Germany's Media Leaders Praise Controversial American Book "Eternal Treblinka"
Each month a jury of 30 of Germany's leading scholars and media figures chooses the country's ten most important non-fiction books for Sachbücher des Monats. This month (February) it selected "Für die Tiere ist jeden Tag Treblinka" (ISBN 3861506491), the German edition of the groundbreaking book "Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust" (ISBN 1930051999) by American author Dr. Charles Patterson.
(PRWEB) February 8, 2005 -- Each month in Germany a jury of 30 of the
country's leading scholars and media figures (Sachbücher des Monats) vote to
decide the country's ten most important non-fiction books.
On the list
this month (February)--along with books about Albert Einstein, Leonardo da
Vinci, and World War I--is "Für die Tiere ist jeden Tag Treblinka" (ISBN
3861506491), the German edition of "Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals
and the Holocaust" (New York: Lantern Books, 2002; ISBN 1930051999) by Charles
Patterson.
"Für die Tiere ist jeden Tag Treblinka" ("For the Animals
Every Day is Treblinka") was published in the fall of 2004 by the German
publishing house of Zweitausendeins Versand Dienst GmbH, Frankfurt am
Main.
Sachbücher des Monats is sponsored by Südeutsche Zeitung,
Buchjournal, Börsenblatt, and Norddeutscher Rundfunk.
The complete list
of the ten books chosen for "Sachbücher des Monats: Februar 2005" and the names
of the 30 German media leaders on the jury that selected them can be found at http://www.buchjournal.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=81796
Favorable
reviews of Patterson's "Für die Tiere ist jeden Tag Treblinka" have also
appeared in Germany's two leading newspapers--Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurt
Allgemeine Zeitung--as well in Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, Nürnberger Nachrichten,
Frankfurter Neue Presse, and other smaller publications.
Since its
publication in the United States three years ago by Lantern Books in New York,
Eternal Treblinka is fast becoming an international sensation.
Here is
how the website of Prijatelji Zivotinja (Animal Friends Croatia) in Zagreb
describes Eternal Treblinka: "The book that breaks all taboos. The book that
fires up controversies all over the world."
Besides Germany and Croatia,
Eternal Treblinka has also been translated and published in Italy, Poland, and
the Czech Republic. Other publishers around the world are considering it for
publication as well.
The book's title comes from the Yiddish writer and
Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, to whom the book is dedicated. He was the
first major modern author to describe the exploitation and slaughter of animals
in terms of the Holocaust. "In relation to them, all people are Nazis," he
wrote, "for animals it is an eternal Treblinka." (Treblinka was the Nazi death
camp north of Warsaw.)
Eternal Treblinka examines the common roots of
animal and human oppression and the similarities between how the Nazis treated
their victims and how human society treats animals slaughtered for food.
The first part of the book describes the emergence of humans as the
"master species" and how it has come to dominate the earth and its other
inhabitants. The second part examines the industrialization of slaughter of both
animals and humans in modern times, while the last part of the book profiles
Jewish and German animal advocates on both sides of the Holocaust, including
Isaac Bashevis Singer himself.
Almost immediately after Lantern Books
published the book in 2002, it began attracting the attention of foreign
publishers, and soon translations were underway.
In April, 2003, the
Roman publishing house of Editori Riuniti published the Italian edition
(Un'eterna Treblinka), and the following month “Vega!POL” published the Polish
edition (Wieczna Treblinka).
In September, 2003, the Publishing House
Prah in Prague published the Czech edition (Vecna Treblinka), and in the fall of
2004 Zweitausendeins published the German edition.
Eternal Treblinka has
also been translated into Croatian (Vjecna Treblinka) and has just been
published by the Genesis publishing house in Zagreb.
In Jerusalem Hebrew
translation rights will be available to Israeli publishers at the Jerusalem
International Book Fair (Feb. 13-18) at "Chaim Mazo - Publishers Exhibit" (booth
#422). The local mobile phone at the booth is 054-7294-565.
Here's What
They're Saying--
"Compelling, controversial, iconoclastic...strongly
recommended...a unique contribution." --Midwest Book Review
"Eternal
Treblinka should be on every list of essential reading for an informed
citizenry...for the compelling comprehensiveness of the life-and-death story it
tells." --National Jewish Post & Opinion
"A must read! -- how
mistreatment of animals leads to the dehumanization and extermination of people
as 'mere animals.' Well-written and respectful of both Judaism and the
Holocaust." --Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
"There are good
books...entertaining, useful, informative; great books...whose message reveals a
fundamental truth previously unknown or overlooked; and important books...that
can save lives and ameliorate suffering: Eternal Treblinka is all three."
--Satya Magazine, New York City.
"The moral challenge posed by Eternal
Treblinka turns it into a must for anyone who seeks to delve into the universal
lesson of the Holocaust." --Maariv (Israeli newspaper)
"Important and
timely...written with great sensitivity and compassion...I hope that Eternal
Treblinka will be widely read." --Martyrdom and Resistance (Holocaust
publication)
"Every so often a book is written that has the potential to
make an incredible difference. Eternal Treblinka is one such book." --N. Glenn
Perrett
"Thorough and thought-provoking book" --Ha'aretz (Israeli
newspaper)
"It is seldom that such a comprehensive work of scholarship
springs from a heart of compassion in the service of a noble and necessary idea.
All the ingredients of your thesis--that the oppression of animals serves as the
model for all other forms of oppression--have been available to thinking people
for generations, but it remained for you to pull them together." --Helen Weaver,
author of The Daisy Sutra
"I urge you to read Eternal Treblinka and think
deeply about its important message. " --Dr. Jane Goodall
"The whole
effect is a very powerful document...No one who reads this book will fail to be
moved." --Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals
"Powerful, moving,
gut-wrenching, brilliant--destined to be a classic" --Aviva Cantor, journalist
and author
"You must read this carefully documented book" --La Stampa
(Italian national newspaper)
"...promises to be one of the most
influential books of the 21st century." --Dr. Karen Davis, United Poultry
Concerns
"It grips like a thriller." --The Freethinker (UK)
"This
book is going to change the world."
--Albert Kaplan, Albert Kaplan & Co.,
Johns Island, SC
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb206054.htm