- Taschenbuch: 272 Seiten
- Verlag: MacMillan (7. April 2000)
- Sprache: Englisch
- ISBN-10: 0333766210
- ISBN-13: 978-0333766217
- Größe und/oder Gewicht: 21 x 13,4 x 2,4 cm
- Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung: 4.7 von 5 Sternen Alle Rezensionen anzeigen (3 Kundenrezensionen)
- Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 2.357.354 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)
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For thousands of years, the windswept plains of the eastern Baltic attracted migrant tribes from all over Eurasia. These peoples lived together, sometimes uneasily, sometimes at peace, forging the multiethnic cultures of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. The last two centuries have brought one army after another to the Baltic, led by Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas, Hitler's generals, and Stalin's field marshals. In the wake of World War II, the multiethnic cultures of the Baltic splintered, and millions of citizens, including Canadian historian Modris Eksteins, born in Latvia in 1943, were sent into flight.
Eksteins's narrative, haunted by ghosts and unconventional in structure, embraces many stories. At one level, he offers a requiem for the Baltic past. At another, he composes a personal history of his family, driven so far from its homeland. At yet another, he ponders the nature of history itself in a tale that "must reflect the loss of authority, of history as ideal and of the author-historian as agent of that ideal. What we are left with is the intimacy not of truth but of experience." The terrible experience of war and conflagration propels his beautifully rendered, eyes-wide-open narrative. During his childhood, Eksteins concludes, "for regret and tears there was no time, no point." Half a century later, he is able to mourn the loss of the old Baltic world--and readers of contemporary history will find much to think about as he does. --Gregory McNamee -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
From Kirkus Reviews
Part history, part memoir, this unconventional account of the fate of the Baltic nations is also an important reassessment of WWII and its outcome. Acclaimed for his study of WWI (Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age, 1989), Eksteins, a professor of history at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, here combines his role of historian with that of autobiographer, rapidly shifting among events before, during, and after WWII. First he provides the drama of his family history (clearly presented, with a literary sensibility, though at times overwritten); the pivotal character is Eksteins's maternal great-grandmother Grieta. The tale of this Latvian chambermaid, made pregnant and then rejected by her Baltic-German baron, serves as a mirror of Latvian-German relations over the centuries. In addition, the family history opens up the subject of displacement, with a heavy focus on the fate of DPs in the postwar years and the struggle and hope of the immigrant experience. A history of the Baltic nations is squeezed in as well, with special emphasis on these nations vulnerable position between Germany and Russia, with an eye to WWII. Finally, at the books core is a serious questioning of our culture's attitudes about the outcome of the war. Eksteins argues that, in a postmodern age, we must write history that doesnt dictate but provokes us with ``layers of suggestion.'' In the postCold War era, he contends, we must face the realities of the war and the fact that 1945 ``is not our victory, as we often like to think; 1945 is our problem.'' Given this statement, Eksteins's treatment of the Holocaust will be closely scrutinized. The author goes about things in his own way: while the Jews are noticeably absent from his examination of the Baltic communities, he gives the Baltic Jewish situation separate and bold attention; Eksteins discusses the ``willing executioners'' among Hitler's conquered subjects. A multifaceted study of the Baltics and WWII, provocative and ambitious, that evokes the enormity of the loss and destruction caused by the war. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Walking Since Daybreak By Modris Eksteins is one of the most fact filled books about Latvia, the horrors of WWII and the DP experience. On the whole this book was well written, easy to understand. The biggest problem I had was with the dizzing pace of jumping all over time and subjects with each chapter. If arranged more sequencially it would be easier for this reader to keep track of dates, places and the people who presented, information I found realistic and often familiar yet some of the facts I had not been aware of.
This is a must read for anyone interested in WWII, the Baltics or the DP experience. Other great books full of interesting, well information about the same subjects, I would recommend are Andrejs Plakans's "The Latvians a short history" Mark Wyman's "DPs: Europes Displaced Persons, 1945-1951" and Vieda Skultans "The Testemony Of Lives"
These are all important materials to help awaken people to the horrors of war and to man's inhumanity to man.
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
I am most pleased to have chanced upon this book, aptly titled "Walking since Daybreak: a story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the heart of our century." I have known little of Latvia's history. Not only has Modris Eksteins done a masterful job situating the Balts in modern Europe, but he has stated well the pathetic question, "Why did humans behave so badly?" Is this wild slaughter the heart of our century? Rather than give a didactic analysis of rampant evil, he shows people as they suffer, cope, and provide for others. The author relates German influence in the Baltic region over centuries, the history of his family there from 1900 to 1944, and life as displaced persons in Germany from 1945 to 1949. Attitudes against DP's are appalling. This book is an easy, rewarding read despite its ponderous topic. The author skillfully changes point-of-view every few pages. This skipping back and forth in time, with movement between Winnipeg, Toronto, Lubeck, and Latvia, illuminates the topic, as it sometimes juxtaposes similar events, similar human attitudes. Thus, the bombing of German cities in part of the horror. The author shares his insights so gently and clearly that I consider this book a gift to me and other readers perplexed by the calamaties caused by people of our century. Maps help the reader.
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Modris Eksteins and I have the same scars. I remember him as a little boy from the D.P. camp in Lubeck where his mother, Biruta, was my girl scout leader. His book focused and gave framework to the glimpses of horor and feelings of despair that are a large part of the memories of my childhood. It explains the cynicism and wariness that even as a young girl I had for the noble sounding rhetoric of war like "death with honor" and "national pride". Invaders and liberators are all the same. All wars are death, destruction and despair and sow the seeds for other wars to come. I now fully understand where my mother got the desperate courage to leave Latvia with two small children and only with what we could carry to go a strange land where she knew no one, barely spoke the language, and was not welcome. The book tells our story including the gallows humor that is the flimsy armor of those from whom everything has been taken.
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