Elie Wiesel has not forgotten and through this text he ensures that the rest of us knows what happened - and do not dare to forget. Written in simple prose within a thin volume, "Night" speaks as loudly now for the murdered millions as it did when first published more than 50 years ago. It's a memoir but so much more than a recounting of a single life. The writer is subtle and economic in this tight history of the largest documented mass murder. By limiting full graphic depictions and allowing the imagination to fill in the gaps of conditions in the concentration camps, the reader counts and mourns Wiesel's family and neighbors as if they were our own. So well does he draw us into the scenes that while reading "Night" we smell the crematorium's smoke and feel its heat. Weisel's Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech is at the end of this new translation of "Night." Delivered in 1986, it is the perfect anchor to book. The speech addresses the injustices worldwide that followed the Holocaust and warns against allowing the holocausts that inevitably have come to pass between 1986 and now. "Night" is being read in many colleges. It should be required reading in high schools. Generations across the world should not be allowed to forget.

Elie Wiesel was a victim of the attempted extermination of the "Jewish Race" by the Nazi German State under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler actually had a bigger plan than the extinction of the "Jewish Race." His larger goal was to eventually rid the world of all inferior breeds and types of people - weather they were members of races or not. He was going to purify humankind of all of its miscreants. The Jews were simply first. He explains these goals in his book Mein Kampf.

It always amazes me that here in the United States there has only been one political party that has ever been outlawed - the Communist Party. As far as I know even today, you can be a member of the Nazi Party but not a member of a Communist Party.

In principle and theory the Nazi Party advocates the extermination of all inferior peoples for the eventual goal of the purification of the species.

The Communist Party in principle and theory (despite the leadership of many misguided brutes and dictators and murderers) has advocated fair treatment for the poor and working class.

In the United States we have outlawed the Communist Party but not the Nazi Party.

Harry Truman in one of his memoirs states that in his opinion Communism was a worse philosophy than Nazism.

To say the least I'm confused.

But "Night" by Elie Wiesel is not a book about Nazism or Communism. It is a book about people and the human race.

The copy of "Night" that I have was previously owned. And the original owner has written several of his comments or questions in the margins.

On page four he writes; Why would you allow yourself to be shipped off? On page seven he writes: Total denial of worsening conditions by the Jews. On page 27 he writes; So many Jews and so few SS. Why don't the Jews just take over? On page 37 he writes: A psychological feeling of depression controlled the Jews. He has other comments but they get fewer and fewer as the book goes on.

What do you think about these questions?

I wonder why this last reader is questioning the behavior of the Jews and not the behavior of the Germans.

There is not one question written in the margins of this little book asking how the German people could do such a thing to any group of people.

Like the battered housewife, everyone asks; Why did you stay with him? Why did you allow him to treat you so?

No one asks: What was wrong with this man?

Is it because we as human beings are so conditioned to abuse and torture and mistreatment in this life that we see nothing unusual about the abuser?

And this brings us to Mr. Elie Wiesel's constant refrain throughout this book; `Where is God? Where is He? Where can He be now?'

As a philosophical student of the classical problem of the existence or non-existence of God, I find this argument basic. This is the moral argument against the existence of God - How can a moral God create an immoral world?

Leibniz said that because God is good and moral - this is the best of all possible worlds. It must be. God can not make mistakes.

Voltaire wrote Candide as the disbelievers' response to Leibniz.

The believer will say that the evil of the Holocaust was not God's evil but the evil of man - it was created by the German people. This was human evil not Divine evil - as if human nature could somehow be separated from a Divine creation.

Once again we see the victim getting the blame while the abuser is exonerated.
This seems to be the human condition.

To continue with this philosophy of "beating up on the victim," I suppose that the non-believer could say to the believer: Why my friend do you chose to believe in an abusive God?

Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
"A Summer with Charlie" Salisbury Beach, Lawrence YMCA
"A Little Something: Poetry and Prose
"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother" Novel - Lawrence, Ma.
"The Eastpointer" Selections from award winning column.
"Noble Notes on Famous Folks" Humor - satire - facts.
"America on Strike" American Labor - History

When a teenager, Elie Wiesel was taken from his home, and he and his family were put in a series of concentration camps over several years. Night is the haunting record of that experience, as bleakly unflinching a memoir as has ever been written. Few can know the horrors of not only spending teenage years in such a place but also seeing family members and many others die and countless others suffer. Needless to say, Wiesel's own plight was also tragically great, and he unsurprisingly lost both innocence and faith. The experience touched him so deeply that he was unable to write of it for over a decade. When he finally did, he had great difficulty getting published; the events were still very close, and the world wanted to forget rather than being reminded. However, when published in 1960, Night was an international sensation, reawakening interest in the Holocaust and all it stands for. It was not only a literary triumph but the first step in Wiesel's core belief that we must always remember the Holocaust so nothing like it ever happens again.

The book remains undeniably compelling, a masterpiece on many levels. Perhaps most immediately, it is a stark depiction of evil's height, showing humanity at its worst. This is valuable in every sense from philosophical to sociological but above all in destroying hollow optimism epitomized in the belief that things will take care of themselves and all will work out for the best. Night leaves no doubt that, left unchecked, human evil grows exponentially; it is our duty to curb it, and the awareness raised by such works is a very important part of this. Second, it is an invaluable historical document, one of the best - most thorough and readable - primary sources of the Holocaust's unparalleled miseries. As such, it is one of the darkest works ever - all the more so in being true; even the blackest imagination could not conceive such atrocities, which says all that need be said about this aspect of Night and the events it records.

