Reviews (2)

Outstanding WWII Book
"Shot from the Sky: American POWs in Switzerland" is simply an outstanding WWII book. From 1943-1945, "neutral" Switzerland shot down and imprisoned more than 1,700 American flyers.Interestingly, no Nazi airmen or troops were interred during WWII. German aircraft were allowed to land unharmed at "neutral" Swiss airfields, refuel, and safely depart. When news of the 6 June 1944 Normandy landings began to filter into the camps of imprisoned U.S. airmen, authorities tripled the number of guards and Swiss machine-gun emplacements. Captured American escapees were held in POW camps, some similar to the German and Japanese concentration camps. By the end of the war, 61 Americans lay buried in a remote village cemetery. During the war, the Geneva Accords did not apply to POWs held in neutral countries. Adding to this incredible story, at the end of WWII, the U.S. War Department ordered the American internees not to discuss their imprisonment with anyone once they were repatriated. Never once, over the past sixty years, has the Swiss government apologized.
Wartime Switzerland under Critical Fire
Cathryn J. Prince. SHOT FROM THE SKY: American POWs in Switzerland. Naval Institute Press, 2003.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Aerial operations, American    3. History    4. History - Military / War    5. Military    6. Military - World War II    7. Neutrality    8. Prisoners and prisons, Swiss    9. Switzerland    10. World War, 1939-1945    11. World history: Second World War   

Reviews (3)

A Case Study of "The Enlightenment"
The microhistory, A Poisoned Chalice by Jeffrey Freedman traces the evolution of a crime in Zurich, Switzerland in the autumn of 1776.It was "a crime without parallel,"(Freedman, 102.) or so Johann Casper Lavater would have us think about the poisoning of the communion wine on the eve of an important liturgical event in the Christian calendar.Johann Lavater would be a key participant in the events after the poisoning and his adversary a philosopher from the school of the Aufkl?rung, Friedrich Nicolai.(Despite Lavater's rivalry with Nicolai, ironically, a portion of Lavater's early education was in the school of Aufkl?rung.)This crime, and the fervor it sparks in its aftermath, is a case study into the pressing debates in late Enlightenment thought and how the "public sphere" was used in those debates.The two opponents became embroiled in that debate as a result of the poisoning.
An Unspeakable Crime Reports on the Enlightenment
One observer called it "the most unchristian, the most inhuman, the most outrageous, and the most unspeakable deed that has ever been committed or that ever will be committed."It is obvious that he was trying to make the event seem impressive, and he would have been disappointed to know that a couple of centuries later, just about no one remembers this infamy.It has been brought back into modern consciousness now by a surprising book, _A Poisoned Chalice_ (Princeton University Press) by Jeffrey Freedman.The crime was poisoning of the communion wine at the Zurich Cathedral in 1776, and there were clues that someone with access to the church interior had done the foul deed. An Unspeakable Crime Reports on the Enlightenment
One observer called it "the most unchristian, the most inhuman, the most outrageous, and the most unspeakable deed that has ever been committed or that ever will be committed."It is obvious that he was trying to make the event seem impressive, and he would have been disappointed to know that a couple of centuries later, just about no one remembers this infamy.It has been brought back into modern consciousness now by a surprising book, _A Poisoned Chalice_ (Princeton University Press) by Jeffrey Freedman.The crime was poisoning of the communion wine at the Zurich Cathedral in 1776, and there were clues that someone with access to the church interior had done the foul deed.Read more

Subjects:  1. 18th century    2. Enlightenment    3. Good and evil    4. History    5. History - General History    6. History: World    7. Modern - 18th Century    8. Murder - General    9. Switzerland    10. Trials (Poisoning)    11. Zurich    12. European History    13. European history: c 1750 to c 1900    14. European studies    15. History / Modern / 18th Century    16. c 1700 to c 1800   

Editorial Review

The 1945 Allied victory in Europe ended the military and political might of the Third Reich, but its financial power lives on in the secret vaults and numbered accounts of Swiss banks. In

