In a compelling approach to storytelling, When Europe Was a Prison Camp weaves together two accounts of a family’s eventual escape from Occupied Europe. One, a memoir written by the father in 1941; the other, begun by the son in the 1980s, fills in the story of himself and his mother, supplemented by historical research. The result is both personal and provocative, involving as it does issues of history and memory, fiction and "truth," courage and resignation. This is not a "Holocaust memoir." The Schrags were Jews, and Otto was interned, under execrable conditions, in southern France. But Otto, with the help of a heroic wife, escaped the camp before the start of massive transfers of prisoners "to the East," and Peter and his mother escaped from Belgium before the Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. Yet, the danger and suffering, the comradeship and betrayal, the naïve hopes and cynical despair of those in prison and those in peril are everywhere in evidence.

When Europe Was a Prison Camp: Father and Son Memoirs, 1940-1941

Biographies & Memoirs

Schrag, Peter

Grynberg, Anne

Schrag, Otto

Bervoets, Marcel

Rosenberg, Pnina

Historical

Indiana University Press

Mind control

Pantheon Books

Out of place in America;: Essays for the end of an age

Random House]

A critical survey of the new politics, practices, and ideology, and related causes and consequences, of the medical and social control of children labelled as hyperactive, maladaptive, dysfunctional, and predelinquent, under the guise of diagnosis and treatment

The Myth of the Hyperactive Child: And Other Means of Child Control

Divosky, Diane

For much of this century California was the envy of the continent, not just for what nature had made but for what civil society had created: speedy freeways, the country's best public school system, public works that made the desert bloom. Not any more. California's public works and social services are crumbling, and public education has plunged from the top to the bottom of nationwide measures. How could the American dream go so wrong so fast?

Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future

History

Americas

University of California Press

For much of the past century California was the envy of the continent, not just for what nature had made but for what civil society had created: speedy freeways, well-supported schools, the world's best public university system, public works that made the desert bloom. Not any more. California's public works and social services are crumbling, and public education has plunged from the top to near-bottom in nationwide measures. How could the American dream go so wrong so fast? Originally published in 1998, Peter Schrag's view of California seems as applicable as ever. In his new preface to the 2004 edition, Schrag updates the California scene and considers the fallout from such political earthquakes as the 2003 recall election.

Peter Schrag takes on the big issuesimmigration, globalization, and the impact of California’s politics on its quality of lifein this dynamic account of the Golden State’s struggle to recapture the American dream. In the past half-century, California has been both model and anti-model for the nation and often the world, first in its high level of government and public servicesschools, universities, highwaysmore lately for its dysfunctional government, deteriorating services, and sometimes regressive public policies. Schrag’s incisive analysis of the state’s political, demographic, and fiscal realities vividly demonstrates that it has been struggling with a range of problems for a generation. The author deftly shows that California’s ability to forge its culturally and ethnically diverse population into a successful democracy will be of crucial importance not only to America, but to the world. He also explains how many current "solutions" exacerbate the very problems they're supposed to solve and analyzes a variety of possible state and federal policy alternatives to restore accountable government and a vital democracy to the nation's largest state and world's fifth largest economy. Among the issues that Schrag tackles: * The impact of Latino and Asian immigration and the emergence of California as the first large majority minority state * The globalization of California’s economy and culture * The growing reliance of voters on the initiative, referendum, and recall processes * The increasing instability of elected government * California as cultural avant-garde, from hippies to gay marriage

California: America's High-Stakes Experiment

Peter Schrag takes on the big issues―immigration, globalization, and the impact of California's politics on its quality of life―in this dynamic account of the Golden State's struggle to recapture the American dream. In the past half-century, California has been both model and anti-model for the nation and often the world, first for its high level of government and public services―schools, universities, highways―and latterly for its dysfunctional government, deteriorating services, and sometimes regressive public policies. California explains how many current "solutions" exacerbate the very problems they're supposed to solve and analyzes a variety of possible state and federal policy alternatives to restore government accountability and a vital democracy to the nation's most populous state and the world's fifth-largest economy.

California, With a New Preface: America's High-Stakes Experiment

Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America

In a book of deep and telling ironies, Peter Schrag provides essential background for understanding the fractious debate over immigration. Covering the earliest days of the Republic to current events, Schrag sets the modern immigration controversy within the context of three centuries of debate over the same questions about who exactly is fit for citizenship. He finds that nativism has long colored our national history, and that the fear―and loathing―of newcomers has provided one of the faultlines of American cultural and political life. Schrag describes the eerie similarities between the race-based arguments for restricting Irish, German, Slav, Italian, Jewish, and Chinese immigrants in the past and the arguments for restricting Latinos and others today. He links the terrible history of eugenic "science" to ideas, individuals, and groups now at the forefront of the fight against rational immigration policies. Not Fit for Our Society makes a powerful case for understanding the complex, often paradoxical history of immigration restriction as we work through the issues that inform, and often distort, the debate over who can become a citizen, who decides, and on what basis.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Schrag, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Schrag, Peter

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Schrag, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

When Europe Was a Prison Camp: Father and Son Memoirs, 1940-1941

Mind control

Out of place in America;: Essays for the end of an age

The Myth of the Hyperactive Child: And Other Means of Child Control

Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future

Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future

California: America's High-Stakes Experiment

California, With a New Preface: America's High-Stakes Experiment

Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America

Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America