Yet there are several strong senses in which the book is not bleak. First, it is an artistic masterpiece; unwavering honesty and vivid description raise it above mere memoir, putting it with the most harrowing and unforgettable first-person accounts ever. Its biggest strength in this way is unadorned yet highly effective prose. Wiesel has no time for dizzying metaphors, lush descriptions, or other fancy writing; he has a bitter story to tell and tells it as plainly and - in the best way - as simply as possible. This makes it clearer and more memorable than it could ever have been otherwise, forcing us to focus on the events rather than the writing. The story speaks for itself as few can. Though barely one hundred pages, it has more of substance and significance than nearly any other book. The words are few but the implications endless.

Perhaps more fundamentally, though Night is a savage condemnation of human evil, it is also a tribute to human endurance. Like a surprising number of others, Wiesel survived the Holocaust despite everything, showing just how far human beings can be pushed and live. Such determination and perseverance is truly incredible, a testament to the indomitable human spirit that is at least as astonishing in its way as the evil that confronted it and far more awe-inspiring. Wiesel not only lived but, in a long career starting with Night, has admirably devoted his life to exposing the Holocaust's monstrosities to guard future ages against recurring evil.

Night is a profoundly important document in this and many other ways, a must for anyone even remotely interested in the Holocaust, World War II, Judaism, or the depths to which humanity can sink - as well as, in one sense at least, all that it can rise above. It is nothing less than one of the most important and valuable books of all-time. Though a very painful read, everyone should read it if only to see just how painful life can be - and hopefully to avoid passing the pain on to those lucky enough to have been born after the nightmares it faithfully records.

Some books, it seems, are almost beyond mere review. NIGHT is about Elie Wiesel's time in Nazi concentration camps. Really, what can one add? The description alone says an awful lot. So let us not focus on subject and instead focus on readability.

NIGHT is very readable. It is not, however, a scholarly study. Many other books provide much better detail and history of the Nazi camps designed either to exterminate undesirables outright or, alternatively, work them to death. NIGHT, rather than being scholarly, is personal. It does not bring the concentration camps to life. It brings Elie Wiesel to life as he lived it in those camps and, more ominously, the life he led before them.

That life before heading to the extermination camps is of equal importance to the life in the camps itself. A basic yet terrifying rule of totalitarian ideologies and the political movements that bring them to fruition is that they do not advertise the barbaric methods that will ultimately be employed in order to achieve their ideological goals. Concentration camps were such extreme institutions that, even given the generations of anti-semitism, they seemed beyond belief until it was much too late. Wiesel and his family (and others in his village) were indeed warned as to what was awaiting them. Yet the stories were so far out there, so incomprehensible, that they were scoffed at. That is perhaps the most important lesson of the book.

At a little over 100 pages, NIGHT is actually a bit skimpy in its descriptions. Yet it provides enough. It provides the big pictures - endless work, ravenous hunger, brutality of the guards and other prisoners and, most distressing, the slipping away of one's own humanity as survival becomes so precarious that one's concerns even for loved ones slips away in the face of self-preservation.

Part memorial, part warning, NIGHT was Wiesel's first book. It could have been his last and his reputation would still be significant. It is a dark but worthwhile read about a very dark time.

Book was sent quickly and was in great condition. Would do bussiness with this business/person again.

In view of Mr. Preston's comments:

"The sense of entitlement of the American consumer is absolutely astonishing," said Douglas Preston, whose novel "Impact" reached as high as No. 4 on The New York Times's hardcover fiction best-seller list earlier this month. "It's the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It's this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something."

I think that this would be a perfect time for Mr. Preston to share with us [a] the amount of money he receives for each of his hardbound books that are sold and [b] why that amount would not be available to him within a $9.99 Kindle price. Come on, Dougie, fess up, baby! I like your stuff, but face it, it ain't great literature.

Finally, take note, at the higher prices you seem to want, a lot of us like me are going to go back to swapping books around and/or buying used books and THEN swapping them around.

Last, as the music biz learned, high prices for digital products = piracy...........

After reading "Night", I realized that it is the first book I've read that was authored by a Holocaust survivor. I was so absorbed by Elie Weisel's tale of absolute misery and despair that it only took me a little over an hour to read the entire book ... and I've found myself thinking about it's contents ever since. It is also the first book I've read that actually made me feel the authors pain.

The books starts with the feeling that Germany's defeat was imminent, Weisel conveys a sense of complacency in that it appeared he and his family would be spared the worse with the Red Army's rapid westward advance to Germany. Even when Germany invades Hungary in the spring of 1944, Weisel and his family appeared content to wait for the Russians. This proved to be a grave miscalculation as the Nazis begin deporting Jews from the ghetto to labor camps in Poland ... at this point, Weisel and his father are separated from his mother and younger sister. The remainder of the book is about survival based on ingenuity, fate and others' misfortunes. As he and his father trudge through the hell of Auschwitz; it isn't until later that Weisel begins to assume the fate of his sister and mother.

