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vikichann's review against another edition
5.0
I like how the book is structured. Each chapter has a core subject and it fits chronologically which makes it nice to read.
twicomb's review against another edition
3.0
Fascinating story that is based on an unprinted oral history so much of this has likely not been told before (for us regular folks without access to previously classified files). The info on how Hitler and his henchmen took mystical beliefs and literally built them into their headquarters and cities, courtesy of architecture and layout, is some seriously Indiana Jones stuff. Various structures in Nuremberg, when marked on a map, form the shape of the Spear of Longinus? And it points at another important location?? Unbelievable but true. Also a lot of good information interspersed about the horrors of the war and the period just after, especially in Nuremberg as the city struggled with the aftermath.
3.5 stars (it would have been 4 stars, if not for the following issue). It felt like there was a lot of material that was not about the title topic. If the book had been titled more accurately, namely the story of Horn and his duties post-war in Nuremberg, then everything would have been completely on topic. But titles like that don’t move books the way something splashy does, like Hitler’s Holy Relics. So my markdown of stars has nothing to do with the author or the writing of the book, and everything to do with how its slight (and intentional) mis-marketing will likely lead many to complain it had filler. Now you know. I thought it was great and highly recommend.
3.5 stars (it would have been 4 stars, if not for the following issue). It felt like there was a lot of material that was not about the title topic. If the book had been titled more accurately, namely the story of Horn and his duties post-war in Nuremberg, then everything would have been completely on topic. But titles like that don’t move books the way something splashy does, like Hitler’s Holy Relics. So my markdown of stars has nothing to do with the author or the writing of the book, and everything to do with how its slight (and intentional) mis-marketing will likely lead many to complain it had filler. Now you know. I thought it was great and highly recommend.
ronanmcd's review against another edition
4.0
Hitler's Holy Relics. With a title like that you'd expect a shlock story with a sprinkling of grains of half-truths, à la Discovery Channel documentaries. What I actually got was a genuinely engrossing story in equal turns about immediately post-war Germany, a potted history of the Holy Roman Empire, a somewhat circumspect debate on the esoteric belief "system" ofthe upper Nazi hierarchy, and a mystery. Entertaining, and with a certain, niche, historical value the book slightly falls down when discussing the semiotics of the relics themselves.
I read this while researching relics and I can't help but imagine that either the author, or the figures he describes, oversold the importance of the significance of essentially impotent relics and how a subdued and crushed population would see them.
Still, Cracking Read Gromit.
I read this while researching relics and I can't help but imagine that either the author, or the figures he describes, oversold the importance of the significance of essentially impotent relics and how a subdued and crushed population would see them.
Still, Cracking Read Gromit.
bluenicorn's review against another edition
1.0
Audiobook.
I don't know. It was okay. Some interesting parts. I guess I felt like the author was really inflating the importance and significance of these items, and if I hear "teutonic brotherhood" one more time, my eyes might roll out of my head.
I don't know. It was okay. Some interesting parts. I guess I felt like the author was really inflating the importance and significance of these items, and if I hear "teutonic brotherhood" one more time, my eyes might roll out of my head.
pelachick's review against another edition
5.0
This book started slowly but I was hooked by the time I was a quarter in. The book is not just about the search and recovery of the crown jewels of the Holy Roman empire. The book also delves into the world-view and ideology of Hitler and Himmler. Even with this brief glimpse into the Nazi 'religion', I began to understand what was going on in Germany during this time.
extremely interesting and informative book!
extremely interesting and informative book!
baileychadwick's review against another edition
2.0
This book could not decide if it was going to be a historical novel that just stated the facts or if it was going to be a humorous tale of one German professor who found the Holy Roman relics. So many tangents for no reason. Like the whole discussion about his first wife leaving him? Completely unnecessary to the plot. Oh, and hey, in the last few pages let's go off on a tangent about missing coins. I'll be reading "Monument's Men" instead in hopes to get the sour taste of this one out of my mouth.
ashesmann's review against another edition
2.0
I think the author tries too hard to make this a story. It's okay if you're going to write most of it that way, but when he starts speculating entire chapters of conversations based on what certain people may or may not have said because they once said something similar to another person a couple decades later...that's not history. Plus some of the facts seem off. For example. I think it is page 79 the author says Jesus was killed the Friday before Passover? It was a Friday, but it was the actual day of Passover (Jewish days being counted what would to us be sundown Thursday to sundown Friday).
kbyanyname's review against another edition
5.0
Kyle: All right, let’s see. Milk, eggs. Cookies. More cook- whoa, am I having a flashback?
