Varieties of Fear: Growing Up Jewish Under Nazism and Communism [Hardcover]

Peter Kenez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1995 | ISBN-10: 1879383292 | ISBN-13: 978-1879383296

This is a first-person account of growing up in Hungary under Nazism and Communism. Beginning in Hungary in the 1940s and ending up more than a decade later in America. The narrative tells of a Jewish boy's daily life under extraordinary circumstances. Kenez relates details of day-to-day existence during wartime, the post-war period, and the 1956 rebellion. The juxtaposition of daily routine and extraordinary events provides a view of history, humankind's survival instinct, and the effects of growing up in a national atmosphere of uncertainty, distrust and fear.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Kenez is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After leaving his native Hungary in 1956, he studied at Princeton and Harvard. He is the author of several books on Soviet history. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Amer (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879383292
• ISBN-13: 978-1879383296
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,319,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent Autobiography, November 25, 2003

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"jacobpemberton" (Milwaukee, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Varieties of Fear: Growing Up Jewish Under Nazism and Communism (Paperback)

Peter Kenez was my Russian History professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His lectures were always balanced and informative, and were greatly enhanced by his dry wit. Throughout the class he gave small hints of his life before coming to the United States, but never spelled out precisely the details. So it was with great enthusiasm that I read this book, which allowed me to learn the background of a man that I had already come to know. The best aspect of this book is that Professor Kenez's personality shines through - reading it is like listening to the man speak, but without the Hungarian accent. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in modern European history.