Throughout the book, death is both random and a frequent sight, with the lines of people plodding to the chimneys that endlessly spew the ashes of thousands upon thousands ... a constant reminder of his inevitible fate. Weisel frequently contemplates his faith in God, because there is no way, he believes, that God would allow such inhumanity on such a grand scale. When the thundering artillery of the approaching Red Army are actually being felt, the Nazis crudely force the inmates of Auschwitz on a death march to Germany that only the strong could possibly survive. At this point Weisel sees and feels how the bonds of family become unglued when starvation becomes extreme and how the endless dead are unceremoniously disposed. Buchenwald is the final destination of the death march and it is there where Weisel experiences his ultimate loss and eventual liberation by the Americans.

At 120 pages (including a transcript of the author's Nobel Prize speech), Weisel didn't need many words to bring forth the pain, suffering and loss he experienced and witnessed. I found myself constantly putting myself in Weisel's shoes, often wondering how he had the will, at sixteen years of age, to endure such horrific circumstances. I intended to be critical of this book in that it left me with so many questions, mainly follow-up questions, like Weisel's thoughts looking back. But, with the book still making me think several days after I read it, I accepted and appreciated "Night" for what it was ... a nightmare that became reality for a teenager ... a capsule of that particular moment in time, no more, no less.

The book arrived in excellent condition. Only problem was it somehow did not get shipped until I informed seller that it had not arrived within the specified date. It had been overlooked and was sent promptly after I inquired. Alls well that ends well.

Although this is a powerful Holocaust story, Elie Wiesel is very bitter and his bitterness goes far deeper than he admits. He blames his bitterness on the Holocaust, and considering what he went through at the hand of the Nazis some of this, of course, would be valid. But I see his deeper bitterness as stemming from an earlier source: his "beloved" family of childhood.

It struck me that the Holocaust gave Wiesel a great excuse to manifest his bitter, angry, resentful childhood feelings (which should have legitimately been directed toward his parents) onto a safe target: the Nazis.

After all, who could dare criticize him?

A scene from the book which confirmed my perspective: Wiesel is at Buchenwald (on page 101 of the paperback) and brings his feverish father a cup of water (or is it coffee?---it's not clear). His father gulps it down, at which point Elie Wiesel provides the reader with the following commentary: "With those few gulps of hot water I probably brought him more satisfaction than I had done during my whole childhood."

Although this line is meant to sound like hyperbole, I actually think he's telling the truth.

Having read a number of holocaust memiors before, I knew Wiesel's night would be a difficult but important read to further deepen my knowledge of these events we must never forget. He manages to give a poignant and concise account of his experience, incorporating objective views of what occurs around him, which includes the saga of his father's time in the concentration camp with him. His tale of survival is nothing short of inspirational and I was moved by how strong he was not only to go through all he details, but to be able to put it all on paper in such a compelling way.

If you are interested in more riveting accounts of the holocaust, Sala's Gift provides a detailed account of a woman's struggle to survive through the brutality which occurred.

This book gives us all a picture of what it was like for those who were in the Nazi death camps. It is very graphic in a few places that could be traumatic to a child reading this but it is all truth. I have not read all the books of WWII but I have read many. This book tells of the horror of what mankind is capable of? And, I can understand how someone who went through this time could wonder of the existence of God. I have no answer of why He allowed this to happen but I do know there is a God who sent us a Savior in His Son. It was a very interesting and well written book. I recommend it to older teenagers and above because of the graphic word pictures especially of what is done to children. This is a book to remind us that we must not forget what a corrupt and dangerous government can do and we must remember to gaurd our rights provided by the constitution of our great and wonderful United States of America.

Of course, there are many accounts of Jewish suffering in the Nazi concentration camps, and some may be more bloody and gruesome than this one. However, you must take into account what Wiesel did afterward. Instead of become an embittered, reclusive vagabond, he took what he could learn from the experience and spent the rest of his life trying to help others and sharing lessons that could actually make the world a little better place. So, though the account is brief and rather matter of fact, it holds within it the heart of a champion for peace. In place of emoting self-pity and angst, Wiesel tells his story simply and deliberately, and we must be thankful that this was only the beginning.

Night is written by Elie Wiesel, is his story from the World War II's Holocaust and his experiences throughout those never ending days and nights. In the introduction he explained how he felt it was his duty to tell his story. He felt that it was one of the only ways he could contribute to prevent history from repeating itself. He told his story through the words of Night, although he said that he did not feel as if those words could tell the story of such events in full. At one point he even said it was impossible to understand, that there was no way to understand the slaughter of innocent men, women, and children. His story was brutally honest as he struggled to keep faith and hope alive not just for himself but for his father as well. He lived through so much to be able to write his story, his mother and the rest of his family were not even given a chance to make it, they were sent to the gas chambers directly upon arrival. He continually referenced back to the title and provided elaborate images behind the repetition of this crucial word in the novel. First his connection between the Holocaust and his experiences at Auschwitz to a nightmare, that he could only believe was a nightmare to be allowed any hope. Second was the connection with his spiritual life, feeling as if the light of God had gone, he went from being extremely religious to deprived of his ability to believe in a God that could allow all of that to happen. Then lastly was the connection between night and the ability to believe such things could happen, because more seems possible at night. He used the word night to take the reader along with him through the journeys of the Holocaust.

"Night" is a painful, inconsolable story about the madness and the evil that darkened Europe during the Second World War. Elie's story begins in Transylvania in a small Jewish neighborhood where Elie and his family live, unknowingly, on the brink of terror.