Reviews (4)

Great beginning but tedious reading afterwards
I really hate to criticize another man's work, but when buying a book is involved, the reader should know what he's getting into before he invests his time & money in it.That being said, I think Mr. Bower put a lot of time and effort into this book, and it shows with the numerous first-rate sources he quotes from.Unfortunately, the story itself could have been presented in a more user-friendly manner.I found the first 100-150 pages fascinating--I had no idea how sympathetic the Swiss were with the Nazis and how they turned their backs on the Nazis' victims.What was even more appaling was the Swiss behavior after the war: refusing to give back the looted money, heirless assets or even acknowledge they did anything wrong.But the 50 years between the war's end and the book's end could be summed up in one sentence:people asked the Swiss to right their wartime wrongs and the Swiss refused.Maybe it's because I never cared for legal dramas but it just seemed like he went on and on, page after page of American accusations and Swiss denials.It made the book a difficult read and not something I looked forward to opening again.At the same time it is a little biased--it is told primarily from the "crusaders'" point of view.Very rarely does he flesh out Switzerland's position or make enough distinction that this was mostly a crime of the Swiss Bankers and not the Swiss Government or the citizens themselves.Even so, it is difficult to have any pity for the Swiss after reading this, and you will cringe anytime you hear the words "Swiss neutrality."The Swiss were hardly neutral in the war.However, the book did have one positive side--by the time you get to the last chapter you are so frustrated that you are genuinely mad at the Swiss and feel a personal sense of justice when they are willing to own up to their actions.Unfortunately the book ends abruptly and you don't get a true feeling of resolution...but at the same time I'm glad I learned a lot about this often-forgotten chapter of the 20th century.However, I think there are many other books on the subject that should be looked at first...with all due respect to the author.

Surprising, Well-Written Expose Of Swiss Complicity In WWII
Over the last decade much has been written regarding the wanton theft of money, precious stones and metals, and other treasures and loot during the Second World War by both the Nazis and the Swiss bankers who helped finance the German war effort. This interesting and fact-filled book by author Tom Bower details the horrifying facts surrounding the multitude of ways in which Jews and other victims of the Nazi regime were fleeced, both by the Nazi authorities in the first place, and then by a plethora of other villains after the fact. Particularly distasteful are the ways in which victims of the Holocaust were manipulated, tricked, or forced into giving all they had in an attempt to save themselves and their families, only to find they were both swindled of the valuables in the first place, and then betrayed and sent to the death camps after so doing.On many levels then, this is a shocking account of the plethora of ways in which those lost in the Holocaust were victimized. Well written, but a little drawn out.
Bower writes a good book.The first 150 pages are very interesting. Here, Bower deals with Swiss complicity with Nazi Germany.The Swiss sold to Nazi Germany nearly a billion dollars in armaments, ballbearing and othermateriel to support the German war machine. As a result, the Swiss may haveprolonged the war by supporting the hard pressed Nazi war machine. Inaddition, we see what slimy, robber barons the Swiss bankers were. Jews,whose family members had accounts in Swiss banks (and whose parents died inthe camps) find themselves turned away by callous Swiss bankers. We alsolearn how the Communists in Poland tried to gain capital by claiming thefunds of Polish Jews who perished in the Holocaust.The Polish Communists,who would persecute Jews and expel their Jews in the 60's still wantedtheir cash! So, this and many other interesting points come out. Still,after about 150 pages, the book drags.Accordingly, I would read the first150 pages.Then I would skip to the end to of the book to read about EdgarBronfman's efforts on behalf of Jews who had money in Switzerland. Overall,a well researched book on the perfidities of the Swiss banks, but a littletoo long. Last but not least, this book convinced me (someone who wasinitially against going after the Swiss Banks, and a Jew for that matter)that the Swiss Banks should be held accountable for these crimes, andshould pay some amount of restitution. Whether the survivors will get acent after taxes and legal fees is another matter. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Banks and banking    3. Corrupt practices    4. Foreign bank accounts    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Holocaust    9. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    10. Jewish Holocaust    11. Military - World War II    12. Switzerland    13. World War II - Europe    14. Europe    15. European history: Second World War    16. Genocide    17. Jewish studies    18. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    19. Second World War, 1939-1945   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (1)

