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PARFIT, Joseph Thomas. Marvellous Mesopotamia the World's Wonderland.PARFIT, Joseph Thomas. Marvellous Mesopotamia the World's Wonderland. London: Partridge. [c. 1920]. 8vo. Original cloth, lettered in gilt; pp. 258, sketch maps and plates after photographs; spine a little faded, light offseting from endpapers; a very good copy of a scarce work. First edition. All we were able to find out about the author is that he was born in 1870 in Bethnal Green and died in 1953. He travelled widely, was Canon of St. George's,
PARFIT, Joseph Thomas. Marvellous Mesopotamia the World's Wonderland. London: Partridge. [c. 1920].
8vo. Original cloth, lettered in gilt; pp. 258, sketch maps and plates after photographs; spine a little faded, light offseting from endpapers; a very good copy of a scarce work.
First edition. All we were able to find out about the author is that he was born in 1870 in Bethnal Green and died in 1953. He travelled widely, was Canon of St. George's, Jerusalem, an admirer of Joseph Conrad, and wrote a couple of travel books on the Middle East, all of which are uncommon. In this book Parfit analyzes the potential of Iraq as a transport hub between the West and India, as well the country's connection with Central Asia, and analyzes the infrastructure and economy of Iraq under British Mandate. A good deal of the volume is on the Baghdad Railway and possible future economic development.
SKU: 2119065
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4.5 ★★★★★
Based on 16 reviews
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 5
A thrilling account of survival
Format: Hardcover
The noted Holocaust author and scholar, Joshua M. Green's book, "Unstoppable" is a compelling read and the third book I have read by this gifted author. It is historically accurate and an inspirational story about Siggy Wilzig. It reads like a novel although it is a sweeping account of an Auschwitz survivor, his family and brilliance to reach great heights in business. By sheer will, wisdom and resilience, Siggy Wilzig survived the SS atrocities he was subjected to at the concentration camp.
Beautifully written with exquisite detail to Siggi's life, the reader is quickly drawn into the life of a remarkable man; from a penniless survivor to a highly successful businessman but never forgetting his life in the camps. Continually articulated in the book is Siggi's love for his Judaism as opposed to the disdain for antisemitism and Holocaust deniers.
As a society we refer to the Holocaust as a general theme. It just connotes numbers. However, more of an impact is made on the reader when it highlights the story of one human being as it relates to the Holocaust. Greene emphasizes that fact which the reader can immediately identify with. The book is written with uncommon sensitivity, breadth and depth.
Of German-Jewish descent, Siggi and his family were sent to Auschwitz in 1943. Siggi was a teenager and was subjected to unspeakable horrors. His mother was immediately sent to the gas chamber; his father was beaten to death and he lost 57 other family members from the gestapo's evil practices.
Starvation, beatings, shootings, subjected to being naked in extreme cold were normal occurrences. However, Siggi's strength of character and uncommon wisdom, he fought to survive the death camp.
After the liberation, he arrived at Ellis Island with only $240.00 in his pocket. He took several menial jobs such as shoveling snow, working in sweatshops and various traveling jobs.
As a survivor, he made 3 vows: Never to starve again, to raise healthy, productive children and to keep the Holocaust's memory alive. The reader will revel in the ways he kept those vows.
Joshua Greene clearly describes Siggi Wilzig from many aspects. He was an inspirational yet complex human being, tenacious, both personally and in business (he became the President of an oil company and built a bank) his Jewish pride, to never forget the Holocaust and uphold what is right and just.
"Unstoppable" is a must read no matter what your ethnicity might be. It is a work illustrating the unique strength of one human being in spite of the heinous crimes endured by one person if not humanity.
Lois S.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2021
★★★★★ 5
An Amazing Story of "Rags-to-Riches" and the "American Dream" at its Best
Format: Hardcover
While it is fashionable in some circles today to believe that achieving the “American Dream” of health, wealth and happiness is no longer possible, "Unstoppable" proves the contrary. Siggi Wilzig’s “rags to riches” story is all the more amazing because he came to the United States in 1947 at the age of 21 with $240 in his pocket and then began his new life as a poor immigrant shoveling snow, cleaning toilets, and selling household goods as a travelling salesman. When one considers that Siggi had already survived torture and starvation at the hands of SS guards in Auschwitz, what he was able to achieve before his death in 2003 truly deserves to be called an “astonishing journey.”
Sigi got his opportunity to achieve his American Dream in the mid-1950s, when Sol Diamond, a prominent entrepreneur in then his late 70s, sensed that his much younger friend was the right person to take control of a struggling Texas oil company in which both Diamond and Sigi owned stock. By 1964, Sigi and a small group of friends and family had accumulated enough stock in the Wilshire Oil Company of Texas to get two seats on the company’s board of directors. A year later, Sigi was the president and chief executive officer of the company as well as the chairman of the board.