Elie, his family, and community are captured, shuttled into railroad cars, and transported to Auschwitz, Nazi Germany's largest concentration camp. So quickly turns the fate of Elie and his family that they disbelieve their circumstances even as they witness people being conducted en masse to gas chambers and crematoriums. The weak are killed. The strong become industrial slaves, entitling them only to hope for another day and a slower death.

Elie survives Auschwitz and Buchenwald, outliving both his mother and his sister. But Elie still has his father. Sensitive and intuitive, Elie notices that many fathers die after losing their loved ones. He understands that if he were to die, his father would soon follow. Elie tells himself that he must live in order to give his father hope for living.

Elie does eventually live to see his father die in an infirmary, emaciated, exhausted, beaten, spiritless, and vulnerable like a child.

While his father's health is still in decline, Elie daily brings half his ration of bread to him, but that would not save his father from the darkness. A German soldier beats the last bit of life out of his father while he lay prostrate on the edge of death. "Elie," his father exhaled with barely the strength to whisper his son's name as his last word. Elie, motionless, unable to utter the words in his throat, confronts the guilt of being unable to help his father. How could he allow the soldier to beat his dying father? Why was he too afraid to cry out to answer his father's call? So helpless against the growing darkness.

Elie is most vulnerable when contemplating a world without God where darkness prevails. How can we, he asks, witness thousands burned in crematoriums or children being shot, thrown into a pit, and buried without losing our belief in a loving God? How can God himself ignore such evil? Where can we find a place in such a world for the Torah, the Kabala, and belief?

Yet, in a world hostile to belief and hostile to life, Elie witnesses and shows us himself that hope and faith do still sprout up like grass through cracks in the sidewalk, or, more appropriately, like moonlight through cracks in the curtain. The Night is dark, but not pitch-black where yet lives one sensitive soul.

Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were forced to leave their home in 1944 and sent to the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. Night is the horrific story of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a law-abiding Jew confronting the sinful nature of man at its worst. This book by the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Winner is an extremely sad, but gripping account of what happened in the camps, and an unforgettable message that we must do what we can to stop the forces of evil. If you teach about war, you should definitely read this book. If you don't, you should still read this book.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Elie Wiesel, retells his riveting personal account of the Holocaust in his autobiography, Night. Out of the forty international works of literature entitled to Wiesel, Night became his masterpiece. As the narrator, Wiesel takes his reader through the gruesome process he was forced to endure. Night begins with the backdrop of Wiesel's hometown, but quickly from there moves to a ghetto, then to deportation, on to transportation in a sealed cattle car, to concentration camps, on the dreaded Death March, and eventually to liberation, separation from the physical aspects of the Holocaust, but never the mental or emotional. The struggle for Wiesel to maintain his strong belief in a God who he believed to be altruistic is one of the predominant themes in Night. Wiesel offers a sincere account of the gruesome questions he was forced to ask and the doubt he developed concerning his faith. Despite the fact his views on God were altered, he never denied the existence of a supreme being. Wiesel's wavering faith could no longer sustain him through constant starvation and beatings. Therefore, the need to care for his father did. The two men miraculously were able to remain by one another's side through the majority of their horrendous journey. Overall, Wiesel provides his readers with a clear representation of the hardships the Jews suffered through during the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel's plea was and is not for justice to be brought, violence to be inflicted, no repayment for the lives stolen, but instead he beckons for remembrance; that, in and of itself, is what Elie believes to be his remaining purpose. He motions for people to break the silence, in order to never forget, because if those lives are forgotten or the gruesome years are lost in memory, the modern world has then become an accomplice of the Holocaust. The center of the universe, according to Elie Wiesel, is wherever people are in oppression, and this former victim of oppression demands action!

Night is the story of young Elie Wiesel, the author, and his coming of age in the midst of the Holocaust. Fifteen-year-old Elie is just learning about his Jewish culture when the book begins. His teacher, Moshe the Beadle, is deported but returns in a few months to warn his neighbors about the horrors of the Gestapo, and Hitler. No one believes him and they all think he has simply gone mad. Not long after Moshe's warnings, the Gestapo force Elie and his neighbors into a tiny ghetto. Day by day, the people are packed onto cattle cars and shipped to Birkenau concentration camp. Upon arrival to the camp, Elie and his father are immediately separated from Elie's mother and sisters. This is the last time the two sides of the family will ever see each other. While waiting in line someone tells Elie to say he is 18 while they tell his fifty-year-old father to say he is 40. The two do as they are told and they pass the first "selection." The prisoners that will stay in the camp are worked harder than they have ever worked before, running on about a 500-calorie diet at most. Dealing with both mental and physical abuse daily, the ones who survive long enough are then marched to Auschwitz, the main extermination camp.

At first, the Jewish slave-laborers look out for each other and help to calm the fears of others. After endless beatings, exhausting labor, giving up gold teeth, and witnessing several hangings of fellow prisoners, however, the men are stripped of their faith and their pride and are only looking out for themselves. Soon, Elie is no longer praying for his survival, but the strength to not abandon his father. It is at this point, when Elie is losing grip with his faith, that the reader forgets that the narrator is just 15 years old. The pain and frustration in the story is that of a mature adult. The Nazis have not only taken his family and his hope, but also his childhood.

