Mila 18: A Novel Mass Market Paperback – December 1, 1983

Mila 18 is an epic novel by Leon Uris. Leon painstakingly researched the Warsaw Ghetto and the Uprising and the facts are historically correct. However, he used his imagination as a fiction writer to create the characters and their conversations and movements. Some of the characters are real and were actually in the Ghetto and did what he says they did. Rosenblum, for instance, did write a journal about what was going on in the Ghetto and he did bury writings, diaries, histories, etc. in milk cans and other canisters at various spots in Warsaw. Some were actually retrieved; but some are still lost. This is not a book to be read in one sitting or even two. It is a book to be savored and thought about as you are reading. Although not necessary, knowing something of the history of the Warsaw ghetto, the Uprising, and the Nazis, it does help to understand the actions of the characters better.In addition to being a story about the ghetto and the uprising, an attempt to understand how different people react to the same circumstances. He shows how and tells why some Jews became collaborators and “betrayed” their own, sometimes even their own families. As it begins before WWII, you see how those who considered themselves not to be Jews were drawn into helping the Nazis. It explains how the Jewish ruling group in the Ghetto came about and how each member dealt with what he had to do.His book also shows how women were controlled by their husbands and fathers prior to WWII and how that changed as the war continues. Some were forced by circumstances to break out of the mold and become independent young women. Rachael, for example, defied her father by living with Wolf. He refused to allow the marriage by himself and made sure the other Jews knew he did not condone marriage thus leaving them to live together in “sin”. What is interesting is that Rachael does have the consent of her mother to do this. Deborah was in an arranged marriage and found herself basically a slave to her husband. She met Christopher de Monti before the war and had an affair with him. When given a chance to leave the Ghetto with Christopher, she refused and stayed with her children in the Ghetto. Christopher, an Italian by passport, refused to leave since he couldn’t leave Deborah even though he doesn’t see her anymore. Leon Uris delves into changes in social standards as he writes.The book is very good and very well written. It is another book that brings history to life.

This is a true testament to the human spirit. A race of people who survived one of the most inhumane actions in human history trek to a tiny spec on globe where they are not wanted.A great read.Learrned about an event in history I knew little about.

Leon Uris ranks at the top in my opinion as a brilliantly gifted writer. He captures the historical drama of WWII and Nazi Germany, along with the torment and never-ending struggle of being Jewish in Warsaw, Poland. This is indeed a fictionalized account of that time period, but his characters probably do have counterparts in real life. Upon reading this book, one has to admire the courage, determination, endurance and raw guts of these people. You may have read about life in the Warsaw ghettos, but this book takes you into their homes, introduces you to people who face poverty, starvation, sickness, and terror on a daily basis. The author gives a first-hand account of Jews in the ghetto being constantly intimidated and threatened by the Nazis and how they manage to survive in such horrible conditions. Reading this will horrify you one minute, then make you cringe and then touch your heart as no other book you may have read in a long time. I highly recommend this as Leon Uris always delivers fascinating and emotionally charged books, leaving you spell-bound and unable to put the book down.

Leon Uris often wrote fiction firmly based in fact, such as "Exodus". His books are so thoroughly researched that the reader can't be sure that he's not reading a history text. While the characters, specific circumstances and actions are fictionalized, the story is true. In his own words, "Within a framework of basic truth, tempered with a reasonable amount of artistic license, the places and events described actually happened. The characters are fictitious, but I would be the last to deny there were people who lived who were similar to those in this volume."The hardest part of this story for me to understand was the absolutely unconscionable apathy of the rest of the world to the plight of the Jewish people during Adolph Hitler's "Final Solution". FDR knew, as did Churchill, that the Jews of Europe were being exterminated like unwanted vermin, and they made a CONSCIOUS decision to ignore the problem and do nothing to help. They refused even to send weapons to the Jewish people who wished to defend themselves. They did not want to provoke the Nazis into even worse acts of barbarity!This is the story of the horrors and hardships; the starvation, beatings, shootings, gassing, and other forms of extermination used by the Nazis against the Jews of Europe who had been crammed into the Warsaw Ghetto. It is the story of unbelievable courage, stamina, determination and faith of a people who knew they would die without outside help - help that no one was willing to offer. Some parts of the book are hard to read, and I frequently found myself near tears reading of the inhumanity heaped upon these people. Only a handful survived; hundreds of thousands of European Jews and other "subhumans" and "undesirables" were murdered in the ghettos or shipped off to death camps, and the rest of the world shrugged their shoulders. What a shame.This is the 3rd URIS book I've read; I intend to read them all.

An emotional journey through the end of the Warsaw ghetto. No one should EVER demand that bygones should be forgotten. This memory should be taken to heart to remind the world of the depths of depravity that may still linger in man.

It shows what happens when propaganda and willing silence allow an atrocity to happen. Very well written. Leon Uris wrote from his heart

Mila 18 is an unforgettable novel by Leon Uris that describes in an amazing way the start of the modern jewish army. Much has been told about the suffering of the jewish people but not so much about their heroism. This can we still see today while they defend their homeland in the state of Israel.

This book is a really good read , the accounts in it of the treatment of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto are well written and graphic in some cases , and to think these events happened just over 80 yrs ago , in the grand scheme of things that isn't that long.I can recommend this book.

Este é O LivroNos esclarece como foi a ocupação do gueto de Varsóvia e como a coragem e a persistência dos judeus foi magníficaRecomendoRosa

Espectacular. Muy recomendable. Lástima que no lo tengan también en español.

I first read this book at age 15 and it shaped my worldview permanently. I remember thinking every kid should have to read this book at school. When my kids were teens I bought them a copy. I don't know if I've encountered a better example of the very worst and the very best of the human struggle in literature, although I've read hundreds of other books. This is one I keep coming back to.