Life Is W/People

I have read this book several times--as well as parts of it at least a half dozen times--and have never failed to glean an enormous amount of information about the incredible lives of Eastern European Jews before World War II. The authors (all of whom are highly trained in their respective fields) have opened up to their readers a beautiful and yet painful world which those of us who live in freedom and prosperity probably never knew existed before. The writing is clear and precise and the reader is offered many direct quotes as well as regional aphorisms and Yiddish terms used by the Eastern European Jews to describe their friends, family and surroundings. At times I was filled with laughter, other times brought to tears by the words of those who lived in the shtetleh of Poland and Russia. The Jews of Eastern Europe were a simple people of faith---in their God, in their little run-down communities, in their family and friends---but they also lived in a world which evoked a constant sense of fear knowing that anytime day or night they were subject to the violent whims of their Gentile neighbors. During the worst pogroms, Jews were attacked and sometimes murdered in front of family members and friends. And yet, because of the social conditions in Eastern Europe, those who witnessed the horrors of a pogrom might actually come face to face the very next day with those same Gentile attackers in the marketplace, and they were expected to act as if nothing at all had happened. We of democratic laws and justice would not fair so well in such a society; they had no such choice, for to complain was to risk one's life and bring down further destruction on their shtetl. With few exceptions, the Jews of Eastern Europe lived and died with dignity and courage despite the sometimes horrible conditions under which they were forced to live, and this book describes this world more simply and clearly than any other I've read. For them, life truly was "With People", and it opened up my eyes to the incredible value of my own family and friends and the freedoms so richly enjoyed in this, the nation of my birth. I was deeply moved by this book and would recommend it to anyone, regardless of their national origin or religious faith. John Edward Flynt