The Russians are now advancing toward the camp and the prisoners, including Elie with a broken foot, are forced to run a murderous 50 miles to the nearest concentration camp, Gleiwitz. Just a few days after leaving Auschwitz, the Russians liberate the camp. The 100 remaining prisoners in Gleiwitz are then loaded on to a cattle car and head for camp Buchenwald. Due to starvation, exposure, and over-crowding, only 12 survive to the end of the trip. Of the 12 are Elie and his father. Unfortunately, Elie's father dies of dysentery and exhaustion just a few days later. Elie is able to keep himself alive until America liberates Buchenwald.

Elie Wiesel deals with his loss of faith during the holocaust, and relives the horrors of the concentration camp. He shows how such a life affected the people in the camps and how it changed many of them into something less than human.

Walter S. Zapotoczny Jr.
Freelance Writer
Author of For the Fatherland

This was a well written account of one of the most horrific events in history. The detail this author's descriptions evoke are difficult to experience. It's not a fun read, but a necessary one. Everyone should read it.

I had the good fortune of seeing Elie Wiesel speak years ago. I remember him as a very inspirational speaker and, ever since then, I've been meaning to read Night. Now that I've finally read it, I can't believe I've waited this long.

My biggest fear in writing this review is that my extreme use of hyperbole will do it a disservice. Nowadays, we are constantly bombarded with book blurbs telling us how profound, astonishing, and incredible a novel is. Well, all of these adjectives--and many, many more--can and should be applied to Night. What's more, when they are applied to Night, they actually have meaning.

I certainly hope that most of us have some sort of awareness about the Holocaust. Still, for all that I've read about it and for all the movies I've seen, nothing really prepared me for this book. I think what struck me most about it was its searing honesty. Wiesel is brave in many senses of the word. He certainly deserves to be called brave because of what he went through during his internment in death camps, but he should also be lauded as brave for telling a very unadorned truth. I think I learned more about humanity in the pages of this slim novel than I ever before have.

At one point in the novel, Wiesel says that he became nothing more than a stomach. It is the starkness of words like these, his very bleak and matter-of-fact way of describing his experiences that has the most impact. The novel isn't very graphic, but nor does Wiesel hesitate to describe the horrors that were inflicted upon the Jews on a daily basis. It's easy to see how someone in such a situation could simply give up, could simply lay down, close their eyes, and let it all end forever. What's difficult to understand is how anyone could continue to find the strength to carry on in the midst of such unimaginable savagery.

There is no doubt in my mind that there is real power in reading survivor accounts such as this one. The statistics about the Holocaust are certainly horrifying, but they have an even greater impact when they have a human face. Wiesel truly survived a living nightmare. It sounds cliched, but this is a work that shows that the human spirit can triumph over any evil. I don't see how it is possible not to admire a man such as Wiesel, a man who refused to let trauma break him and, instead, used that trauma as the impetus to devote his life to protecting the safety and dignity of others. And, yet, travesties similar to the Holocaust are visited upon people even today. It is for this reason that this work is particularly important. Wiesel has devoted his life to ensuring that the systematic torture and elimination of millions of people won't be forgotten. It is our responsibility to heed his word and to make this our crusade as well as his. The world will never be a truly just place until every human being refuses to sit by idly while the basic rights of others are violated.

I am not going to review this book traditionally since I believe it far too profound and important for me to comment on the writing and story. This book changed me as a person, and provided me with more knowledge and hope for mankind than I had prior ro reading this. What a brave man, and thank you Mr. Wiesel for sharing your experience and not forgetting.

This audio version does not follow the book that I teach my classes. It said "unabridged" so I assumed that meant nothing was deleted. The story remains the same, so if there was not a book present, it wouldn't make a difference. But, students cannot simply follow along to this version.

This book shook me to the core. In fact, after reading it, my husband and I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in Poland and learned so much more than what is in history books. This book is absolutely heartbreaking but a very important read.

It is ok but I lost interest because I the Holocaust was just too close to home for me. I just felt too heavy and in despair at the time dealing family situations. I gave the book to a nearby thrift store for others to read.

I recently finished reading Night for a school project. This was my second time reading it and I noticed so much more detail this time. While it was a good read, I was wanting more. I wish Elie would have included more about his life. Also, I would have loved to know more about his sisters and other family members. I did some research and found out that Elie was actually reunited with his sisters! You would have never known when reading Night, I thought they had perished in the Holocaust. I also would have liked to know about Elie's life after the Holocaust. What were the long term effects? What does he have to say to the world about his experience? What advice does he have to offer to the world?

NIGHT by Elie Wiesel is a piercing account of the horrors of concentration camp, which impressed an incredible toll both internally and externally on his being. As a young adolescent, he is ripped from his home, plummeted to the depths of suffering, and driven to the edge of his own humanity. Mr. Wiesel openly shares with readers the tremendous weight of these experiences etched within his soul. His courage in doing so should be lauded.

From Mr. Wiesel we can learn that regardless of the burden from the sins of others imposed upon us and our own sins, it is possible to endure - and even to help others do so.

In that vein, I would recommend another memoir to readers of NIGHT - called A BEAUTIFUL WORLD, written by Gregg Milligan. It is a book you will not be able to put down - a deeply moving account of the indomitable human spirit as seen in the heart of a young child subjected to severe physical, mental and sexual abuse.