[The supermarket is washed away by visual wavy lines, resettling into the remains of what appears to be a café in a war-ravaged city.]
Kyle: If this is happening because Neil Gaiman is attempting to capitalize on another obscure mythical being, so help me –
Sidney: Hello. Or should I say, guten tag?
Kyle: Oh! Sidney. What’s going on? Where are we?
[He sits and begins munching on leftover cookies on the table.]
Sidney: We are in Germany, but the when is important as well. It is, in fact, the summer of 1945.
Kyle: I am not a huge fan of the mixing of this place with that year, either in reality or in weird literary daydreams.
Sidney: Never fear, we are perfectly safe. You are just here as a byproduct of my uncanny ability to make factual surroundings seem intense and alive.
Kyle: Well, it’s not the war that I’m afraid of. It’s just that…well, how do I say this? Books about American heroes in this period seem to either read like textbooks or ridiculous propaganda. How in the world did you manage to find a middle ground, especially in a story about the theft of art and relics?
Sidney: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I simply wrote what was there.
Kyle: Yeah, but you wrote it so well! Over and over, I kept thinking, “I can’t believe I am so involved in the non-fiction story about recovering lost relics.” There were so many opportunities for this work to utterly derail into minutia about history or unrelenting apologizing for one of the worst atrocities known to mankind, but you really stuck to your target beautifully.
Sidney: As you may read about me on my page or even on the blog I created for this work, history is important to keep accurately. The story was just too important to let it be bogged down with anything else. I tried to keep things professional, as you might notice. If nothing else, my book jacket photo ought to have told you that.
Kyle: It did, and more. I felt like I was right in the middle of Lt. Horn’s investigation, picking up clues and trying to figure it out along with him. Really, the fascinating thing was knowing what I’ve learned in history and comparing it to what was going on – this really was a completely different take on what followed the war than I’ve seen before. Where I felt you really felt like you went the extra mile was in characterization. I know you had to pull it all from correspondence, interviews, and reports. It was a ton of work, I’m sure, but you built each person into incredibly complex people, with wants and problems – completely more interesting than any fictional soldier I’ve ever read. Many times, I’d think, “Wow, it’s weird that he’d include that,” about a revelation of a character, but then later, I’d be grateful for how well I could understand his motives.
Sidney: Peter Graves can eat his heart out. What you see in movies and TV isn’t always accurate. These were real people, and had more to them than just a 30-second backstory about a wife waiting at home and such and oh yes, perhaps they have a drinking problem, or maybe play the trombone or something.
Kyle: And their interactions were ridiculously interesting. It is pretty obvious that you know your way around a scene, and have worked with screenwriters in the past. I know you had to reconstruct a lot from reports, but even those notes brought so much life to the story I couldn’t believe it. In fact, my only gripe with the storytelling came at the few points where it seemed like the reports contained a really compelling narrative and you knew it, and I knew it, but there was just no way to really bring it together except for having been there.
Sidney: There were definitely points that could’ve been strengthened by being a little more creative with the story, but my duty here was to fact. There’s been enough speculation about these things already.
Kyle: I totally agree. I love that this story had such a great amount of intrigue and respect for the artifacts Horn was after, and even with the huge amount of conjecture and rather dark theory going around about the people involved, there was so much that can be backed up with documentation and actual observation. Mike Mignola isn’t entirely making it all up?
Sidney: Mike Mignola? Was he a part of the Axis?
Kyle: Er, nevermind. Either way, the story is really well told. It was a fantastic journey of an unsung hero of both the Allied and German cultures with all the mystery and adventure of the first and third Indiana Jones movies.
Sidney: Heh, Jones wishes his adventures were this interesting. Every bar story he has is just “Oh, I saved a long lost artifact with some implausible whip-cracking and ridiculous banter with a female and rescued my hat/female and –“
Kyle: Wait, you mean he’s real?
Sidney: Oh! Of course not. [under his breath] Not according to any reports you’ve read, anyway.
Kyle: …Right. So, my only other problem is this cover. Is there anything you could’ve done to keep people from staring at me in the library for holding a book covered in giant bold type reading “Hitler” and “Holy Relics,” separated by a swastika?
Sidney: Oh and look at the time, I must be off. Something…, uh, historic is happening in… Russia. Yes. Russia.
[Sidney makes his exit, and visual wavy lines again reveal the supermarket.]
Kyle: Hey! Come back here, Kirkpatrick! I’m not done with you! The least you could do is leave me some of those fictional cookies!