By the late 1960s, Sigi had also taken over a commercial bank—the Trust Company of New Jersey—and was its chief executive officer and chairman of the board. By the early 1990s, the bank’s assets had grown from $180 million to more than $2.2 billion and it was considered the “healthiest bank” in New Jersey.
Despite never having finished junior high school, Sigi Wilzig had the instincts and drive to become a phenomenal business success—and a bigger-than-life personality in the American Jewish community. He was a world-class story-teller comedian and charmer and these character traits also were very important to his success. But when talking about his achievements, Sigi insisted that he could not have become a business success anywhere else in the world. “Only in America is such a miracle possible. Only America is the land of freedom and opportunity.” Whether this is a true statement is not the point. Rather, Sigi believed it to be true and he acted accordingly.
While Sigi certainly enjoyed financial success, he never forgot his early years in Auschwitz and this explains why his own motto for life was: “Free Men Who Forget Their Bitter Past Do Not Deserve a Bright Future.” That said, Sigi loved his fellow human beings and had great empathy for them.
Author Joshua Greene, an accomplished scholar of the Holocaust whose books have sold more than 500,000 copies, brings Sigi to life in the pages of this superb biography. Unstoppable is an inspiring story of a remarkable American. It deserves to reach a wide audience and reading it is time well spent.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2021
★★★★★ 4
an incredible life!
Format: Kindle
This is the story of the incredible life of Siggi Wilzig. While not particularly well-written, the book is inspiring & moving and as unbelievable as Laura Hillenbrand's bio of Louis Zamperini: Unbroken.
Anyone familiar with NJ Banking or Wilshire Oil will know Wilzig's name but his life story needs to be made into a movie.
He truly was unstoppable
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Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2021
★★★★★ 5
The Heart and Soul of a Survivor
Format: Kindle
The author of this biography of Siggi B. Wilzig, is a master in his ability to bring the heart, soul and brilliance of one man with an over-the-top life to readers attention.
At a time in this country when antisemitism is at an all time rise not only in numbers but in demonstrations and acts of violence, this one book will remind everyone what evil is and how each one of us, regardless of religion, must fight to eliminate it however we can.
The subtitle reads “Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend,” providing the facts of Siggi Wilzig’s life. But the book is so much more. It is replete with humor, as well as horror, in stories this survivor tells. Stories by which he captivates audiences with his tales of concentration camp horrors in details rich enough that you can taste, smell and feel you were reliving those experiences with him.
This exceptional man above all celebrates family, feeling blessed to have his own children and grandchildren to raise in a country free of the horrors he lived as a child. He is generous in his support of charitable works, and in building companies in which he considered his employees as family.
I heartedly recommend Unstoppable to readers with only a semblance of the history of Nazi’s plans to exterminate the Jews. For it wasn’t only the Jews. Their plan to purify the German Race included the elimination of Gypsy’s, the ill, malformed, children too little to work, women and homosexuals. A famous quote attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller, included in this book is “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”
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Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2024
★★★★★ 5
"Unstoppable" is Irresistible.
Format: Hardcover, Format: Hardcover
History. I know people who shut down when they hear the word. I get it. I do that with algebra. I only wish there were books that enticed one to higher math like "Unstoppable" lures one to history.
Joshua Greene has presented us with a book whose foundation is build upon the evils of pre-war Nazi Germany and horrors of the German death camps. On top of that foundation he built a structure that houses the triumphal life of a stalwart human being....Siggi Willzig. I confess to a reluctance to read the first few chapters of this book. I find it difficult to dive deep into the details of the evil humans do. It is far easier to take in only the overview, the broad sweeping view of an era. But a deep dive is required to fully understand history. There is no better vehicle for obtaining that understanding than the intimate life story of a person who survived that history. That is what Joshua Greene presents us with.
This is not a depressing dissection of one of the darkest evils in modern history. To view "Unstoppable" in that light would be to sell it short. Nor is it a superficial cliche of poor boy makes good. It is, instead, an exploration of the triumph of the human spirit, of maintaining faith and human decency in the face of overwhelming trauma and against all odds. It is an object lesson in the perils of our post war culture complacently engaging in bigotry, and of one person's joyful refutation of that folly.
Siggi Wilzig's story has found just the right oracle. Mr. Greene's style is as engaging and irresistible as Mr. Wilzig was unstoppable. He guides the reader thru both the darkness and light of Wilzig's story with equal sensitivity and insight. This is how history should be presented. It is a personal story thru which the ambiance and the flavor of eras are taken in.
I hope this book serves as an open door to those who might otherwise shy away from history and the darkness that pervaded the years of WW II.....a darkness that was never fully extinguished and remains with us today. The best way to understand who we are now is to know where we came from. The old adage of history repeating itself comes to mind. "Unstoppable" will take its place in the bulwark which, I hope, will fend off that repetition.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2021