In the author's own words, he shares his story to help others `buckle down and bear the ride' through their own hell - and know that they are not alone. A BEAUTIFUL WORLD is an incredible testament to the perseverance of hope. Exquisitely written and heart wrenching, it is an unforgettable story.

Both A BEAUTIFUL WORLD and NIGHT offer readers a chance to adjust their own perspective on suffering through the examples of both authors. Though they have suffered greatly and will never leave this experience behind, they will not allow it to end them either.

Further, both authors possess the incredible courage to reach out and share their stories, giving of themselves for the benefit of others. The astounding resiliency shown in that act alone speaks volumes of them as human beings -- and the words they press to paper will ever live on in the hearts of those that read them.

Elsie Wiesel, suffered true enough in those death camps. How sad the event he experienced and lived to tell the world about it.
He wonders how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur. It is mention over and over again biblically, that Jesus tells us that he is the way and the truth and the life. Elsie Wiesel, does not mention anything about Jesus Christ! But he survived and many others did not! I'm interested in wanting to know how much faith he had to overcome such Horror. Did he have faith in himself or God? Did he call on Jesus Christ? I am nterested in wanting to know if he wonders why God had mercy on his soul? I believe that Elsie Wiesel, has some hidden revelations. Oprah teaches that there are many paths to God. If the United states suffered a tribulation that man has never before suffered in our life time. Wouldn't you want to be sure about how do we really contact the Creator God? It would save many lives and souls knowing the spiritual truth. People are wondering where is God or who has really heard from God in these modern times. God says that there would be many false prophets in the world. And that the world would love it's own. God's prophets are truley hated. Mainly becasue they speak nothing but the truth. Some people find it hard to accept truth even when it is biblically put before them and manifested. Therefore true prophets have a hard time being recognized in the world. They suffer much rejection before God justifies them. Maybe one day the world will hear from a true prophet. They are just ordinary people who are last but will be first one day.

This small, 120-page volume was originally published in 1958, fresh on the heels of the end of WWII. I think this is one of the most important books I have ever read. Having until recently put off reading disturbing accounts of WWII experiences--from all sides--I picked this up when my daughter was assigned to read it for high school. I'm glad I did. This is a historical account, yes, of one young man's experience of the war, but it is also a psychological self-criticism, and exposé of our universal human frailty and biological wiring for survival at all costs. It is impossible not to feel a strong connection to Wiesel, and to empathize with the choices he must make as he faces death, over and over again. It made me wonder what kind of a person I might become if I had to face the same horrors that Wiesel, and so many others (including some in my own family), had to face. I hope I never have to find out.

One of the most poignant and disturbing events in the book occurs in the beginning, when the town "oddball" miraculously escapes a round-up and massacre, and manages to return to Wiesel's town. Once there, he tries desperately to warn people of the horrors he has witnessed, but no one believes him. Today we have the blessing of hindsight, however, this image haunts me as we face such tumultuous times today and need to sift fact from illusion. Will we be able to know what's a possible occurrence, and what is not? Will we be able to trust ourselves to make the right decisions and keep evil at bay? Again, I hope we never have to find out.

Elie Wiesel was 16 years old when Adolph Hitler's Nazis stole his life, his faith and took God from him.
Wiesel's testimony stands against evil everywhere.

An agonizing contribution to the first-person testimonies of the Holocaust. The author's despair and hopelessness are deeply touching, and one can hardly bear to read about some of man's inhumanity to man (and woman and child). Wiesel asks, "How could God allow such suffering?" My guess is that most of those who lived through the same experiences must have had similar questions. I found myself sorrowing, and carrying a form of depression around with me long after I read this book. For me, the title was appropriate, as I felt dark and anguished while reading it. Not recommended for youth who are still struggling with emotional ups and downs. You need to read this when you have enough emotional resilience to be able to find hope and sunshine in today's world.

I've never been one for political correctness, so I'm just going to say that this book is not worth reading. Watch Schindler's List. Read Anne Frank. Read The Pianist. Read an actual history book on the Holocaust. Just don't waste your time on this book. The Introduction was much better than the book itself.

Wiesel has just thrown a bunch of random events on the page and called it a book. He tries to throw in themes of the breakdown of family ties in the face of extreme hardship. He tries to make some type of argument against the existence of God based on extreme hardship. He tries to do a lot and never really does anything.

I am also concerned about some of the details of his story. Can a group of men really run 42 miles after living for months on a few pieces of bread and some black coffee? In addition, is that possible when Wiesel himself supposedly had foot surgery a day or so before? I want you to think about that. Don't believe everything you read just because it's about the Holocaust.

I think that the memory of the Holocaust is being distorted, not by Iranian leaders or anti-Semites. The memory of the Holocaust is being distorted by people who aren't telling it the way it happened. In my opinion, the Holocaust in all of its terrible and gory detail did indeed happen. However, it sure didn't happen the way Wiesel is telling it. The Holocaust was bad enough; there's no reason to lie about it to make it sound even worse. 6 million people being exterminated is bad enough, thank you very much.

