Product Description
When the infant Conrad Netting received his late father's Air Medal in a military ceremony in February 1945, it seemed to close the book on yet another tragedy of World War II. But what appeared to be closure was only a pause. Katherine Netting became part of the silent generation, speaking little of the deep anguish left by her husband's death when his fighter plane crashed in Normandy four days after D-Day. Married the year before, Lt. Conrad John Netting III had so hoped the baby due in a month would be a boy that he had Conjon IV painted near the nose of his P-51. After Katherine Netting died in 1993, a footlocker turned up, carefully packed with wartime records and mementos that provided her son with almost as many questions as answers. He had pieced much of the story together by the time a large envelope arrived from France. The sender hoped that Conrad might be related to a Lieutenant Netting who was credited with saving the writer's village. A memorial was planned, but villagers knew little of the pilot. An exchange of phone calls and e-mails quickly followed. The letter writer's father was the son of the village carpenter, who had pulled the pilot's body from the plane and built his coffin against the strict orders of the German Army. The parish priest conducted a secret funeral. There was more. Assured a French newspaper covering the subsequent dedication of a monument: "This is not a fable, but a true story." This book is a compelling real-life reminder that the human story is not over when a war ends.
Customer Reviews:
Delayed Legacy.......2007-03-15
Typical story of a son whose father died before his birth; his discovery of his parents'letters during the war and his quest to fill in the blanks. Most interesting is the irony of the search from the other side of the ocean!
An emotional read.......2006-08-11
Several themes are intertwined to recount this true story. The setting begins when the Depression Era United States was being thrust into some of its most tested years. The author then focuses the reader's attention onto a young couple (through their letters) as their lives and innocence are caught in the extremes of World War 2 America. Across the globe, a family in a small French village is simultaneously being occupied by German soldiers. Their lives collide in a heroic culmination of triumph and tragedy.
Far from ending the story, a yet unborn son (the author) will years later begin a quest to unlock the happenings of those earlier times. Through a combination of discovered letters and unbelievable meetings and occurrences, a lost history begins to unfold for the descendants of all who were involved with those fateful events.
This story is charged with emotion. The author's journey into his family's past allows us as readers to also travel to a very different era of America's history. The world has good and evil just as it did then. Good does ultimately triumph over evil, but the cost is always high. The book is excellent. It serves as a sober reminder of sacrifice and as an uplifting view of freedom's victory.
Wonderful Story.......2006-05-28
Unlike the previous reviewer, I did not find the love letter portion of the book the most compelling. For me, it was the story of the wartime events and its amazing discovery approximately 58 years later. So, I guess there is more than one reason to read this book! The description of the author's reaction to the package from France even gave me goose-bumps. That must have been an incredible moment.
Don't Delay - Read "Delayed Legacy".......2005-11-08
Confession: the author, Conrad Netting IV, is a personal friend of mine. But even he would want me to set the record straight about his labor of love for the past 11 years - compiling his Delayed Legacy.
Having said that, Conrad has reached into his heart and written a magnificent story about a parental relationship he never witnessed and about a father he never knew. His research about ancillary events surrounding their story brings into sharp focus a time when the country and many young couples were in grave danger for their very existence.
But most enjoyable has been his presentation of love letters between two 1940s era love birds who barely knew each other before they were separated by war and finally death. His poignant retelling of the discovery of the myriad of details surrounding his parents courtship and marriage through newly discovered documents (all unavailable to him during his mother's life) makes the book a captivating page-turner - even when the author is not your good friend.
Buy it, read it and recommend it to others. After all many of us have experienced in our own way our own delayed legacy after our parents' deaths.
Jim Berg
San Antonio, Texas
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A Son at the Front
Edith Wharton
Manufacturer: Northern Illinois University Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 087580568X |
Customer Reviews:
War and the family.......2005-01-01
"A Son at the Front," a novel by Edith Wharton, has been republished with an introduction by Shari Benstock. Benstock notes that the novel was serialized from 1922 to 1923 and that an edition was published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1923. The novel tells the story of John Campton, an American portrait painter who lives in France. Campton's son George, because he was born in France, is subject to mobilization in the French army for World War I. As the story unfolds we see the war's impact on father and son, as well as on George's mother (from whom Campton is divorced) and her current husband, and on other individuals.