Giacometti:Alienation and estrangement
Giacometti well expressed the alienation and estrangement of the human condition in his sculpture. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1901-1966    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Exhibitions    5. Giacometti, Alberto,    6. History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945)    7. Individual Artist    8. Individual artists    9. Sculpture & other three-dimensional art forms    10. Surrealism & Dada    11. Switzerland   

Subjects:  1. Destruction and pillage    2. Economic Conditions    3. Economic aspects    4. Europe    5. Europe - Germany    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. National socialism    10. Philosophy    11. Switzerland    12. World War, 1939-1945    13. History / Germany   

Reviews (1)

magical movado
The magical world of movado comes to light in this exceptional work on "the history of time".Very informative work with nice illustrations is all that the true movado enthusiast really needs.Istrongly suggest that if you already own, or if you are considering amovado classic timepiece, that you pick up this book and spend some time onlearning about the making of time. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiques & Collectibles    2. Antiques/Collectibles    3. Clock and watch making    4. Clocks and watches    5. History    6. Movado Watch Corporation    7. Reference - General    8. Switzerland    9. Technical & Manufacturing Trades    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Horology    12. World history   

Subjects:  1. Transportation / Railroads / History    2. Transportation / Railroads / Pictorial    3. Travel    4. Railroads - History    5. Railroads - Pictorial    6. Trains & railways    7. Transportation   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Fine Arts    4. History - Contemporary (1945- )    5. Individual Artist    6. Public buildings: civic, commercial, industrial, etc    7. Switzerland   

Reviews (1)

it's about time!
this is a long overdue collection of Sophie Taeuber-Arp's works. lots of color illustrations. very nice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. European    4. General    5. History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945)    6. Individual Artist    7. Art / General    8. History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -    9. Individual artists    10. Switzerland   

Subjects:  1. 20th Century Art    2. 20th century    3. Antiques & Collectibles    4. Antiques/Collectibles    5. Art    6. Art & Art Instruction    7. Art, European    8. Avant-garde (Aesthetics)    9. Catalogs    10. Europe    11. European    12. History    13. History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945)    14. Lugano    15. Permanent Collection Catalogs    16. Private collections    17. Switzerland    18. Art / History / European    19. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Assemblage Art    4. European    5. Fine Arts (General)    6. General    7. History - Contemporary (1945- )    8. Individual Artist    9. Photography    10. Popular Culture - General    11. Art / Popular Culture    12. Art styles: c 1960 -    13. Individual artists    14. Switzerland   

Reviews (4)

Excellent
Translations of Einstein's papers are scattered around, but are generally hard to find.This volume brings together a decade of Einstien's scientific papers translated into English.The editors have chosen to leave in the mistakes and typographical errors and refer the reader to the documentary edition (which I believe can be purchased directly from Princeton University Press, but not on Amazon).This documentary edition is a printing of the original German articles with extensive introductions and footnotes in English.If you are not comfortable reading technical papers auf Deutsch and choose this English version over the documentary edition, then you lose the benefit of the footnotes.Even that benefit is limited.I worked through the details of Einstein's thesis with the footnotes from the documentary edition.Several errors in the thesis are not noted and there are some errors in the footnotes themselves.The collection contains several early papers of Einstein that I have never before seen translated.There are also reviews of articles which Einstein wrote on other papers.These reviews will be of limited interest for most readers.Overall, it is a great pleasure to see how Einstein originally presented his great works on relativity, Brownian motion, photoelectric effect, the dimension of molecules, etc.

Excellent translations!
If without this translation version, I guess I'll be spending much more time in doing my own translation than trying to grasp the ideas in the papers. I really appreciate the translations.

