Customer Reviews

Inside Anne Frank's House: An Illustrated Journey Through Anne's World

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This book transports you to Amsterdam to the Anne Frank House which has been a museum since 1960. You take a route through photographs and documents in the same order that viewers who are lucky enough to be able to visit the museum in person. You meet Anne Frank and her family from heart rending pictures beginning with a happy family to a family in hiding to their capture and the post-war lives of those lucky enough to survive.
When I bought this book I expected to see photographs of the House but was unprepared to face their overall and cumulative impact. This book is shattering and essential.
This book although expensive belongs in the home of everone. It still costs less than a trip to Amsterdam.

I have long been interested in the story of Anne Frank. Over the years I have read many books about her and I continue to reread the diary every year. Recently, this book came to my attention and I gave it a read. There is much about it that impresses.

This book is subtitled An Illustrated Journey Through Anne's World and that seems appropriate. The key attraction of the book are the hundreds of photos that fill its pages, many of which I had never seen before. With its oversize, coffee table book format, and slick pages, it is a beautiful thing to look at. Where the book begins to let the reader down is the text.

Granted, the text is minimal and what there is can be highly informative and descriptive; however, I noticed a number of typos in my edition and many of the pictures were mislabeled (if the label could be found at all). It also seemed like different people were in charge of different sections of the book because there was no consistency to the presentation. I actually liked the structure of the first section of the book, where German history ran in small pictures along the bottom of the pages and the Frank family filled the top. I wish this style would have continued because it was very informative and allowed the reader to make connections but this was dropped rather quickly.

Still, there is a lot to be said for this book. It's cliche that a picture says a thousand words but it is amazing the emotion that is captured in some of these shots, particularly if you know the story behind them.

It's an ordinary house, not spectacular at all. It wouldn't be worth photographing at all except for the extraordinary young lady who lived here and who kept a diary during one of those times when the devil was loose on the earth and good men did nothing to stop him.

But because of this young lady and her extraordinary diary this house is a monument, a church if you will, that commemorates not just this girl but all of those who went with her, and all of those who tried to help them.

The book itself is beautifully done, not only a photographic guide but a history, a memorial in its own right with quotations and photographs of objects displayed in the actual exhibition. ==Let us never forget!

Let us also remember the other holocausts that followed to prove that we didn't learn enough: Rwands, Cambodia, Ethnic Cleansing in former Yugoslavia, and what may happen in Iraq between the Sunni, Shiite, and Kurds.

I've been interested in the story of Anne Frank since I was in grade school and was thrilled when I received this book. It is much larger and nicer than I thought it would be for the price. I just received an Anne Frank book for Christmas and it is nowhere near as nice as this one. The photographs of the rooms in the house and of Anne and her family are really nice. I've seen some in this book that I have never seen before. I would love to one day visit her house in Amsterdam, but until I get there, I will enjoy looking at this book!

I was absolutely thrilled when I received this book. It is very well Illustrated and very well made not your average book. There are picture's that I've never seen of Anne Frank and that was a great surprise. Get this book you won't be disappointed.

I have loved Anne Frank since I first read her diary as a 10-year-old almost thirty years ago. Someday, I hope to make the trip to the Netherlands and visit the place that served as her hiding place during those dark years of the Holocaust. Till then, this book serves as a reasonable substitute - readers get to take the same tour that visitors take on a physical tour of the house. Excerpts from the diary that are found in the house are also included, together with background information by Otto Frank (Anne's father), the museum directors, etc. There is also information pertaining to the diary and its publication.

The highlight of this book (for me) were the hundreds of archival photographs of Anne, her family, and friends in various settings, and of course of the Annex itself. Many are in black and white and there are some color photographs as well. The photographs are labeled in small text, though it's a pity that some appear to be erroneously labeled. The photographs paint a vivid portrait of Anne's history and life and made me weep for the tragedy of it all. This is a must have for anyone who is interested in the history of Anne Frank, her diary and the Holocaust. I would also recommend the following:
Anne Frank Remembered
Biography - Anne Frank: The Life of a Young Girl (A&E DVD Archives)
The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition

I visited Anne Frank's huis in Amsterdam. This book not only brought me back there, but allowed me to digest the details of what they illustrated. Very moving! A topic people all over the world mustn't forget.

While the book followed the tour of the house, there are areas of the book that seem to have a weak translation into English. I wanted to absorb every written word, but there were areas that were not very clear. But I wouldn't give up the book for that. Thank you Ms Westra! And Thank you Mr. Frank for sharing the story of your precious little girl. I'm sure you are with her now.

Look at the subject it says it all. Basically its about the history beyond her, hiding place, diary. The text and photos wre good. Basically knew everything about her, but the main reason bought book is the photos that I haven't seen it yet. Thank you.