Wharton poignantly portrays the anguish and challenges faced by the families of soldiers during wartime. She shows how the horror and violence of war touches even those who are far from the front lines. Yes, I felt that the story briefly dragged at times and that some of the minor characters could have been better drawn, but the novel is overall interesting and at times profoundly moving. I was particularly intrigued by the fact that George is the child not of a happy, saccharine couple, but of a divorced couple who are forced to come together over their common concern in time of war. It is in the drama involving George's parents and stepfather where the book often has its most powerful edge.
This book offers an interesting look at the role of soldier's families, and also of the arts community, during wartime. Also significant is Wharton's look at the importance of personal letters as a communication medium during war. More than eighty years after its initial publication, and with the United States once more at war, "A Son at the Front" remains a relevant work of literature by one of America's most noteworthy novelists.
Book Description
This authoritative history follows the actions of the designated Divisions of II SS Panzer Corps in the Ukraine, Normandy, at Arnhem and Nijmegen, in the Battle of the Bulge, on the Eastern Front and to the final battles in defense of the Reich.
Michael Reynolds has analyzed each of the campaigns of II SS Panzer Corps. As a former professional soldier, he is experienced in battle and modern armored tactics. Able to narrate each action in a unique manner, his refreshing candor and conclusions, reached without bias or prejudice, will surprise many.
Since retiring from a distinguished military career during which he commanded NATO's International Mobile Force (Land) and headed its Military Plans and Policy Division, Major General Michael Reynolds has become a respected historian and writer. His previous books, The Devil's Adjutant, Steel Inferno and Men of Steel have brought him international recognition and he is now accepted as a leading specialist on the Waffen-SS and its actions in World War II.
Customer Reviews:
A First Rate Look at the II SS Panzer Corps.......2006-01-04
As with his previous books, Michael Reynolds grabs the reader's attention and presents a wealth of detailed information of the operations of the II SS Panzer Corps. This corps distinguished itself in Normandy, Arnhem, the Ardennes and finally in the East against the Soviet tide.
Reynolds style is somewhat documentary in its approach. With some authors this style would be too dull to hold the reader's interest, but Reynolds intercuts enough interesting, tactical narrative to allow the operational facts and figures to enhance the story and improve the reader's overall understanding of the various conflicts described.
Reynolds also strives to put forward facts that can be substantiated by the available primary and secondary source material. He is quick to point out differences between the various sources and equally quick to point out which is more probably the truthful version. He certainly doesn't play favorites either. The well known Waffen SS veteran Otto Weidinger's accounts are questioned by Reynolds throughout the volume. Reynolds is therefore able to describe the accomplishments of this SS formation in an objective manner, which the reader can appreciate and weigh against the information provided.
Overall a very satisfying exploration of the activities of the II Second SS Panzer Korps.
Honest, Accurate, Impecable Detail.......2002-06-27
Having read 2 of Mr. Reynold's previous books 'Men of Steel' (History of 1st SS Panzer Corp) and Steel Inferno (1st SS PC in Normandy), I was eagerly anticipating this book on the exploits of the 9TH SS - Hohenstaufen and 10th SS - Frundsberg Divisions. True to form, this book is an incredibly insightful and detailed account of the savage defensive battles these divisions fought from Normandy, to Arnhem and the fighting on the Eastern Front and Vienna before the war's end. There is no question that Mr. Reynolds (a retired British Army Officer) is the pre-eminent expert on the Waffen SS and I thoroughly recommend that anyone with an interest in the German Army in WWII read this book as he will help dispell some of the myths that are all too common about these elite divisions. If you want to learn about the fighting elan of these soldiers, the tactics they employed against a numerically superior enemy and the motivation for continuing to fight against all odds, then this is a great book for you.
Customer Reviews:
The Author.......2005-02-26
Many years ago I seen Mr. Power's speak. I am not much into speakers, but this man grabs your attention. I got his book which he personilized to me, read it and it has become one of my favorites. I grew up in Chicago so could relate to alot of it, it is the one book that I suggest to everyone. If you get the chance to read, or hear him speak you will remember it.