The Einstein Gold (or God) Age
All the Einstein life is very intersting! For the 20st centuryworld life the 1900-1909 Einstein period is the apex of his scientificcontributions, specially for three papers: those about the Brownian Movement, the Photoelectric Effects and Eletromagnetic Effects when there is a referencial change. All three papers brought to ous news interpretations of those phenomena and revealed the Einstein interpretation capacity of visible and not-visible world. The paper about Photoelectric Effects presented a new quantum views of ligh and material interaction while the Eletromagnetic Effects showed the principles of Special Relativity, a theme that transverse the 20st century and arrive at 21st century without popular technology applications. This book brings a opened, stimulant, and helpful explanations - great lectures - about the principals Einstein ideas. Maybe this book is the first to point closely the life and thinking of a science men. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Continental European    2. History    3. Literary Collections    4. Literary Criticism    5. Physics    6. Science    7. Biography: general    8. History of Science and Medicine, Philosophy of Science    9. Mathematics    10. Science / History    11. c 1900 - c 1914   

Subjects:  1. History - Military / War    2. European history: from c 1900 -    3. History / Military / World War II    4. Switzerland    5. Military    6. Military - World War II    7. History   

Reviews (2)

Suiseki: The Japanese Art of Miniature Landscape
Looking for something new to do?Something out ofthe ordinary?Something inexpensive and relaxing? A thorough and lovely book
I own all the other books listed in the suiseki section, and have read numerous descriptions of the art of Suiseki as they appear in books on Bonsai,and I feel that Mr. Rivera's book was the first to help meunderstand what makes a suiseki different than any fascinating stone that Imight pick up. The sections on aesthetics, and display were extremelyhelpful. And lastly, the photos were of terrific quality, and variety.Itwould be the first book I would buy on the art. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Gardening    2. Gardening / Horticulture    3. Gardening/Plants    4. General    5. History Of Fine Arts    6. Japanese Gardens - General    7. Landscape    8. Sculpture    9. Suiseki    10. Antiques & Collectables    11. Gardening / General    12. Gardening: plants    13. Japan    14. Oriental art   

Subjects:  1. Conservatism    2. Diplomatic History    3. Foreign relations    4. Geneva    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Iceland    9. International Relations - General    10. Modern - 20th Century    11. Reykjavâik    12. Soviet Union    13. Summit meetings    14. Switzerland    15. United States    16. Conservatism & right-of-centre democratic ideologies    17. Diplomacy    18. History / Modern / 20th Century    19. History of specific subjects    20. World history: from c 1900 -   

Reviews (1)

Careful scholarship on an area deserving more attention
Head has written a solid work on historical scholarship.The area under study is called the Grisons, the Grey Leagues, and Graubunden, and is part of early modern Switzerland.Head takes on a number of historiographical battles that raged at the time of the writing, and some still do.One is the argument that communalism, the notion that common people could and here did work together to create a liberating and progressive political system, to be idealized along with ancient Athens as heroic models for today. Head shows how communalism was an idea that was preached and discussed, but that elites and factions combatted its core tenets, hindering its ability to function.He also looks at a famous uprising that some see in it communalism, but he shows how the Faehnlilupf movement never succeeded in its ambitious mission.Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - General    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: American    5. Political Ideologies - Democracy    6. European history: c 1500 to c 1750    7. Graubèunden (Switzerland)--History    8. History / Europe / General    9. Switzerland    10. c 1500 to c 1600    11. c 1600 to c 1700   

Reviews (1)

A UNIQUELY BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION OF ART

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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Art, American    5. Art, Swiss    6. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - General    7. Dallas    8. Exhibitions    9. History - General    10. Private collections    11. Texas    12. Exhibition catalogues and specific collections    13. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles    14. Switzerland   

Subjects:  1. Gay Studies    2. Gay/Lesbian Nonfiction    3. Gender Studies    4. Germany    5. History    6. Homosexuality    7. Social Science    8. Sodomy    9. Switzerland    10. Social Science / Gay Studies   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. European    4. Graphic Arts - General    5. Graphic Design    6. History - Contemporary (1945- )   