I facilitate a Christian adult education study group at my church in Battle Creek, MI.
In early July, our class began the study of evil using as a backdrop the Old Testament and the New Testament (The Gospels), as well as other historical and theological material.
Of course, any discussion of evil at some point involves a review of the Nazi Holocaust. However, it appeared to me that discussing the horrible evil that is the Holocaust from a strictly Christian point of view was at best, shallow and at worst, ego-centric. Ergo, Elie Wiesel's "Night".
His book has been tremendously enlightening for the class...
Mr. Wiesel's powerful first person prose and vivd account of his struggle as a Holocaust victim and survivor not only concretely placed our class "there", it also brought numerous questions to light. Questions that in many cases have no answers. And, as much as some in the class harkened back to a "God-As-Good" theology, it was hard for us to reconcile many of our Christ-centered beliefs with the terrifying thought that God/Christ was absent for millions during the Holocaust years. More horrifying for some of us was the fact that many of these atrocities were carried out by "Christians"- individuals who had been baptized and raised at the epicenter of Christendom. Where were these Christians when it mattered? Where was God?
Elie Wiesel makes us look into the mirror and see who is looking back...
(In conjunction with "Night", I highly recommend you read, "The Holocaust is a Christian Issue", by Dr. Richard A. Cohen of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The paper is a mind-bending, thought provoking look at post-Holocaust theology.)

I really loved this book because it gave a good insight to what really went on inside the concentration camps. You will not get this kind of insight from a history book or class. The torture people had to go through was shocking and I have learned a lot through Wiesel's work.

Reading this book shook me to the core beyond belief. To know about WWII and concentration camps is one thing and to know the details of the plight of the people in these camps is another thing.

Never before had I heard of such trauma, pain and insult, as I have experienced through this book.

Life & Freedom are blessings we all should cherish and respect.

Words do not seem capable of describing this book: I am generally of a pessimistic nature when it comes to humanity and, sadly perhaps, this book confirms how depraved, inhumane and heartless we can be -- and this was less than 70 years ago; not 100s or 1000s of years ago.

It is not an 'enjoyable' read, for how could it be?, but a deeply profound, captivating and emotional read that I found hard to put down. In parts I thought it brief, but then could I have handled more? and I am thankful Elie Wiesel wrote what he did as I cannot imagine it was easy. The raw honesty of Elie Wiesel is to be commended, and cherished, and I am thankful he had the strength of character to write this and share with those of us who may feel removed from those times: may we never forget and may we strive to change [but I feel such events will, horridlyy, return]. We need the Elie Wiesels of this world to keep us on guard, as best and as much as we alone can do.

How am I to begin? This book received such glowing reviews, and here I am sayind I did not like it.

First: I'm not allowd to say I even have a tiny bit scrap of an idea about what the writer (or people in the same situation) went through. Hell on Earth. A nightmare that lasts for whole months (and memories that will haunt for the rest of your days). The natural lost of faith in God (at least in the God people say that has the final saying in everything we do!). Insanity threatening to take over at every corner.

But all the ordeal the writer went through does not necessarily makes him a godd writer, at least in this first book. Like "The Pianist", all the horrorful ordeal thrwon upon him by the Germans was not portrayed vividly enough here.

Don't get me wrong. I was terrified while reading the book. But I just think things are not explained properly. It even seems that, "OK the Germans were sadistic killers of Jews. But as long as you were fit for something you were alright!" It's absurd, I know, and it's NOT what is written in the book and it was NOT how it was. But, somehow, that's somekind of IDEA that went through my mind while reading the book!

Certainly, when you have such "experience" (hell is not an experience.... it's HELL!) you'll not loose time trying to memory all the names, dates and situtatios. All your energy is focused on statying alive! Maybe that's why I found this book missing a lot (its short lenght is proof of that).

Night is a powerful personal account of a holocaust survivor from capture to liberation. Wiesel brings the horrors of Buchenwald and Auschwitz to life through the eyes of the victims as only a survivor can. His book is as relevant today as it was during the Second World War. Mandatory reading for every person.

This is not a commentary on the holocaust or politics. I realize that giving a book like this a poor review may offend many people but I am merely evaluating it as a book.

There are have been numerous accounts of the holocaust and exceptionally detailed footage of the Nazis' atrocities (many footage was filmed by the Nazis themselves) over the past 60 years or so. I decided to give "Night" a try given its popularity. Unfortunately, it was mostly a disappointing read. The writing is dry and merely chronicles the events that the author experienced in 1944-45 during the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe. It is a short book that covers an important year in Nazi concentration camps. The events, of course, are gruesome but the author's writing has no soul. The book reads almost like a series of events like dot points in a presentation. He recounts the events in a robotic manner.

In order to evoke human emotions , the author needed to develop his humanity and those around him first. There are some parts where he is more reflective and analytical which I enjoyed more. For example, he examines hi s desire to abandon his father and is instantly ashamed by the thought. He also briefly touches on his discomfort when years later tourists dropped coins in the water so that poor natives could dive for it. Similarly, people would throw pieces of bread towards the prisoners and watch them fight for the crumbs. He touches on the times when self preservation and survival trump morality even in the most ethical people. These were the more interesting and reflective parts of the book which I wished he had discussed more deeply.

This beautifully-written book provides emotional, physical and spiritual insight into what is a hellish nightmare. At times its haunting images and perspective are overwhelming so I can only read a chapter or two at a sitting. Night is a short yet very powerful book.

I did enjoy this book. However it seemed to have missing parts or something of the like. I understand these events occurred quite some time ago, and that any recollection as time goes on is a wonderful work of art,but in the 'gaps' of recollection that seemed, I would have liked more of a description of the surroundings and people.