The Junk-Drawers Corner-Store Front-Porch Blues.......2000-08-04
I first discovered John R. Powers when a co-worker gave me the Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice God to read. It was so good I wanted to own that book and other books by Mr. Power. I was diappointed to find that all of his books are out of print. My local library had three of his tiles but have found it difficult to locate his works to purchase. I recommed all of John R. Powers books espesially to baby boomers his books will bring back wonderful memories. I would like to know more about the author.
A New Urbanist novel.......2000-02-19
Architechts and Urban Design folks who consider themselves New Urbanists will love this novel. Powers understands that our missing of the "old neighborhood" is about the sense of place and belonging that was left behind in the search for the suburban dream. Powers tells all the stories: the one mom on the block who worked, the garage which is behind the house, off the alley "where it belongs". Powers lets us recall the calm and orderliness of life in a neighborhood of diverse population, mixed uses(corner stores and front porches) and care for neighbors. The book is a delightful reminder of the days and places that defined middle class not in terms of income or profession but of an ethic shared with the families next door and across the alley.
A Great Book.......2000-01-27
I think this book is an excellent book and I just love everything that John R. Powers writes. He has a way of being funny and poignant at the same time. He writes about growing up in Chicago as if you are actually doing it yourself. His way of writing draws you in because it is very funny and touching and really makes you think about life. The fact of the matter is that I loaned this book to a friend and now I can't find it in print again. It is truly a good book!
It's a real shame that this is out of print.......1999-10-08
I loved the other John R. Powers books and discovered this one, believe it or not, in an airport gift shop. As with his other books, it was a joy to read and had an emotional depth so rarely found in books that are also miraculously funny. Powers may well be the most underrated writer to emerge in the last 30 years. His books are so entertaining, you don't notice yourself being moved. Until later, that is. Like, ten seconds later. Wonderful writing I recommend to anyone with a heart and a funny bone.
Book Description
As a teenager, author Georg Rauch helped his mother protect the Jewish couples hidden in their Viennese attic. Officially classified as one-quarter Jewish, Rauch is drafted into Hitler¿s army and sent to fight for causes he detests. Rauch finds himself near death many times, but his talents as a shortwave radio operator, chef, and even harmonica player all play a role in his survival. Captured by the Russians in the autumn of 1944, Rauch faces brutality and near-fatal illness as a POW. Recruitment for Russian espionage saves his life this time, but his story isn¿t over yet. Based on eighty letters sent home from the Russian trenches, The Jew with the Iron Cross is a riveting tale of paradox and survival during World War II. ¿A fascinating account of what it was like for a partial Jew to serve in the German military during World War II. Rauch¿s experiences and hardships dramatically depict the physical and emotional struggles of a `Mischling¿ during the Third Reich.¿-Bryan Mark Rigg, author of Hitler¿s Jewish Soldiers ¿Not about combat tactics but about what it meant to be in an army at war. Rauch has put a human face on aspects of the war that are usually only referred to in passing.¿-Tom Houlihan, WWII cartographer "With honesty and affection Georg Rauch tells of the love and respect between a mother and son as well as the nightmare experiences of a young soldier fighting and barely surviving a war he never wanted, understood or could justify." -Ellen Barone,Lake Chapala Review
Customer Reviews:
A Riviting Story.......2007-09-06
This true story of Georg's perilous, horrific term as a soldier in WW 11 includes loving letters home to his mother and the realities of the war he spared her. His style reveals his intelligence and humor in the face of starvation, frozen conditions, illness, and battle. There is a bittersweet charm in his voice which captivates the reader from beginnng to end.
The Jew With the Iron Cross.......2007-05-28
I am an old man and I read a lot of books and always have. I just finished The Jew With the Iron Cross and remember no book that I have enjoyed more. We go with this author as he goes reluctantly into war and go step by step with him to it's end. We see much of the inhumanity to man and the unbelievable depravity into which some fall. We also see a spirit in a young, normal, intelligent man that cannot be broken. This is an outstanding true account of three years of the life of an incredible individual. I remember no other book that I finished with tears running down my cheeks. This is a story that will remain with the reader forever.
A human face to war.......2007-03-16
Georg Raush's memoir of his experiences during WWII is a powerful and moving story of how an individual can get caught up in a conflict not of his own making. His honesty, humanity and wit shine through at almost every turn of the page. I was particulary impressed with his strength of mind and perserverence in dealing with a continually and worsening horrible situation. His strong ties to his mother and family were, in my mind, a large part of how and why he survived. I believe he was destined to survive, in part, in order to share his story. I had the priviledge and pleasure of meeting the author a couple of years ago in the course of a trip to Mexico. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to understand what war is like and what it does to its participants.
