Violence... The story so far

Samuel Oliner & Pearl Oliner

Book Review, by Harry Rosenberg

For over half a decade, the head sociopath and his herds of obedient followers held sway so thoroughly that the good sides of human nature, parenting and altruism were seemingly smothered.

The Oliners keep their promise. Caring is what led so many to risk so much for so few (thousands). Parenting, like altruism, leads to caring for others. And that caring usually gave rise to friendships lasting a lifetime.

The awful horror of Nazi Europe is a story often told. The other side of the story, the survival of altruism has never been revealed as it is by the Oliners. What they have produced could be grist for several novels, but this book a novel isn't. Rather it covers the waterfront evil and how many people fought back all over Europe, even native Germans, by rescuing or sheltering thousands of Jews. Altruism as a national value was crushed, but not killed. That feature was barely visible as the events transpired--even to the participants.

This book is a classic, a stand-alone study of one of those awful swings of the pendulum of history. The Oliners devote 260 pages to the stories, and 161 more to appendices, methodologies with actual data, and notes.

In essence this book puts into stark relief the insanity (psychopathology) and utter madness of those who deny the Holocaust ever happened. For this reason we give this book five stars.