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Sep 01, 2017LisaintheLibrary rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I have to caution those who think that by checking out this book, they will be checking out the unabridged version of 1,000+ pages. This isn't that book. In fact, I was quite surprised to see it. My memory of the book was of the red covered version that I must have stored away in a box somewhere. You can see that version on Amazon here: https://goo.gl/jFYSnN Instead, this was one of those hardcover, oversized books and on the front cover, there's a huge swastika with the words "Illustrated and abridged" underneath it. If you want to see a thumbnail of the cover, you’ll find it at this link here: https://goo.gl/Z5tzyH When I first saw it, I was standing at the library checkout counter, and was immediately shocked and disappointed all at once, mainly because it didn't look like the book I remembered and clearly was an abridged version. Later, I read the Wikipedia page for this book. Citing "Another Life : A Memoir of Other People," by Michael Korda (available as an e-book through the Tacoma Public Library), it informs the reader that "bookstores across the country protested displaying the swastika and threatened not to stock the book" when it was first published back in 1960. Standing there at the checkout counter, that big book with the enormous swastika on the cover, in front of people who may or may not be familiar with the book and did not know me or why I had wanted to check it out, I could understand why. But I thought, what the heck, I checked it out, I might as well take a look at it. And so I did. Before I begin, I should probably let it be known that I, like many, are inherently prejudiced toward the abridged version of something. I don’t know why exactly. I suppose it feels as if I’m getting the cheap knockoff of something and not the real deal, like eating a slice of Wonder Bread instead of sinking one’s teeth into a hearty, chewy hunk of country loaf. (This comparison is a bit ironic considering that due to a shortage of steel during WWII, Wonder Bread shipped to shelves unsliced. Even so, an unsliced loaf of Wonder Bread is hardly a fulfilling, flavorful rustic country loaf and in that respect, I would imagine this comparison is valid.) Be that as it may, not many have time to read a book of more than a thousand pages. If so, this book is for you. Be warned, though: Just because this is the abridged version does not mean that this is an “easy read,” but in many ways, it is. In fact, it isn’t too unlike one of those picture books you might see lying on a coffee table in someone’s living room. However, this would be a coffee table book like no other. In other ways, it is not such an easy read. I don’t know how many other “abridged” versions of this tome exist, but this one was awkwardly worded in several places. Misspellings/typos can impede understanding as well and this version had some of those, too, but they paled in comparison to some of the sentences which often could have been helped with an addition of a comma from time to time. Others were just simply awkward. Let me give you an example: [After proclaiming that Czechoslovakia had “ceased to exist.”]: “The Fuehrer’s revenge was complete, and that it was sweet he showed in the series of proclamations which he issued.” (p. 107) Perhaps complaints over sentence constructions may seem picayune, as may my gripe that the book did not have more maps. The book actually has quite a few of them, but they all seem to be of the same large regional one sprinkled throughout (albeit with different focuses). None were the small, inset type that help the uninitiated to understand the finer details of a battle or situation. Comments are capped here at 4,000 characters, so I’ve had to chop this one off. You can link to my more complete review by clicking on the link below: https://goo.gl/y7j4Wp For a link to all 1,753 Amazon reviews of this book, click here instead: https://goo.gl/7BDg9b