Wits, Calamity, and Affirmation.......2007-03-08
Georg Rauch powerfully fills a void that has been missing from WWII history. His experience as a German soldier is a human one, not only in terms of being a German soldier in general, but also in his own unique experience. The use of the humanizing letters home is a brilliant contrast to the grim robotic realities at the front, a progressively dehumanizing environment.
Rauch's Jewishness becomes all the more powerful through his restraint from making it an overriding theme. Instead, he imparts a universal message, to which his ethnic history contributes an important added element. I could not help but think of American black soldiers drafted into fighting in Vietnam, for a country that at the time showed no great love for them.
The author makes his story a universal experience by his unsparing honesty, his unbreakable integrity. He could have skipped his agreement to become a spy for the Soviet Union. But he knew the reader would relate to the moral dilemma and that he was acting in all our names when he decided to cooperate. Rauch, unlike Bill Clinton, could never be guilty of smoking without inhaling.
This book combines astonishing incidents with frequent suspense and tragedy. Its matter-of-fact language draws us into the experience. The author's wife Phyllis has done such a superb job of translating from the German that it reads like original English. Nobody can read this book without a change in attitude toward war and life itself.
1A and A+++ for attitude and personal experience.......2007-02-09
This is a really excellent book, and it is a pretty quick read. It gives readers who did not live through WWII a different view of the war. It tells of the hardships of not having enough clothing, of battling the cold, of how finding food and living through another day becomes more important than fighting.
The experiences of a Jew fighting on the side of the germans is a topic that has not really been told. The details make the book really hit home and can be applicable even in times of peace. An "accident" of birth determines how one fares just as much as one's choices or chance happenings.
The other reviews write about the universality of this book. In my view, even more important than the macro view is the micro. The Jew with the Iron Cross is worth reading for his attitude. He did not lose his humanity even though he saw people die all around him and was faced with "him or me" choices. Even though things were pretty bad Georg tried, and seemed to succeed, in remaining upbeat in his letters home to his mother. He also kept his humor. The episode about falling asleep during the drill made me smile.
This book is on my re-read list, and it makes a great present.
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- Insightful Story into a Parent's Life
- A Son's Discovery of a Solder Father Between Two Wars
- Read it in one sitting.
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My Father's War: A Memoir
Paul West
Manufacturer: McPherson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0929701755 |
Book Description
Eight years ago acclaimed novelist Paul West presented a warmly received memoir of his mother, My Mother's Music. Revisiting the scene now, Paul West delivers in his 40th book an equally remarkable memoir of his father, a half-blinded, shell-shocked veteran of three years of trench warfare during "The War to End All Wars." But the time recounted mostly occupies 1939 to 1945, while ten-year-old Paul grows to fifteen. Together, father and son play war games, guarding the English coast from foxholes under the kitchen table, or watching as real Nazi bombers on moonlit nights pass overhead. The father, meanwhile, is forever instructing the son in the details of his own experience. The two have much in common, though distantly, and the boy Paul slowly learns to understand and even second-guess his father, though the compulsions that possess the war veteran remain a mystery that separates their generations—a conundrum of what the son wishes his still-damaged father could be, and those expectations no father can ever quite live up to. In this engaging memoir, Paul West recreates his own youth, and gives us in twenty-five chiseled chapters a view of two lives evoking the deep effects of war, and conveying the distance between those who survive its devastations, and those who must bear its consequence.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful Story into a Parent's Life.......2006-03-06
All of us whose parents have passed on wish we could have shared moments like these with our fathers. Perhaps we did, but then we lacked the skill that Paul West brings to the printed word. In this book Mr. West relates the story of his being ten yers old in a small English village at the beginning of World War II.
The elder Mr. West had been a machine gunner for three years beginning at age fifteen during World War I. Blinded by an exploding shell, he was at least a semi invalid for the rest of his life. By the time of the Second World War he and young Paul are able to play together. And with Nazi bombers overhead they play at war. They guard the English coast from a foxhole under the kitchen table. They go outside to see the real bombers on their missions.
