In this study of the role of taverns in the development of Massachusetts society; David Conroy brings into focus a vital and controversial but little-understood facet of public life during the colonial era. Concentrating on the Boston area; he reveals a popular culture at odds with Puritan social ideals; one that contributed to the transformation of Massachusetts into a republican society. Public houses were an integral part of colonial community life and hosted a variety of official functions; including meetings of the courts. They also filled a special economic niche for women and the poor; many of whom turned to tavern-keeping to earn a living. But taverns were also the subject of much critical commentary by the clergy and increasingly restrictive regulations. Conroy argues that these regulations were not only aimed at curbing the spiritual corruption associated with public houses but also at restricting the popular culture that had begun to undermine the colony's social and political hierarchy. Specifically; Conroy illuminates the role played by public houses as a forum for the development of a vocal republican citizenry; and he highlights the connections between the vibrant oral culture of taverns and the expanding print culture of newspapers and political pamphlets in the eighteenth century.
#610500 in Books Patrick Montague 2012-03-19Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.20 x 1.30 x 6.30l; 1.45 #File Name: 0807835277416 pagesChelmno and the Holocaust A History of Hitler s First Death Camp
Review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. ExceptionalBy PaulThere is so little written about Chelmno that this book is a peerless contribution to the literature -- certainly to literature that is accessible to people outside of formal Holocaust scholarship. The details provided by survivor testimonies are incredibly useful in understanding both the operations and the tragedy of this place. Also useful is the role of Chelmno (and the environment of the Warthegau and the Lodz ghetto) in particular in showing how the Holocaust was not *only* a creation of Himmler and the SS. Greiser; for instance; was the governor of the Warthegau; not an SS functionary. Hans Biebow was civil administrator of the Lodz ghetto; but he was as much of a sadist and a butcher as anyone in the SS. The book shows how the "final solution" was really a coalescence of local genocidal policies -- because Chelmno was never envisioned as a total solution to the European Jewish "problem". Nor were the Operation Reinhard camps; and nor were the Einsatzgruppen activities. They were all genocidal policies meant to solve "local" problems. Finally; the inseparability of the euthanasia program from the Holocaust is very evident in this book. Lange and his gas vans were a roving euthanasia clinic -- and then seamlessly morphed into a roving killer of Jews; before he finally settled down at Chelmno.This book really complements Yitzhak Arad's book about the Operation Reinhard camps; which performs a similar role for Treblinka; Sobibor; and Belzec. I would argue that it is indispensable for anyone trying to get a detailed understanding of the Nazi killing machine.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Belongs in EVERY Library of Holocaust WorksBy Kayla RigneyThis book is currently one the the best in print that thoroughly explores the evolution of Aktion T-4 into the Final Solution. I cannot recommend it highly enough.As a Disability Historian and a Holocaust Scholar; my area of knowledge is Aktion T-4. T-4 was the Nazi programme of "euthanasia" against the disabled and mentally ill. From the beginning; Hitler wanted to empty hospitals and convalescent homes of so-called "useless eaters" and "life unworthy of life" to make room for the wounded of the coming war. By taking Negative Eugenics to its logical and fatal conclusion; Hitler and the Nazi Party took the vile step of exterminating those it deemed "inferior." At first; Aktion T-4 was limited in scope to so-called Aryan children but quickly expanded to included teenagers and adults with treatable disabilities and mental illnesses. With remarkable speed; the disabled and mentally ill of Germany; Austria; and France were rounded-up; sent from their home hospitals/institutions to centralized Killing Centers and gassed. Some scholars believe T-4 stopped "officially" because there was genuine and unexpected protest against the killings; but others believe it stopped because a target number of deaths had been reached. Either way; the Nazis were nothing if not efficient.*Chelmno and the Holocaust: The History of Hitler's First Death Camp* makes it clear that not only did T-4 morph into the Final Solution; at times the two programmes overlapped. The staff of T-4 was trained in Killing Centers; and then transferred and relocated to help create and then streamline the assembly line system of extermination used in the Death Camps. It's no coincidence that both T-4 Killing Centers and the Death Camps and later concentration camps used gas chambers to murder. The T-4 Staff took what they'd learned murdering the disabled and mentally ill applied it to Nazi Racial Policy. Chelmno is the place became T-4 *became* the Final Solution. This has never been discussed and documented so completely in any English language work.I bought *Chelmno and the Holocaust* for its documentation of the use of T-4 in Poland. I will reread it yearly as I do *Death and Deliverance* by Burleigh and Schmidt's biography of Karl Brandt. It's THAT important. We; as a society and as human beings; cannot forget that hatred of Difference; the Other and those we marginalize leads to death.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The most complete book about Hitlers most forgotten deathcampBy Ben de WitteChelmno ("nad Nerem" in Polish); called "Kulmhof" in German is a great book with descriptions and testimonies about Hitlers most forgotten Deathcamp. And the only ones of these awful camps where Jews and; in a lesser scale; Gypsies were murdered in vans by means of their exhaustgases.It is the best and most complete book about Chelmno I ever read.
