“This haunting autobiography is a major contribution to the newly growing body of Holocaust-survivor-children's memoirs. Its two-part title says much: Piecing Scattered Souls highlights the care in the centripetal organization of the three-generation narrative dealing with the author's survivor parents, his own generation of Holocaust-survivor children and their wives, and the next generation of his four children. The tome's subtitle, Maine, Germany, Mexico, China, and Beyond, highlights the macrocosmic venue in which the events unfold. David O. Solmitz's evocation of his professor-father, Walter Solmitz, a survivor of the post-Crystal-Night weeks-long incarceration in Germany's first concentration camp, Dachau, is comprehensive: In his analytical portrayal, Solmitz is sensitive to the all-pervasive survivor guilt that led to his father's suicide in his fifties. Employing Helen Epstein's path-breaking work, the author convincingly shows how that survivor guilt was projected onto Walter's only child — leading to David's lifelong activities as community organizer, teacher, and peace activist. The rich collection of firsthand documentary material throughout the memoir makes the narrative real and believable. Particularly compelling is the detailed, comprehensive report by Walter Solmitz that serves as the volume's first appendix: a rare account of the Jewish prisoners' daily lives in Dachau at the end of 1938. The words I would use to characterize this unique volume are: 'honest,' 'engaging,' 'self-probing,' and 'thoughtful.' Not only was Walter Solmitz a philosopher in the best sense of the word, his son, David, is one as well.” —Steven Cerf, George Lincoln Skolfield, Jr., Professor of German and Holocaust Studies, Bowdoin College

Piecing Scattered Souls: Maine, Germany, Mexico, China and Beyond

History

David O. Solmitz

Americas

Polar Bear & Company

Lifelong DJ Annie Stillwater Gray recreates her ten-year radio program, The General Store Variety Show, in this novel about the northern Maine border town of Angels' Notch. In an extraordinary twist, the radio station in the general store powers a vortex that opens a portal between the physical and spirit planes. Mythological characters use the magical doorway to appear as guests on the radio show, while the local inhabitants have their own stories to tell. In a setting of great natural beauty, tensions build as the community takes sides over buried treasure and the enduring quest for love and fulfillment.

Welcome Radio: Tales From the General Store

Literature & Fiction

Annie Stillwater Gray

Genre Fiction

The author is a direct descendent of the adventurous Baron Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin (immortalized by Longfellow) and Pidianiske, daughter of Penobscot Chief Madockawando. Feted as a veteran of the liberation of Europe, Charles Shay unexpectedly finds himself in the footsteps of his French ancestry, being received in Basque villages, in the region of Castine. From Castine, Maine, and Indian Island on the Penobscot River to the beaches of Normandy and beyond, cross-cultural connections are discovered along with memories of living history. 
 With 184 illustrations and documents of being received in French towns and in ceremonies on two continents we are provided with an historic insight into the life of a Penobscot veteran of WWII and Korea.

Project Omaha Beach: The Life and Military Service of a Penobscot Indian Elder

Biographies & Memoirs

Shay, Charles Norman

Community & Culture

Of the many books that have been written about the people who live on islands off the Maine coast, few are by individuals who were born and raised on an island. This book is an exception. Born in 1927, Carroll M. Haskell (known as Cabbage to most islanders) grew up on Deer Isle, graduating from Stonington High School in 1945. Over the years, he did all the things island boys did: besides getting into mischief, he clammed, went lobstering, worked on the granite quarry, and went yachting, before settling into a career with the telephone company. So here is an authentic voice, the real deal, giving us an insider's account of what island life was like during the difficult years of the Depression and World War II, a period when old island ways were about to give way to a changed world. At the same time, we may delight in the adventures of this resourceful and free-spirited lad, as he confronted the challenges of growing up in a distinct place and time. — William A. Haviland, author of At the Place of the Lobsters and Crabs: Indian People and Deer Isle, Maine, 1605–2005

Growing Up on an Island Off the Coast of Maine

Carroll M. Haskell

From the Foreword by Senator George J. Mitchell: "As in any worthy endeavor, it is essential that we create an attitude and atmosphere based on the reality that no matter how difficult the problems, they can be solved. Jeff has done an outstanding job of pulling together a number of inspiring stories of young elected officials, who are actively engaged in their local communities on a number of difficult issues and have a hunger to help reshape our society for the better.  "On Point gives readers a unique perspective on these leaders, speaking in their own voices. The reader gets to know who they are and what is important to them, personally as well as politically.  "The issues are complicated. It will not be easy. No worthy endeavor is ever easy. But it can be done. I hear it in the voices of those leaders featured in On Point as they embark on the eternal struggle to build a more perfect union in the United States of America." Contents: Foreword; Introduction; 1. Anton J. Gunn, South Carolina House of Representatives; 2. Faith Winter, City Council, Westminster, Colorado; 3. Alex Cornell du Houx, Maine House of Representatives; 4. Alisha Thomas Morgan, Georgia House of Representatives; 5. Matt Heinz, Arizona House of Representatives; 6. Dominic Frongillo, Town Council, Caroline, New York; 7. Rashida H. Tlaib, Michigan House of Representatives; 8. Rodney Glassman, City Council, Tucson, Arizona; 9. Janet Chin, President, Garvey School District, California; 10. Rev. Dr. Simeon Queen, City Council, Prairie View, Texas; 11. Marisol Cruz, School Board, Lennox, California; 12. Sara Humm, City Commissioner, Ottawa, Kansas; 13. Kevin Killer, South Dakota House of Representatives; 14. Shane Cohn, Alderman, St. Louis, Missouri; 15. Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona State Senate; 16. Airick Leonard West, President, Kansas City School Board; 17. The Young Elected Officials Network; 18. Updated Profiles; Acknowledgments; Author

