Black Earth by Timothy Snyder

Black Earth by Timothy Snyder is the holocaust as a history and warning.  This book looks at the holocaust strictly from a historical point of view with some additions from the author which could be construed as theory or the author's point of view.   There is no romance in this holocaust book.  There is no special interesting side stories to this book.  This book points out how Hitler and the men working with and for him made their decisions on their political aspirations as well as their plans to conquer the world.  Hitler is not the first nor most likely not the last to want to win public favor as well as ownership of the world.  What this book is investigating is why Hitler's war effort on the Jewish population was so well received in the 1930s and 1940s in Europe and Asia.  This aspect of the book is very hard to read as it condemns the majority of the world but if we do not look at it and as well why the rest of the world did not condemn them but rather watched while it happened is to repeat it.  To say that no one knew it was happening at the time is to tell our self a lie because it would have been impossible to hide the magnitude of this atrocity if we as a world were not willing to just not know. 

I am glad that I read this book though I cannot say that I enjoyed it.  I did not live during this period of time so I guess that I can tell myself that I would have done differently that the people living at that time.  But can I really?  Do I know what I would do if I were starving.  Do I even know extreme hunger?  Do any of us really?  When told something is a fact over and over by the media and public figures how far do I really look into the situation to make sure that I am not being lead astray by writers who are telling me what they want me to believe?  How easily are we as lazy, well-fed readers led down a path of the destruction of others?    How far would we really go with our high flung morals into helping others to the physical detriment to ourselves and our family? 

This book I would recommend reading for anyone of mature age who wants to know more of the history of the world during World War II.  Don't read this book though expecting to enjoy it though.  This is a historical viewing of this period of time and done in such a way that no country can escape knowledge that, "We could have either prevented this or at least done more to help these people".
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.