The Columbia guide to the Holocaust /

Although a number of important reference works cover many facets of this tragic era (e.g., Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, ed. by Yisrael Gutman, 4v., 1990; The World Reacts to the Holocaust, ed. by David S. Wyman, CH, May'97), the Columbia guide adds a useful reference tool to the growing Holocaust literature. It comprises five distinct sections: a historical overview; a guide to major controversies; an encyclopedia of separate units on people, places, terms, and key organizations; a detailed chronology; and a comprehensive guide to print and nonprint resources. The latter unit is subdivided by category (e.g., organizations, museums, and memorials) whose entries usefully include phone numbers and e-mail and Web site addresses. Oddly, these subdivisions are not listed in the contents; one must look page by page to locate topics, such as Holocaust journals. Two appendixes provide statistical tables on emigration from Germany, Jewish losses, etc., and a set of original maps. Although generally useful, the guide has mistakes: there were not two million Polish Jews but three; the World Jewish Congress was founded in 1936, not 1932, and that it was a Zionist organization goes unmentioned; Oneg Shabbat refers to physical delights not after, but during the Sabbath; the Jewish Labor Committee and the Orthodox Vaad Hatzalah, both more involved in rescue than the World Jewish Congress, are omitted; both Stephen S. Wise and Saly Mayer were more legalist obstructionists than rescue activists; Peter Bergson, extremely successful in raising American Jewish consciousness about the Holocaust and instigating the creation of the War Refugee Board, is omitted; too much is made of the tiny German resistance movement. Despite these flaws this work is useful and recommended for all libraries. D. Kranzler; Queensborough Community College, CUNY

Niewyk (history, Southern Methodist Univ.) and Nicosia (history, Saint Michael's Coll.) have compiled one of the most useful portable Holocaust reference works published in the last few years. What makes this work so interesting is that it is structured so differently from most other one-volume works on the topic. For example, Rochelle Millen's New Perspectives on the Holocaust: A Guide for Teachers and Scholars is made up of two dozen pedagogical articles, while Ronnie S. Landau's Studying the Holocaust: Issues, Readings, and Documents assumes considerable knowledge while offering little analytical text. The Columbia Guide is divided into five parts: "Historical Overview"; "Problems and Interpretations," which is further subdivided into such categories as "Roots of the Holocaust" and "The Question of Rescue"; "Chronology"; "Encyclopedia"; and "Resources." The first two parts convey the major historiographic thrust and the controversies of Holocaust research over the past 30 years without bogging down in excessive detail. The "Chronology" is a micro-version of events that will be useful to scholars and graduate students only, but the "Encyclopedia" will serve a broad range of teachers, students, and scholars, as it provides concise entries on people, places, terms, and organizations associated with the Holocaust. Coverage in any encyclopedia is necessarily subjective, yet the authors are to be commended for their choices, which include a number of Jewish organizations and terms, such as the Oneg Shabbat (the secret archive of the Warsaw Ghetto underground). The extensive "Resources" section includes web-based works, and statistical tables and maps round out the work. Recommended for all libraries. Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.