[The supermarket is washed away by visual wavy lines, resettling into the remains of what appears to be a café in a war-ravaged city.]
Kyle: If this is happening because Neil Gaiman is attempting to capitalize on another obscure mythical being, so help me –
Sidney: Hello. Or should I say, guten tag?
Kyle: Oh! Sidney. What’s going on? Where are we?
[He sits and begins munching on leftover cookies on the table.]
Sidney: We are in Germany, but the when is important as well. It is, in fact, the summer of 1945.
Kyle: I am not a huge fan of the mixing of this place with that year, either in reality or in weird literary daydreams.
Sidney: Never fear, we are perfectly safe. You are just here as a byproduct of my uncanny ability to make factual surroundings seem intense and alive.
Kyle: Well, it’s not the war that I’m afraid of. It’s just that…well, how do I say this? Books about American heroes in this period seem to either read like textbooks or ridiculous propaganda. How in the world did you manage to find a middle ground, especially in a story about the theft of art and relics?
Sidney: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I simply wrote what was there.
Kyle: Yeah, but you wrote it so well! Over and over, I kept thinking, “I can’t believe I am so involved in the non-fiction story about recovering lost relics.” There were so many opportunities for this work to utterly derail into minutia about history or unrelenting apologizing for one of the worst atrocities known to mankind, but you really stuck to your target beautifully.
Sidney: As you may read about me on my page or even on the blog I created for this work, history is important to keep accurately. The story was just too important to let it be bogged down with anything else. I tried to keep things professional, as you might notice. If nothing else, my book jacket photo ought to have told you that.
Kyle: It did, and more. I felt like I was right in the middle of Lt. Horn’s investigation, picking up clues and trying to figure it out along with him. Really, the fascinating thing was knowing what I’ve learned in history and comparing it to what was going on – this really was a completely different take on what followed the war than I’ve seen before. Where I felt you really felt like you went the extra mile was in characterization. I know you had to pull it all from correspondence, interviews, and reports. It was a ton of work, I’m sure, but you built each person into incredibly complex people, with wants and problems – completely more interesting than any fictional soldier I’ve ever read. Many times, I’d think, “Wow, it’s weird that he’d include that,” about a revelation of a character, but then later, I’d be grateful for how well I could understand his motives.
Sidney: Peter Graves can eat his heart out. What you see in movies and TV isn’t always accurate. These were real people, and had more to them than just a 30-second backstory about a wife waiting at home and such and oh yes, perhaps they have a drinking problem, or maybe play the trombone or something.
Kyle: And their interactions were ridiculously interesting. It is pretty obvious that you know your way around a scene, and have worked with screenwriters in the past. I know you had to reconstruct a lot from reports, but even those notes brought so much life to the story I couldn’t believe it. In fact, my only gripe with the storytelling came at the few points where it seemed like the reports contained a really compelling narrative and you knew it, and I knew it, but there was just no way to really bring it together except for having been there.
Sidney: There were definitely points that could’ve been strengthened by being a little more creative with the story, but my duty here was to fact. There’s been enough speculation about these things already.
Kyle: I totally agree. I love that this story had such a great amount of intrigue and respect for the artifacts Horn was after, and even with the huge amount of conjecture and rather dark theory going around about the people involved, there was so much that can be backed up with documentation and actual observation. Mike Mignola isn’t entirely making it all up?
Sidney: Mike Mignola? Was he a part of the Axis?
Kyle: Er, nevermind. Either way, the story is really well told. It was a fantastic journey of an unsung hero of both the Allied and German cultures with all the mystery and adventure of the first and third Indiana Jones movies.
Sidney: Heh, Jones wishes his adventures were this interesting. Every bar story he has is just “Oh, I saved a long lost artifact with some implausible whip-cracking and ridiculous banter with a female and rescued my hat/female and –“
Kyle: Wait, you mean he’s real?
Sidney: Oh! Of course not. [under his breath] Not according to any reports you’ve read, anyway.
Kyle: …Right. So, my only other problem is this cover. Is there anything you could’ve done to keep people from staring at me in the library for holding a book covered in giant bold type reading “Hitler” and “Holy Relics,” separated by a swastika?
Sidney: Oh and look at the time, I must be off. Something…, uh, historic is happening in… Russia. Yes. Russia.
[Sidney makes his exit, and visual wavy lines again reveal the supermarket.]
Kyle: Hey! Come back here, Kirkpatrick! I’m not done with you! The least you could do is leave me some of those fictional cookies!
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