I have a confession to make. One of the really cool things I'm enjoying about homeschooling in general, and teaching my kids history in particular, is that I get to learn right along with them. I'm playing a bit of a trick on them: I stay just enough ahead to maintain my credibility as their teacher. Truth is, I'm really their fellow-student. That's one reason the Famous Men series and their companion guides from Greenleaf Press are so helpful to me. Short, informative chapters that quickly capture the story of history as lived through the lives of influential individuals. In my opinion, biography is at least as important as event, because biography lets us in on the "why" and "how" of history more effectively than covering dates and events. And isn't that what we most need to know? Famous Men of Rome is faithful to this vision of learning history through biography. There are thirty chapters covering over 29 people and 11 centuries, from the legendary founding of Rome to its slow unraveling in the early centuries after Christ. Each chapter is a fascinating read. For those who plan to use Famous Men of Rome in teaching their children, I recommend also getting the Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Rome. It provides ideas, discussion questions, of most help to me, comprehensive lists of additional resources. I also recommend Laurie Carlson's Classical Kids and The Classical Companion, by Charles F. Baker III and Rosalie F. Baker. They will help you transport your children back to the days of ancient Rome and Greece. My children, who admittedly are avid readers, love these books. So does their father.

Famous Men of Rome continues to effectively introduce children to ancient history.

The author states in the 1904 preface: "The former practice in many elementary schools of beginning the detailed study of American history without any previous knowledge of general history limited the pupil's range of vision, restricted his sympathies, and left him without material for comparisons. Moreover, it denied to him a knowledge of his inheritance from the Greek philosopher, the Roman lawgiver, the Teutonic lover of freedom."

Your child will be captured by the fable of Romulus and Remus. He or she will wonder at Cincinnatus who chose to be a farmer rather than a dictator. And your child will admire Marcus Aurelius, a noble emperor who lived simply, used his own money to help the poor, and walked the streets greeting people and listening to their troubles so he could be a better leader.

Older students may read Plutarch but elementary children will gained a foundation for history by reading about "Famous Men."

Thanks to Harold Werner for retelling these events from his deathbed. I read the book in an evening and could not put it down. I am very proud to know that people such as Mr. Werner fought back no matter what the odds. Not only does he write about battles and suffering, but he also writes of the community he grew up with, the people he loved, how people made their living, and how they related to their neighbors.

This true story takes place in Poland during the late 1930s thru 1946.The main character is a young man named Harold.The trials he experiences prior to WW2 are nothing compaired to the radical changes his life undergoes during the Nazi occupation.There were several things that I enjoyed most about this book.It is scary to realise how treacherous people can be to each other but it is encouraging to see how the human spirit rises to such adverse circumstances.You will follow his life from living in the city to hiding in the forests of Poland while being hunted by villagers and Nazis.Fear and hunger were common among this group of partsians.I found this story easy to read and relate to. This story can parallel any group of people who are oppressed.

What an amazing story. My daughter wept as we read through the pages together...realizing that character Rachel could not go out for the winter because she had outgrown her shoes was just the beginning of this beautiful, sorrowful tale about what could have been.
As our children are learning tolerance and acceptance in today's society, it is unthinkable for us to explain the devestation in the lives of these courageous Jews.

This book tells a fiction story about a young girl in a photograph from Roman Vishniac's book. He went to Eastern Europe prior to the Holocaust to photograph a dying civilization: the Jews of Eastern Europe. This story provides a charming explanation for one of the most poignant photos in his book. It is also a wonderful introduction to the history of the Holocaust for young Jewish children. It portrays the horrors of war to any child. Although Miriam Nerlove does not misrepresent the history, she manges to end her story on a note of hope.

More of a coffee table book, it gives brief descriptions of the amazingly widescale contributions of Polish troops in WWII. Worth it just for the pictures.

During my studies of central Europe, I have been thoroughly impressed by the ability of Poland to fend off enemies much more powerful than they for over 1000 years. This book is a testament to those that fell in the shadow of their ancestors, who fought off Mongols, Tatars, Cossacks, Teutons, Turks, Transilvanians, Hungarians, Romanians, Czechs, Swedes, Russians, Austrians, Prussians and Nazis.

Maximilian Kolbe was one of the 20th century's greatest witnesses to truth and what it means to be fully human, an extraordinarily courageous man, and yet so humble that few will have heard of him. This book is superb in conveying his greatness, and what it means to say that someone is a great saint. Suffering from chronic tuberculosis and with less than one full lung's capacity, he went as a missionary to Japan where he published his first newspaper within a month, in Japanese. During the war, his monastery gave shelter to 1,500 Jews. When the Gestapo were taking him and other Franciscan brothers to Aushwitz, he managed to stay cheerful saying that for once, their mission was paid for by someone else. What mission? Survivors of all beliefs remember his constant smile, his kindness in the dark of the night (he would go to the side of the dying to comfort them). In the end, he volunteered to die of starvation in the place of a young father so he might live to see his family again. When it comes to witnessing Christ, Kolbe was simply awesome. Inspiring yet sober. In one word, moving.

"Forget Not Love" is the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Franciscan who offered to die in the place of a married man at Auschwitz, yet this book is about so much more. It creates a portrait of Kolbe as a real human being, it tells of one man's zeal for his faith and country, and it is about what love really is. This book is one of the best I have read on St. Maximilian. Frossard's beautiful writing is an added plus. I HIGHLY reccomend this book to all!

ONE OF THE FEW BOOKS WHERE THE READER MERGES INTO THE AUTHOR.