I suspect that Paul West didn't write, didn't know how to write these words about his father until now, much later. He probably had to wait until he had children of his own to begin to understand the rare glimpse he had into his fathers life. But now it shows an insight that most of us would like to have.
A Son's Discovery of a Solder Father Between Two Wars.......2005-12-17
In "My Father's War," novelist Paul West has not only written a moving tribute to his father, a British WWI veteran, but he has also, in extremely personal terms, connected the two world wars. In this series of essays, some previously published, West explores his father, a veteran never quite comfortable with civilian life, who at the outbreak of WWII, became strangely excited and taught his young son, writer West, about war through a series of war games.
Why was the elder West so enamored of war? Because, as West explains, it was there, as a young man on European battlefields, that "he had found men at their noblest." In playing with his son during WWII, the elder West was "going after some sullen undesirable beauty he must first have seen from the trenches."
West is a writer of extreme talent, and although his prose is sometimes rarified to the point of being slightly incomprehensible, for the most part it absolutely soars: "If only Hitler the know-it-all had followed through, brushing aside the popguns and Robin Hood pikes along with the remnants of the British army, we would all have been goners; but by then he was lusting eastward toward Mother Russia and 'Uncle Joe.' and my father and I had joined the survivors in the street, crisp with our sense of reprieve."
It isn't certain that West was ever able to completely understand his soldier father, but his journey toward this end has produced an extremely moving read.
Read it in one sitting........2005-07-17
What a gorgeous read this book is. Paul West addresses his father in glowing terms, and in absolutely astonishing prose, as ever. But it's also a vivid sortie into village life during WWII, with powerful dramas, and all sorts of quirky neighbors and relatives. Some of the scenes are unforgettable! Wonderful book.
Product Description
We must no longer proclaim a gutless gospel in which Jesus is relegated to the status of Savior. . . . This Jesus has always demanded that he must be, now and forever, my Lord and King. The central theme of this fascinating book is what it means to serve Christ with all one's heart. How has the task changed? Are priorities the same among different generations? With Clive's extensive experience and Gavin's connection with Youth for Christ, both authors are well equipped to make this assessment.
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The Power of Political Art: The 1930s Literary Left Reconsidered
Robert Shulman
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
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ASIN: 0807848530
Release Date: 2000-06-21 |
Book Description
During the 1930s, radical young writers, artists, and critics associated with the Communist Party animated a cultural dialogue that was one of the most stimulating in American history. With the dawning of the Cold War, however, much of their work fell out of favor, dismissed as dogmatic and un-American and disparaged as aesthetically and imaginatively deficient. Urging a reexamination of the literature and political culture of the 1930s Left, Robert Shulman explores the careers and creative work of five of the most talented writers of this group: Meridel Le Sueur, Josephine Herbst, Richard Wright, Muriel Rukeyser, and Langston Hughes. He shows persuasively that their political art retains the power to engage and challenge contemporary readers.
Shulman fuses close readings with a synthesizing concern for language, politics, and history to illuminate the art of his five writers, calling attention to their prose rhythms, imagery, and linguistic and formal innovations. In reclaiming their place at the forefront of artistic creativity in 1930s America, he demonstrates that these writers' individual voices were amplified by the radical dialogue of which they were part.
Books:
- Distant Pleasures: Alexander Pushkin and the Writing of Exile
- Divorce Is Not the End of the World : Zoe's And Evan's Coping Guide for Kids
- Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters: 100 Great Drawings Analyzed, Figure Drawing Fundamentals Defined
- Eye of the Beholder
- Flotsam (Caldecott Medal Book)
- Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon (Crown Journeys)
- Gentle Willow: A Story for Children About Dying
- Grieving the Loss of Someone You Love: Daily Meditations to Help You Through the Grieving Process
- Grotesque
- Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business (Guerrilla Marketing)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise
- Principles of Anatomy and Physiology w/ Brief Atlas
- Games and Information: An Introduction to Game Theory
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- Inferno
- Lincoln's Quest for Union
- Modelos Cuantitativos Para Administracion
- Input-Output Economics
- Traveling on One Leg
Warbird Recovery: The Hunt for a Rare WWII Plane in Siberia, Russia
One Down, One Dead
After the Reich: The Brutal History of The Allied Occupation
Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (P.S.)
