INTO THE FOREST, by Rebecca Frankel

    

Non-fiction -- 4 stars

The true story of the Rabinowitz family in Nazi controlled Poland.  A story of survival through German and Russian occupations, ghettos, pogroms, and finally, in desperation, the forest.  How one family survived. ----- Ms. Frankel's storytelling style is not unlike that of true crime queen Ann Rule--dry, clinical, exacting in detail.  That is not to say this book is without emotion.  It is impossible to read their years' long fight for life without being moved by their devotion to each other and their determination to survive as a loving family unit.  The ingenuity demonstrated by the Rabinowitzes and the other Jewish families who worked together to evade the Nazi's final solution is a story of bravery and tenacity to be admired and celebrated.  Based on interviews with members of the Rabinowitz family who lived this history.

CASTE, by Isabel Wilkerson

    

Non-fiction -- 5 stars

The systems of caste explained in India, in Germany, in the U.S.  This is how we got to where we are. ----- It is rare that a scholarly work is also readable by a non-academic; it is even more rare that a scholarly work can touch your heart.  Ms. Wilkerson's book does both.  Her analysis is so dead on that you can't help but wonder why you hadn't seen it yourself.  Her anecdotal examples made me angry, embarrassed of my caste, sometimes literally nauseous, and above all, profoundly ashamed.  From historical records to current events, this book will make you look in the mirror and think about what you see.