Rating: 
Summary: Real Life Girl Power
Review: This is a book I would want my daughters, nieces or any other young woman in my life to read. While it's a story about many things -- Jewish partisans, exploding bridges, unspeakable suffering -- it is also a story about young women forced to make life-threatening choices under extraordinary circumstances. Central to The Avengers is the role of two teenaged girls--Ruzka and Vitka-and their contribution to the partisan effort, experiences contemporary society does not usually associate with girls who are 17 years old. In a culture dominated with images of pop singers, vapid models and movie stars, it is nearly impossible to present girls with substantive heroines, real-life role models who bravely acted in situations that we could only imagine. I'm not an advocate of war or violence --believe me, I don't want girls to experience situations like those faced by Ruzka and Vitka -- but at the same time I do think girls could stretch ideas about their own potential from reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Another success by a superb young writer
Review: This is an amazing story about an amazing group of people. The story of Abba, Vitka, Ruszka and their comrades opened my eyes to a world that not enough has been written about. Rich Cohen does a marvelous job of telling their story, just as he did for Pep, Kid Twist, Lepke and their pals in "Tough Jews." In fact, as soon as I finished "The Avengers," I had to go back and re-read "Tough Jews." I enjoy this author's writing style, depth of research, and choice of subject matter. I hope he doesn't make us wait too long for his next book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This is an important story to tell. For all who continue to believe that the Jews didn't fight back during the Holocaust, I say, give them this book and tell them to read it to the end before commenting.One interesting point that is also made is that there were so many who believed that if they allowed just one more indignity, their lives would be spared. But there was no bottom to that barrel, and they went from having some rights taken away, to living in a ghetto, to having to select people for transport, etc. Yes, there were many who didn't fight back, and this is, too, their story. How do people behave when civilization crumbles? In the clear lens of hindsight, we might all say, "Oh, I would fight back. I would run. I would hide. I wouldn't let them get me." But if you were there, perhaps you would be one of those who thought - just one more indignity will satisfy our tormentors. The book does not demonize those people, for they, too, are a part of what happened. A truly powerful work. I look forward to other works by this author.
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