Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievably great read
Review: If you care at all about the history of World War II, Israel, or even man's existence on earth, you'll love this book. The story of Abba Kovner and the resistance should be required reading for anyone who is interested in freedom and its preservation. One thing you'll learn: the only thing worse than what may demanded of you when your freedom is threatened is what you may become if you see that demand and do nothing. As the professional reviewers noted, the book's dramatic retelling of history may be disturbing to those twelve readers who are working really hard on their European History PhD dissertations; for the rest of us, it's what, in lay terminology, you might call a "good read." The Avengers is a swift current of storytelling that carries you from cover to cover, from the Vilna Ghetto to the State of Israel, without pedantry and without lagging.
Rating:
Summary: Forged in Fury
Review: If you liked this book, you should also read "Forged in Fury" by Michael Elkins. It deals with a similar subject matter but more broadly deals with Jewish resistence throughout and after the war.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: In theory this could have been a great story and certainly one which would nicely combat the usual way of studying the Holocaust. Unfortunately, it fell flat. It is neither particularly well written nor is there much depth. It is a collection of superficial facts and the occasional incompletely explored anecdote without any depth or feeling. The whole story, and even the characters who in real life must have been incredible people, are thoroughly forgettable. Perhaps the reason for this lies in the nature of the sources: people's recollections, but the author fails to add flesh to the skeletal outline they provided to him. Just not worth the money.
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Summary: Add this book to your "MUST READ" list!
Review: Millions of Jews disappeared during World War II without a trace. Relatives in other parts of the world only knew that where there once were thriving Jewish communities from which letters poured forth, there came a time in the 1940's where all attempts to communicate with relatives were met with silence. Here we have an account from which we can learn what really went on in Eastern Europe during those terrible times. The Avengers were incredibly courageous when all the odds were stacked against them. I rooted for them throughout the book ... and now root for the survival of all they fought for. May they always be remembered for the heroes that they were. This is a fascinating book about a terrible time in recent history. I would definitely recommend this book as a "must read" for all.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written and fresh; has soul and immediacy
Review: No doubt Rich Cohen felt the spirit of his late cousin moving through him as he related the story of her and her two close friends' experiences as Jewish partisans during World War II. In a world where Jewish people were antagonized, persecuted, and slaughtered in mass numbers by a dominant force of Nazi supporters who wanted to see all Jews dead, the three partisans endure seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their struggle for survival and fight for ultimate dignity and perseverance against their oppressors. Cohen captures all of this with the stung but valiant voice of a generation that was nearly lost to fascism and genocide, but held out and thrived. The partisans' story begins like that of so many Holocaust victims who find that their rights are gradually being dismantled by the Nazi order that has overtaken their countries; and ends in Palestine immediately following the war, where, having lost families and friends, the three partisans rebuild their lives from scratch on the hot sands of what is to become Israel. Their story is painful at times, victorious at others, but always wrought with the tension of being one frantic step ahead of the Nazi enemy. Cohen relates his cousin's story honestly--although he clearly regards his cousin and her friends as courageous and admirable, he does not portray the partisans as being perfect. In The Avengers, the partisans' world is filled with infighting, corruption, and another type of politics in which executions take place for partisans who don't toe the line of the commander in charge. His suggestions that his cousin and her two friends might have been a "love triangle" are a little salacious and tedious, but overall, the book is excellent and shouldn't be missed for anyone wanting to learn more about this much-ignored part of Jewish history during World War II.
Rating:
Summary: An admission
Review: Okay, I admit it. There is nothing scholarly about me. I find the books by Stephen Ambrose and other historians compelling in concept, but I end up skipping pages that recount the mundane details of matters past and now largely irrelevant. It is not without guilt or shame that I make these admissions, because no one is more aware of the skill and adeptness of those who retell what has transpired in the past. I WISH I loved to read it all. That much said, I will tell you that The Avengers kept me up, kept my attention, kept me engaged. Perhaps the fact that I read this book on an extended journey to Romania, and some of the action was in Bucharest made me more receptive, but I think it was the superb writing and storytelling of Mr. Cohen. He fooled me into thinking I was reading a novel of romance and intrigue, and only the photographs and documents provided brought the reality of this story back. Cohen begins by talking about his relatives in Israel and the gradual unearthing of the story of an extraordinary group of militant young Jews who populated and led the resistance during the horrors of WW2. The courage and grit of these individuals, the occupation of the forest, the young women circulating as gentiles through the city, and the relationship between and amongst them is carefully documented and recounted, as is the ultimate reunification of the three central characters in Palestine. Neither glamorizing the role each played, nor downplaying their courage, Cohen tells a story that must be told, giving us, perhaps, role models for our young people who look back at the holocaust and see only the horror of helplessness and the seeming passivity of those who marched into cattle cars to their own death. These were Jews who fought in mind, body and spirit. The role model potential here is not simple, though, for when the day came to avenge the acts, they stepped beyond the bounds of normal human decency to attempt to extract their own form of justice -- arguably a stepping beyond justified by the unthinkability of the murders committed. By attempting to execute those awaiting trial, the Avengers become a moral juxtaposition that calls for reflection, discussion and a true reconciliation of one's personal views. It was the catalyst for a discussion with my teenaged daughter that brought the unique moral framework of the holocaust to our doorstep. Thanks to Richard Cohen for an extraordinary book.