In 1939 Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin signed a non-aggression pact and secretly agreed to divide Poland. This was the event that enabled Germany to invade Poland without fear of Soviet interference. Fifteen days after the German invasion, the Red Army attacked Poland from the east. This historical event is the background to the true story related in From Nazi Inferno To Soviet Hell. Here revealed is an aspect of the World War II Jewish experience that is a formerly obscure feature of the corruption, uncertainty, and constant danger of life under the Stalin regime. It is also an enduring testimonial to the human spirit, ingenuity, and will to survive. From Nazi Inferno To Soviet Hell is an important and much appreciated contribution to the 20th history archives of the Jewish experience, the Nazi holocaust, and Soviet oppression.

Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt gives us a chilling look into what it was like to live and just survive under a barbaric system; one where one's neighbors and friends became their enemies and pursuers in the aim to please the occupation forces of Nazism. Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt and others like him survived against incredible odds to their survival. It makes one reflect on and cherish each and every day that we live in freedom without the tremendous tyranny that Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt, his family, and many others endured on a day to day basis for several years. Thank you Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt for your sincere and honest reflections.

Among the most common questions asked of Holocaust survivors are why the Jews didn't fight back: Why, it is wondered, did they let their families go to their death so easily? The recollections of Blatt, a survivor of the extermination camp Sobibor, in Poland, where Jews staged a successful revolt, addresses these questions in a frank and gripping narrative. Blatt's account demonstrates how the Germans kept Jews in Poland subjugated through random terror combined with promises that the status quo would be maintained if the Jews cooperated. By the time Blatt reached Sobibor with his family, it was too late for resistance. Perhaps the most frightening, and dispiriting, part of Blatt's account is how Christian Poles at times robbed, terrorized, or even murdered Jewish fugitives, such as the Sobibor escapees. A chilling narrative; highly recommended for Judaica collections and Holocaust specialists as well as general readers.

When Poland emerged from under the mantle of Communism I followed the news avidly. This is the reality of what was going on behind the scenes. I have, for example, completely changed my mind about Walesa. It's a great read but I must criticize it for being too sparse with it's stories. Having been in such a priveleged position the author surely must have been able to give us more. I echo the sentiment that there must be a follow up. The juxtaposition of reconstructing your house while helping to reconstruct your nation is beautiful!

If you are interested in the history of Poland, and want to learn about contemporary life in that country, but are tired of reading dry accounts written by someone without a real connection to the country and its people... this book is for you!

I enjoyed the manner in which Mr. Sikorski provides both a personal and national history, woven together to keep the reader interested. I would have enjoyed more details about the actual reconstruction of his manor house. However, his insights into the post-Communist government, it strengths and weaknesses, and his accounts of involvement in the Solidarity movement were very interesting.

I hope he writes another installment when he eventually finishes the manor house and the current Polish government has a chance to play out its role in Polish and world history.

I have read dozens of holocaust books over the years, mostly non-fiction accounts. I must say this book, more than most, really brought home to me what it must have been like to endure the horror of living in the Warsaw Ghetto. Some of the scenes Donat describes, I literally had to put the book down, they were so tragic. Donat had access to many different streets within the Ghetto so it is almost like he is giving you a tour of the daily occurences that transpired. This book reinforces the belief that sometimes it is more honorable to die than to commit certain acts, such as some of the panic-driven people were desperate enough to commit. The killing of the children was indeed horrific. ...

I am glad he, his wife, and son survived the war, but I know it was at a great cost.

I read this book many years ago, and have regretted losing my copy. It is intense, almost overwhelming. Leon Uris used some of the same scenes in his "Mila 18", but this one is a memoir, not a novel. Pay attention to the narrator/author's name--I have remembered what happened to it for 25+ years.

Some people write books for money or recognition - not Mike Jacobs.

His whole message - both in person and in his book - urges each one of us to "always remember, never forget," and to "never become silent or complacent." This message at first seemed somewhat obvious from what one might expect from a survivor.

But Mike has a different spin on his message: He doesn't hate, and he doesn't feel self pity. Rather, he's exhuberant in his mission to live life to its fullest, and along the way, to explain what he lived through so no one human being ever has to face it again.

His book is incredible - not just one to add to any collection; rather, your interest in a survivor's tale and triumph over such horrifying persecution should start right here with Mike. Let him tell you what really happened as he lived it first hand...and walk away with the message he lives every day to pass on to us, our children and their children.

"I was never a teenager...I lived on less than 800 calories a day...I was tortured; I was beaten; I've got scars on my face, but I always stood up. I always bounced back." Holocaust Survivor chronicles the five and a half years Mike Jacobs, founder of The Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies, spent as a youth in the ghettos and concentration camps of Poland including Auschwitz/Birkenau and Mauthausen/Gusen II. From the age of fifteen to nineteen, Mike witnessed and was subjected to horrors that no one should ever have to endure, including the infamous Death March in the dead of winter out of Auschwitz-Birkenau. He spares no detail in the retelling of the events he lived through, from the "beautiful dolls" and sadistic SS Sergeant of the Ostrowiec Ghetto, to the risky business of sabotaging the Messerschmidts he worked on as part of the camp resistance. Mike credits his survival to three things: his faith, his unfailing belief that he would one day be free, and his ability to dream. It is this underlying note of positive thinking that I think makes Mike's story different and eminently readable for all ages. Mike easily makes us believe that, despite the darkness and despair surrounding him, he did, indeed, rely on his dreams and soaring imagination to keep hope alive. His concentration camp friends thought "Mendel is getting off his rocker," but Mike felt the secret of survival was to close his eyes and soar high above the camp like a bird. "Guys, you wouldn't believe it! It was beautiful--I traveled all over the world, I was free!" This incredible story of spirit, endurance, and triumph over impossible odds is punctuated with Mike's message: "Hate breeds hate. But we cannot be silent or complacent. If we are, this can happen again." Thank you, Mike, for all the times you've spoken to my students, touched their hearts, moved them to tears, and ultimately, made them a formidable force for change.