Reviews for The Pragmatic Perspective: Selected Papers from the 1985 International Pragmatics Conference

The average rating for The Pragmatic Perspective: Selected Papers from the 1985 International Pragmatics Conference based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-08 00:00:00 Scott Kessler I chose this book because Jay Ipson, the founder of the Virginia Holocaust Museum and the son of the Izzy of the book's title, will be speaking at my church this Sunday. He will be speaking about the Holocaust and his family's experience. The book itself is well-researched. The story is told by Eta Ipp, who became Jay's mother and Izzy's wife. We learn about her youth in Lithuania and marriage to Izzy. During the late 1930's, life for Jews in Lithuania (as in other countries) became more and more restricted, until they were forced to live in ghettos in unbearable conditions. Izzy arranges for his family, including 8-year-old Jay, to escape with the help of sympathetic Christians, and they live for a time in a series of barns in the countryside. Eventually they have to move to a literal hole in the ground, only four feet high, where they are joined by nine other people. They live there for three months before Lithuania is liberated. Afterwards, life is still difficult for Jews, and the family moves to Germany and finally to America, where they settled in Richmond, Virginia. I have visited the Virginia Holocaust Museum, but now that I have read the book, I plan to visit again to see the recreation of the underground "room" and other artifacts from the Ipsons' story.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-23 00:00:00 Boda Mara This story of a Lithuanian Jewish family that survived the holocaust held me spellbound. What unleashes such demons of death and destruction upon mankind? "Never again" is a noble slogan but genocide has happened time and time again since Nazi Germany. Izzy's family knew a Christian farmer who provided shelter for his family and others who escaped from the Kovno ghetto. I can't fathom the courage it took for this farm family to provide refuge for their Jewish countrymen. If they had been caught it would have been an instant death sentence. The farmer's wife in "Izzy's Fire" fed thirteen people, living underground in a potato field, every day for three years. Her own family had barely enough food to survive. After being entombed for so long, the Jewish survivors were giddy with joy when the Russian army liberated their country. I give this book the highest rating. It both terrifies me and gives me renewed faith in the everyday goodness of ordinary people.