Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising

Clearly, Stephen G. Esrati (review below) has an obsession with footnotes (a footnote fetish, if you will). Leave it to the "expertise" of a writer for stamp collectors to give such a ridiculously blind review of one of the most amazing books on the Holocaust ever written. Village of a Million Spirits is, quite simply, a mind-blowing account of the Treblinka revolt. Perhaps unlike Mr. Esrati, I have studied the Holocaust extensively, and I can confidently state that McMillan's book is based on ample research. VMS is a stirring, horrifying (yes, the Holocast was gruesome, Mr. Esrati - deal with it), and mesmirizing story. I highly recommend it to anyone.

This book has forever shaped my imagery of the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Compelling, powerful, horrific beyond measure. An incredible journey into the recesses of hell. I don't know how the author was able to capture with such vivid portraiture the evil described, considering that he is not a survivor. A must-read.

To pick up this book, you must have a strong will. This is tough to take. But if you can get past the gore, it is amazing. I could not stop turning the pages.The fear, horror and brutality are so well written that the words allow you to continue reading. It is not only the poor Jewish prisoners that you become absorbed with, its the guards and the townspeople. Their inhumanity and place in this time of human history is shocking. You know the story before you begin. But it becomes alive in your mind. To me that is the sign of a real book. I think what this book does is to further enhance the reasoning that for the Nazi's and their allies and enemies to do what they did was a result of long engrained anti-semistim in European society. But more than that, it is man's inhumanity to man, and once it starts rolling its hard to stop and so many will hop on for the ride.

This is a courageously honest look at the Treblinka concentration camp in World War II, as seen through the eyes of prisoners, guards, and others connected to the camp. The point of view switches effectively, giving the sense of a range of people's experiences of this nightmarish part of our human history. MacMillan's skill at description, character development, and plot development brought the concentration experience to reality better for me than any other accounting of life in a concentration camp that I have read, either fictional or autobiographical. The flavor of the book is so genuine, it is hard to believe the author was not a first hand observer of this experience. This book should be read by everybody, so that we all have a deeper understanding of these events from our past.

Buy it. Read it. Read it again. This is the most important book you'll read this year.