On Point: Voices and Values of the Young Elected Officials

Jeff L. Thigpen

Leaders & Notable People

Review\nThis book will fill a large, gaping hole in the field of Holocaust studies. It provides a window into Washington and into FDR's White House (not to mention the State Department) and Democratic Party politics that is marvelous. --Chris Breiseth, Fmr. Director, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, NY\nThe extent of Breckinridge Long's insidious efforts to impede immigration to safe harbor in the U.S.A. for Jews and gentiles alike is painted by Mr. Rolde with deft strokes and brought into the light of day in this detailed and intriguing account. 
Mr. Rolde takes us through the story using Long's personal diary to provide insights into Long's motivations. Rolde makes convincing and powerful assertions that Long, heartless and uncharitable, played by the book with devastating consequences, actions that parallel those of his peers in Hitler's Third Reich. 
My grandmother, Francis Perkins, worked to open the doors wider, while authority for immigration was under the Department of Labor, where it resided when she took office. In May of 1940, partly because of her resistance to stemming the tide of immigrants, Long was successful in moving authority for immigration to the Department of Justice, effectively removing her from that role. Yet she remained one of the voices in the FDR administration that encouraged Jewish immigration and continued to do all that she could to help. This book reveals the behind-the-scenes machinations of a political operative who may well be responsible, albeit indirectly, for the death of many Jews in Nazi Germany. --Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, grandson of Francis Perkins, Secretary of Labor, 1933-1945\nStudents of mid-twentieth-century American political and diplomatic history remember Breckinridge Long as a well-connected and influential force, particularly during the Roosevelt years. Those with a particular concern for the tragically inadequate American efforts to rescue victims of the Holocaust point to Long as a central figure in resisting and obstructing those efforts. He has been characterized as an anti-Semite, a xenophobe, and alternatively as an anti-communist who opposed immigration out of fear of communist infiltration. Interesting historical figures are, regretfully, often reduced to single dimensions, and the complexity of their lives and motivations are lost. In this erudite, thoughtful and well-written biography, Neil Rolde has fleshed out a multidimensional portrait of this gifted, influential and flawed public figure, traced his extraordinary career, and explored a range of theories as to Long's motivations. In so doing, Rolde has provided a wealth of information not only about Long but also about this critical and troubled chapter in modern American political and diplomatic history. --David M. Gordis, PhD, President Emeritus, Hebrew College

Breckinridge Long, American Eichmann??? An Enquiry into the Character of the Man Who Denied Visas to the Jews

Neil Rolde

When the United States was still neutral before WWII, a house of suspected Nazi spies was blown up in a small town in Maine. One of the young men who committed the crime ran to an island off the coast and got a job, only to discover that his employer was the lover of a Nazi submarine captain at anchor nearby. Based on a true story, a lost quality of life is recovered through the eyes of an artist. "Margaret Brinton paints that old Maine life in a way that tells me she has known it . . . in the deep way that shows the fabric of the days and nights. The structure is neat and tightly woven. Impressive. Nothing extra or wasted . . . I believe all of the characters . . . Dialogue is beautiful . . . The voice is consistent and real throughout." -From the afterword by Elizabeth Cooke, English & Creative Writing Prof. Emeritus, University of Maine, Farmington

Blown Apart

Brinton, Margaret E

Travel with Soto on his mystical journey through an imagined reality, where he gains perspective and listens to the wisdom in the air, water, fire, and earth. Embraced by nature, he is able to find truth within himself in his song. Color inside and out with 22 pages of photographic art.\nRamona du Houx uses the camera with a painter's eye. Her technique involves movement to create a sense of wonder through colors, textures, memories, and the seasons. The images are dreamlike, healing, Zen meditative, and thought-provoking. All the photographic art was created on nature walks.\n"Sometimes, when people look at my work, they relax and find tranquility, as by taking time to be at peace in Nature. At other times, the images can refresh, excite, or energize. I hope to connect viewers with Nature's magic by revealing her complex balance." --Ramona du Houx

Soto's Song

Arts & Photography

Kroner, Dave

Photography & Video

This novel is based on the massacre by the SS of a small town in France during World War II, called Oradour-sur-Glane. Some of the perpetrators were French citizens - Alsatians drafted into the SS. They were put on trial in 1953 for taking part - under duress, it was claimed - in the horrendous killings and destruction of that peaceful village. Upon the order of President Charles de Gaulle, the town was kept as the Nazis had left it and is a national monument. Professor Eugène Desfosseux, a historian and self-taught ventriloquist, conjures amid the ruins figures from deep into his past and records the interviews and interrogations in a tale that epitomizes what this or any other war crime might encompass - including his own daily life of pleasures, romance and memories inflamed to a vengeance that would destroy his life's work.

Crimes of War

Rolde, Neil

What would you do with a dead badger on your doorstep? If you're Judy Falck-Madsen, consternation gives way to laughter, and recollection produces one of many wonderfully humorous anecdotes about town life and the countryside of Denmark. To Denmark, With Love is Judy's delightful account of the day-to-day joys and tribulations of family life in the land of Hans Christian Andersen. The story lines are furnished by friendly Danes, mischievous children, an assortment of animals, both wild and domestic, and one genuine Viking - the author's husband, Finn. It's a life that's built on a deep respect for nature, tradition, and just plain fun. Denmark provides the setting, but the wisdom gained is universal."

To Denmark, With Love

Falck-Madsen, Judy

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