Reviews (5)

Impressive work on a little known subject
Although Mr Tanner's previous books about military history were not so impressive in terms of accuracy or comprehensiveness, this one is a real gem and is the best account of Switzerland as a refuge for US fliers during World War II. The first chapters cover a short history of Switzerland as well as the origins of the aerial war in Europe and then follows the main story with a wealth of first hand accounts. Bravery, luck and terror are interwooved in these stories of the old warriors and there are also many facts about the general picture of the internment in Switzerland. Probably the most enjoyable part of the book was that about the conditions of life that the US fliers experienced at Adelboden, Wengen and Davos and the many attempts they made to escape from there in order to rejoin their units. Very well researched and written book!

A politically correct account of Swiss neutrality
Stephen Tanner's Refuge From The Reich is a compelling and informative account of the treatment of civilian and military refugees, escapees, and evadees at the hands of the Swiss under the military authority of General Henri Guisan during the Second World War. Interned at ski resorts for the duration of the war, the U.S. officers and men were afforded the same sparse allowances, poorly heated accommodations, spartan living conditions, and subsistence diets of 1,500 calories per day that characterized the lives of Swiss burghers, who were then as dependent on Germany for foodstuffs and coal as their current descendants are for tourism, and whose antipathy to Germans remains a part of the Swiss national character today. The airmen's boredom and eagerness to return to the fray are convincingly depicted, as are their often successful attempts to escape and the deplorable, substandard conditions at the prisons (principally at Wauwilermoos, the swamp of Wauwil) to which they were sent if caught - generally by the Swiss army, since the civilian population usually abetted such efforts, helping the fliers reach the French underground at Annecy. The work limns in great detail the singularity of a determinedly independent, heavily armed, and, in the interior mountainous regions, largely impregnable democratic state existing in the midst of Nazi-occupied Europe and providing the only proximate refuge for thousands of airmen trapped in damaged and otherwise doomed planes, which often were guided to safe landings at the Dubendorf airport and elsewhere by the Swiss air force. The planes bore such nicknames as Dinah Mite, Touchy Tess, Twat's It To You, and Est Nulla Via Invia Virtuti, the last - an allusion to the Sybil's encouragement to Aeneas in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and rendered in English as "No path is impassable to courage" - christened by an educated pilot named Martin Andrews, who later became a courier for U.S. spymaster Allen Dulles. Quite well written, the book can be criticized mainly for its tendency to whitewash the pilots' motives in escaping to Switzerland by asserting and attempting to document that there was not a single instance of a physically uninjured airman diverting an undamaged, well fueled bomber or fighter craft to Switzerland in order to escape the stresses of combat. Similarly, the work characterizes Allied bombings of Basel, Schaffhausen, and Zurich as invariably accidental strafings by disoriented pilots lost in cloud cover. For the view that such attacks were at least sometimes motivated by a clear intention to destroy industrial plants whose output contributed to the Wehrmacht's war effort, the reader is directed to Paul Erdman's factual if often maligned novel, The Swiss Account.
U.S. airmen and the Swiss who had given them protection
Refuge From The Reich: American Airmen And Switzerland During World War II tells the riveting story of how U.S. airman, shot out the skies by the Germans, parachuted, crash-landed, or otherwise escaped to Switzerland. There they encountered a country where food and heat were rationed, where every man was an armed solider subject to instant mobilization to counter the German threat. It was a small, mountainous country swarming with internees, refugees, and expatriates seeking protection from the certain death that awaited them from the Axis powers. By the end of the war there was a firm and pervasive sense of respect between the U.S. airmen and the Swiss who had given them secure protection from the Germans. Refuge From The Reich is a valued and informative contribution to the annals of World War II's European theater. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. History    3. History - Military / War    4. History: World    5. Military    6. Military - General    7. Military - World War II    8. Neutrality    9. Prisoners and prisons, Swiss    10. Switzerland    11. World War, 1939-1945    12. Air forces & warfare    13. European history: Second World War    14. True stories: Second World War    15. USA