Over the past forty years, the term Holocaust has come to represent the deliberate campaign of extermination of Jews by the Nazis of Germany's Third Reich preceding and during World War II. Masses of edited documents and analytical material have been generated by Holocaust scholars, and some bibliographical and encyclopedic guides to the field are available. However, a student or researcher may be confounded by the abundance of publications and may lack the necessary background and endurance to sift the wheat from the chaff. The present volume has a two-fold purpose: to offer substantial analysis in intrinsic areas of study and to assess the relevant literature in each case.

Major scholars and brilliant, less established historians from Israel, Canada, and the United States have contributed more than thirty essays complete with extensive reference lists in three broad divisions. The section on conceptual approaches to the Holocaust is composed of such topics as the rise of national socialism, biographies and interpretations of Hitler, concentration camps, post-Holocaust Jewish philosophies, and the righteous gentiles. Area studies deal with aspects of the Holocaust in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, the Balkans, France, Holland, Italy, and Spain, and with effects and reactions in Switzerland and Britain. Arab-German collaboration and American responses are also addressed. A third section takes up Holocaust subjects in education, belles lettres, and the arts, including diaries and memoirs, fiction, poetry, books for children, art, music, and films. Although the scholars all provide evaluative surveys of their subjects and related literature, each enjoyed considerable latitude in coverage and each presents his or her own views and selections, not all of which are shared by other contributors or the volume editor. The editor also provides an introduction and a final survey of major institutions and resources for Holocaust study. A significant reference tool, this volume will be consulted by researchers at all levels in university, public, secondary, and parochial school libraries and at religious institutions.

Friedman writes that the 4,500 Jews left in Syria--virtual hostages in Syria's conflict with Israel--live under conditions that have been compared to those of Nazi Germany. He details the suffering and persecution endured by Jews living in Damascus, Aleppo, and Qamishli during the last 30 years. He includes first-hand accounts of Jews oppressed by the Syrian government, including the torture of Jews in Syrian prisons. Friedman urges putting pressure on the Syrian government through petitions to government representatives, the United Nations, the International Red Cross, and the Vatican. "Booklist"

Of the 40,000 Jews who lived in Syria prior to 1948, some 4,500 remain as virtual hostages in Syria's conflict with Israel--under conditions that have been compared with those in Nazi Germany. Friedman describes the experiences of this persecuted group in the hope that the pressure of public opinion will persuade the Syrian government to put an end to the torture, killing, and harassment and allow Jewish residents to emigrate.

The author recounts the suffering and injustice endured by individuals and families living in Jewish sections of Damascus, Aleppo, and Qamishli over the past thirty years. The book includes several moving first-person accounts that graphically reveal both the systematic oppression that characterizes the Syrian government's treatment of Jewish citizens, as well as the government's tolerance of acts of violence against Jews committed by members of the Arab majority. To safeguard those who have been left behind, the author conceals the identities of both Jews still living in Syria and the rescuers who have been working to get them out, and he withholds specific information about escape methods and routes. This book carries an important message that will be of interest to general readers as well as students and specialists in Near Eastern affairs.

As the birthplace of three principal religions, the Middle East is holy to 15 million Jews, 2 billion Christians, and 1 billion Muslims. As the cradle of western civilization, it is fundamental to world history, the place where humans transformed themselves from nomadic hunters to settled farmers capable of building great cities and societies. This detailed history covers the Middle East from its ancient beginnings to the present. The confluence of events that produced civilized society is fully discussed, along with the establishment of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The emergence and decline of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, which laid much of the framework for the region to move into the modern era, is covered in depth. Analysis of the area in recent decades focuses on World War I and II and the regional conflicts that inflame the Middle East of the 21st century.

No Haven for the Oppressed was the most thorough and comprehensive analysis to be written to date on the United States policy toward Jewish refugees during World War II.

" In 1941, the fortress city of Terezin, outside Prague, was ostensibly converted into model ghetto, where Jews could temporarily reside before being sent to a more permanent settlement. In reality it was a way station to Auschwitz. When young Gonda Redlich was deported to Terezin in December of 1941, the elders selected him to be in charge of the youth welfare department. He kept a diary during his imprisonment, chronicling the fear and desperation of life in the ghetto, the attempts people made to create a cultural and social life, and the disease, death, rumors, and hopes that were part of daily existence. Before his own deportation to Auschwitz, with his wife and son, in 1944, he concealed his diary in an attic, where it remained until discovered by Czech workers in 1967.