Friday, December 10, 2010

The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman

Book 45

The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman, was a random pick, except that I it was another war history.  It is the story of the family that owned and operated the Warsaw Zoo during World War II.  Once the zoo was bombed to pieces, and the animals either run off, killed, or shipped to German zoos, the Zabinskis used their property to hide Jews and other fugitives with the Underground movements in Poland.

Besides the fact the it was a story of courage and survival, I also appreciated that this book reminds me that:

  1. The War started long before Pearl Harbor.
  2. The Russians were not The Good Guys.
  3. In fact, about the worst place on Earth you could be is between the Nazis and the Red Army.
Ackerman did some fine research, between the journals and interviews and public records.  I am grateful, because this was a story that needed to be told.

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