well. Levi, however, does not just aim to show us the horror of the events, but understand them. Thus, amongst the debasement of life in the camps, we see how necessary it becomes to bathe with dirty water - not to clean yourself, but to regain fragments of your own humanity. This book is essential if we are to understand why the holocaust ... Read More:

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The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Jeffrey Liker

January 01, 2004
I read this book when it was first published in 2004 and recently re-read it, curious to know how well Jeffrey Liker's explanation of Toyota's management principles and lean production values have held up. My conclusion? Very well.

No good purpose would be served by merely listing the 14 management principles, out of context. Liker devotes a separate chapter to each, carefully explaining not only what it is but also how it guides and informs everyone at all levels and in all areas of the Toyota organization. What Liker also accomplishes, and what cannot be adequately summarized in a review such as this, is to explain how all 12 principles are interdependent. Together, they serve as the company's DNA. In the Preface, he recalls asking Fujio Cho (President of Toyota Motor ... Read More:

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The Genealogist's Internet

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Peter Christian

August 31, 2005
I was lucky enough to be given this as a birthday gift when I first got into my Family Tree. It is a really useful resource helping a beginner find their way around the wealth of info available on the web to the amateur genealogist. There is info on where to start and on the whole aray of online sources. A great book, worth the money.

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The Gaol: The Story of Newgate - London's Most Notorious Prison

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Kelly Grovier

July 10, 2008
A well researched, intelligent, thorough history of Newgate prison, beautifully presented. As someone who does not read a lot of factual books, I found this an enjoyable read. I got the book after listening to some of the "Book of the Week" episodes on BBC Radio 4. Who knew so much could go on behind a jails four walls, I certainly didn't!

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History: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: John Arnold

February 24, 2000
Arnold takes 'historiography' to be the process of writing history, and 'history' to be the result of that process, i.e. to be a set of true stories about the past. If you enjoy reading history, then you should read at least something about historiography, to help you evaluate and interpret what you read. This short introduction to the subject is probably as good a place as any to start and for many readers will be as much historiography as they think they need.

Major figures such as Thucydides and von Ranke are discussed and central issues in the philosophy of history, such as the extent to which people of other times were essentially different from us, are introduced. Arnold presents a wide range of opinions on these various topics, but has a bias toward the politically correct.
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Generation Kill

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History
by: Evan Wright

April 11, 2005
Evan Wright embeds with the lightly-equipped (and Humvee mounted) First Recon whose job is to lead the US invasion to Baghdad. The men are the usual mixture of saints and sinners (often at the same time) for whom the USMC feels a vocation. They are shooting civilians one moment and trying to save them the next. Wright is excellent at sketching the boredom of soldiering, the sudden jag of combat, and the long recovery from the combat high. If there is a villain in the piece of non-judgemental reporting it is the officers a number of whom (disguised by nicknames)are roundly criticised by the men and by the author. First Recon is an elite formation and its performance makes for an interesting contrast with "Ambush Alley".