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Biased History
Revisionist history at it's best!!

0 stars
Strong writing, powerful message

Waste of time and money
Weak, Insulting, & not worth your time
White Mulatto Heroine and Indian Hero A Nice Change BUT...The major flaws of the book are a poor characterization of Zondra's parents, inadequate historical research, and a lack of comfort with the subject matter.
Ms. Edwards should have eliminated those off-stage "dark" siblings. They served absolutely no purpose in the plot and belied the image of Zondra's parents as a loving couple. I suspect that she included them and the nonsense about being "sold off" because she felt she wasn't making slavery look bad enough.
I appreciate Ms. Edwards' "mixed white" heroine and her Indian lover, but she should have put more emphasis on building strong major and supporting characters and left the preaching to abolitionist novels.
The antebellum mixed-white heroine and "pure" white hero used to be common in the Romance genre. I'd like to also see the same type of heroine matched with Indian, Latino and other exotic heroes. Let's hope that authors aren't being frightened off by the "politcal correctness" of the present day.


Selective Presentation and Omission of FactsCooper focuses on the szmalcowniki (blackmailers) who denounced Jews without also noting that they also betrayed Polish gentiles to the occupying Germans. He dwells on Polish collaborators' preventing more Jews from being saved with hardly a word said about the Jewish collaborators--the Judenrate. It was members of the Judenrate who played the main role in sealing off the ghettos, murdering the fellow Jews who tried to escape or who did escape, and discouraging further escapes (and revolts) by spreading untrue assurances about the safety of the Jews in German hands. (For an extensive and balanced account of BOTH Polish and Jewish collaboration, see Piotrowski: POLAND'S HOLOCAUST).
Cooper half-acknowledges the fact that many Jews were Communists, but then gives the familiar rationalization that they did so only to protect themselves from the Nazis. But this will not wash: Extensive Jewish involvement in Communism, which provoked Polish antagonism, long preceded the Nazis and continued long after their defeat. In fact, Cooper (p. 219) later gives the store away by noting that many Communist leaders were Jews.
Cooper's ignorance of the basic conditions under German-occupied Poland is nothing short of astounding. For instance, he tries to deflect charges of Jewish passivity by alleging that the Polish gentiles were even more passive. Nothing could be further from the truth. When, for instance, the Germans began a campaign to uproot large numbers of Poles from the Zamosc region in 1942, sending them to concentration camps, and replacing them with German settlers. The Polish peasants vowed: "We won't be taken as you took the Jews!" and began a guerrilla war. Despite the brutality of German reprisals, the Germans suffered so many losses that they called off the operation until after they won the war, which of course never happened. Cooper's rehash of charges that the Polish underground did not do much to assist the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 ignores, among other things, the fact that guerilla actions were generally expected to be locally-sufficient. Thus, for instance, Polish gentiles living in eastern Poland had to form their own defenses against murderous Ukrainian nationalists. They did not expect, and generally did not receive, substantive assistance from Polish-gentile guerilla groups located in the western part of German-occupied Poland. Cooper notes that Jews were usually not accepted into Polish guerilla organizations because their physiogamy gave them away, and insists that this proves that Poles were prone to turn Jews in. Yes, as if Germans were incapable of recognizing Jews by their features!
Space limitations forbid discussion of many more errors and omissions of inconvenient facts by Cooper. Other facts listed by Cooper can be interpreted in different ways. For instance, Cooper estimates that only 2% of the Polish population was involved in rescuing and hiding Jews, and uses this to "prove" Polish anti-Semitism. But, considering that the death penalty was given by the Germans for assisting Jews, and that heroism must by nature be exceptional, one could argue that 2% is a very high percentage.
In conclusion, both Polish anti-Semitism and Jewish anti-Polonism deserve long-overdue deaths. Unfortunately, this will not happen as long as inflammatory and inaccurate books like Cooper's are published and passed off as fact.
Rehashes Old Polonophobic Stereotypes
Detailed, yet biased analysisFrom the very beginning of his book, it seems that Cooper has a personal bone to pick with the Poles. He relates many stories of his encounters with anti-Semitic poles that are portrayed as being equivalent to the Nazis. In fact almost 90% of his book is dedicated to putting forward evidence that incriminates Poles, whereas bits and pieces throughout the text refer to the very infrequent cases of "good" Poles. To be fair to Dr Cooper, he does devote one chapter to Poles that were commended for bravery and for saving a countless number of Jews (Poles are commended for saving the 2nd highest number of Jews in Europe). BUT...and there is a BIG BUT, he STILL picks fault in those Poles that risked their lives to save Jews. He speculates that many Poles were "in it for the money". Personally I believe that a little bit of compensation for risking one's own life is a small price to pay for an act of heroism. It is evident that Cooper's personal experiences have soured him to the extent that he is unable to present an objective and unbiased look at the Polish-Jewish situation. Furthermore, for most Jews, this book will be a "confirmation" of all the things that they have heard about or speculated on with regards to Polish-Jewish relations. In fact, due to the negative nature of this book it seems Cooper has gone a step in the wrong direction with regards to Polish-Jewish reconciliation. Having said all this, I still believe that the atrocities he has mentioned, such as the horrendous Pogrom at Kielce, definitely prove that many uneducated Poles were anti-Semitic, however on the other hand there were many brave and righteous Poles that should be acknowledged with greater vigor. All in all, Cooper's book is very powerful and is excellent reading even if it is quite biased.


Not for the serious Eagles fan/guitarist

Good for people with little short term memory

Five star art wasted on one star content

Stilted and dry--a definite pass

What Christians Need To Know And The Book Forgot To Say!

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