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Summary: An Amazing Testimony of Courage
Review: Rich Cohen has written an extraordinary tale of heroism and survival during the most horrendous and brutal moment in mankind's history. The tale of these three individuals, Abba Kovner, Ruzka Korczak and Vitka Kempner, shine through as living testimonies in the dark night of the Holocaust. You will not be able to put this book down as you race through the pages of "The Avengers." It is so well written and well documented that you wish you had 20 more books just like this one. It really is amazing how these individuals actually survived this horrible time, but they did in fact prevail and triumph against overwhelming odds. Perhaps the greatest challenge that these people faced in the end was not to end up like the monsters who had persecuted them. Rich Cohen has done an amazing and tremendous thing by writing this book, sharing with the world the incredible testimony of these three courageous individuals. After you finish reading this book, you will never think about the Holocaust in the same way.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-meaning but very flawed account
Review: Rich Cohen no doubt has the best of intentions in writing "The Avengers." And for the first 60 pages or so, I was really engrossed by the story of the Vilna Ghetto and the Partisans who so bravely escaped to the forrest. As the book went on, however, I found myself growing increasingly troubled by Cohen's very shoddy technique, how he insists on putting thoughts and sentences and descriptions into the minds of characters he could not possibly know. This is acceptible in novel-writing, of course; even in the "non-fiction" novel style of Capote or Mailer; but in a book billed as a true, historical account of the Holocaust, this is a most irresponsible form of journalism. Moreover, key factual issues, the dominant one being -- how many Nazi SS men were actually killed in the poisoning incident? -- remain frustratingly unanswered. A good historian would have sorted through the historical record better and given us something more definitive and lasting. Instead, Cohen provides something approximating a fanciful, action-packed oral history: all the stories told by the aging partisans themselves, with little attempt to give us any historical perspective. Throughout, Cohen is an impassioned but unsophisticated thinker. One example: Near the end of the book he claims that "crazy people" today deny the reality of the Holocaust. No, it is not simply "crazy people"-- it is malicious and often brilliant, PhD-holding anti-Semites who have propogated this agenda of lies. The partisans of Cohen's book, sterling heroes that they are, come across as little more than overinflated supermen. A very frustrating book indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Rich Cohen's book The Avengers truly amazed me. Prior to hearing him speak and reading his book, I had only heard one story of Jewish Life in Europe during the second world war. To hear this other story, the story of Jews who refused to go like sheep to the slaughter, the story of Jews who fought, gives new perspective, and a new understanding of the people that lived in those times. Rich Cohen's book reads far more like a novel than like a historical text, and at times, I found that aggravating. I wanted more details, and fewer assumptions. But, for what this book is, it is trully amazing. I only hope someone will read this book and decide to do the historical research before it is far too late. I highly recommend this book. It made me question what I am doing with my life. "If you have not found something you are willing to die for, you have no reason to live."
Rating:
Summary: The most important story you never heard
Review: Rich Cohen's book, The Avengers: A Jewish War Story, tells the story of unknown heros. Abba Kovner and the Avengers saved lives, and gave hope in desperate times. This pivitol moment in Jewish History is a crucial element of the heroic history of the Jewish People. The Avengers descirbes desperate Jews who faught to live rather than being taken to their deaths like cattle. Rich Cohen's story is almost impossible to stop reading. This author's account of theses heroic people and thier feats of bravery is a must read for all people. An individual can not have a total understanding of the Jewish people without reading Rich Cohen's account of this story.
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