I would highly recommend this book. Even those not terribly schooled on the Holocaust are able to follow quite well.

Night is an amazing little book, filled with horror and pain. It really raises the question of where God is in the midst of unimaginable pain and cruelty. There is no real answer to this, although I choose to believe that God is in the midst of all the horror. God (and humanity) are changed by experiencing such horror, either directly as participants in the horror, or indirectly by reading works such as Night. They do change us by, unfortunately, feeling the grotesqueness to which humanity can sink. Hopefully we are changed by the experience of reading Night, as I believe that God was changed by the suffering of the holocaust. If so, then the book is a success.

By far the best book ever written about the Holocaust. I was so moved by this book that I immediately recommended it to friends and family. I even bought copies and passed it around. Elie Wiesel paints a vivid picture with his words and you will never forget. Nor should we ever forget less it happens again.

The item arrived earlier than I expected in condition as promised. Excellent seller, I would buy again from this seller. Thank you.

It's hard to believe such a short book (my copy only had 83 pages but contained pieces of other stories after that also relate to the holocaust) could be so powerful and eye opening. It's difficult to sit and read the details of what these people had to suffer through everyday just to try and stay alive. I completely understand why Wiesel started questioning his God that he was always so loyal to. Who wouldn't in his situation? It's really frightening to know that this actually happened and could happen again someday. I just hope it doesn't.

Elie Wiesel's account of concentration camp life was initially notable for being one of the early first-person narratives detailing the horrors the Hitler's regime. Since it's appearance decades ago, many other survivors have told their stories. Their accounts of the crimes the Nazis perpetrated against the Jews and others no longer surprise us, and yet Professor Wiesel's book not only endures, but is now experiencing something of a renaissance of interest (partly due to Oprah of course). What makes Night unique is the author's ruminations on the meaning of faith and God in the midst of such inexplicable sadness. These are issues that resonate for all human beings who face crises in their lives. Most of us will (hopefully) never have to confront the mortal threats that faced the Nazis' victims, yet many will at some point be tested with a crisis of faith. Elie Wiesel speaks to this universal human experience.
Victor Lerch, Author of "Four Wheels to Freedom: A Tale of Survival in Nazi Germany"
Four Wheels to Freedom

This is a very sad story. It lets you know what the Jewish people went thru in the concentration camps during the holocaust. I would highly recommend this book. It is also on the Oprah's book club list.

There's one line from the book I can't get out of my head. It's a question: "Why do you pray?" It was a question posed to the author when he was a boy.

It made me ask why I pray. Why does anyone pray?

The book is filled with such deep and profound thought prompts.

I ordered four books at the same time and never received this one. Cannot rate it if I don't have it.

Elie Wiesel has close to, if not one of the most moving stories about a life. His life. In this incredibly moving and powerful recount of his experiences at the Concentration Camps, he fully encompasses all the terrors that these awful camps had to offer. His explanation in full detail almost makes the reader feel like they are there, witnessing these acts. Through the book, I felt absolutely horrified, disturbed, and more often than not, sick to my stomach. But I remembered while I was reading this book that I was not there, and I could not possibly imagine what happened; but the fantastic imagery in this book made me feel like I was.

What I think that Elie Wiesel was trying to accomplish by writing this book is not to educate us about the Holocaust, we have history books for that, but to give the reader a pseudo-experience, no matter how haunting, that will stick with the reader. I know it stuck with me. Never before do I think I have read such a moving book, and I can definitely say that nothing I have read has even come close to matching the intensity and depth of this book.

What some readers may say about Wiesel's purpose in writing this book is for people to feel sympathy towards him or pity him. Whether Wiesel is pitied or not by the readers of this book is irrelevant to the cause. I personally do not believe that pity was the intention or motivation to write this book. Wiesel believes that you should not stand by and watch something bad happen, you need to tell people about it. He did, and I do not believe he could have done it in a more successful way.

Whether the reader took something away from this book or not, Wiesel made one thing absolutely certain: We must not forget. That is the most important thing, and anyone who reads this book and appreciates it like I did will tell you the same thing.

First what a book...what an experience...damn good prose writer but kinda irks me how he's milking his experience and continues to write books about the same thing over and over...HELL after reading this one i wouldn't forget the Holocaust or as my Poetry lecturer calls it the Sho'ah(hope i spelt it right). Good read it kinda bordelines on horror because what happened during the Sho'ah is simply heart aching to know all those ppl died because of their culture..Anyhoo buy it but if possible buy from a vendor because i kinda regret buying it for the $11. After getting to the end i wanted more and i don't plan to buy DAY AND DAWN since i read NIGHT already(hiss teeth).He should stop milking his the history of the holocaust.

I just returned from a trip to Israel and had a chance to visit the Holocaust Museum. I brought this book along to read after the visit, which I did. The overall information on the Holocaust is not new to me, as I have visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington and have toured Dauchau in Germany. But I had never read this book, and it was a very detailed read after all that I had observed in Israel. Weisel tells his story in a way that makes the museums all make sense. It's a story society should never forget. (I wonder what society will say some day about how we treat abortion, stem cell research--the destruction of embryos--and euthenasia, which is becoming more popular.) Honestly, we need to remember that people matter and that ethics should not be determined based on what society merely thinks is right. Everybody should read this book.