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Summary: The Michel Thomas Biography
Review: Being an avid fan of Michel's language teaching methods I was very very disappointed in "The Michel Thomas Story". Whilst Michel's early life and times made very sad reading, I felt that Christopher Robbins book, whilst good in many respects, did not really give an insight into Michel's personality or post-war life. It focused almost entirely on World War 2 and the problems that it bequeathed to Michel.
For instance, Michel leaves Europe after WW2 and pops up in the USA but there is scant mention on how he made a living sufficient to finance and start up his language schools and the book practically ignores his contacts with many well-known people in Hollywood etc. His personal life must have had many more interesting threads than the writer of this biography has chosen to develop.
If Michel himself were to write a biography I am sure that I would then feel that I knew the man behind the name and there is clearly much more of interest to develop in another book.
Every success to Michel - his language teaching methods are simply magic and certainly work, even on me, a non-linguist!
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Summary: Extraordinary story of an extraordinary life
Review: Hats off to Chris Robbins for telling the story of this man's extraordinary life.The story of Michel Thomas life, in particular his astonishing -- but thoroughly documented -- WWII experiences, is one of the last great untold stories from that era. Amazingly, Thomas lives today, still productive, still fighting, in New York, with his revolutionary language-teaching method finally having been discovered by the world, thanks to his putting it on tapes and CDs just a few years ago. They have become best-sellers in the UK, topping all the competition. And while Robbins weaves a gripping tale in this book, few realize that Thomas's most historic achievement is one that is given only passing mention in this biography. For it was Thomas who rescued the Nazi Party's worldwide membership card files from destruction by the SS at the end of the war. The ten million members of the NSDAP would have been able to hide their affiliation with the most notorious political movement in history, but for the determined efforts of Michel Thomas. And the defendants at the Nuremberg war crimes trials would not have been presented with such incontrovertible evidence of their crimes, were it not for Thomas's efforts in rescuing and preserving these crucial records. The NSDAP Master File became the heart of the collections of the Berlin Document Center, an enormous archive kept under US Military Police guard on the leafy street of suburban Wasserkafersteig in Berlin until 1994, when the US State Department turned the collection over the German Bundesarchiv. Robert Wolfe, the pre-eminent expert in the world on captured German war documents, has publicly attested to the fact that Thomas was the original rescuer of these crucial files. Thomas also escaped Klaus Barbie -- the "Butcher of Lyon" -- in 1942 and testified against Barbie more than 40 years later. His work in the French Resistance and US Counter Intelligence Corps won him praise in the Resistance and a nomination for a Silver Star by the US Army . Thomas' biography has been re-issued in 2003 by Hodder & Stoughton, with a new final chapter about his battle against the LA Times. It is a story of one man's relentless will to overcome overwhelming odds in a fight against ignorance and media arrogance in the 21st century, having done the same in the 20th century fighting the evils of genocidal Nazism. In an era that celebrates clever expedience over commitment to basic convictions, Thomas's life story is an enduring one of inspiring courage and indomitable will.
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Summary: A BIOGRAPHY OF WONDER
Review: I believe this is the most talented man I have ever read about as regards an overall life. I couldn't determine anything particularly special about his childhood as to his relationship with his parents. From young manhood on his life is so outstanding it is difficult to believe....though I do so explicitly! This Polish Jew escaped from being in the ovens of the holocaust 2 or 3 times and those events are page turning. Then he becomes instrumental in the French Underground during WWII and has many harrowing experiences. Then he becomes a soldier in the U.S. Army (never yet being in the U.S.)and is instrumental in interrogating German prisoners...then develops an incredible program for learning foreign languages. [....]P>This book was so good for me I couldn't keep it to myself so I read it outloud to my wife and we both enjoyed it immensely. As to "smarts," all people are NOT created equally; 'tis a joy to read about a gifted human being.
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Summary: Senators Dole & Warner Present Silver Star to Michel Thomas
Review: On May 25, 2004, Michel Thomas was given the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor, at a ceremony at the WWII Memorial. Senators Dole & Warner presented the medal, and the Ambassador of France spoke also. Sen. McCain, who had submitted a referral letter to the Army on Thomas' behalf, was unable to attend. Sen. Max Cleland wrote a letter of appreciation to Thomas after the ceremony. The event received international press coverage, including American, French, and Spanish television. Two days later, Thomas was given a special salutation by the leadership of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum at their "Tribute to Liberators" as one of the liberators of Dachau. CNN aired a short bio of Thomas on Memorial Day, focusing on his being a recipient of the Silver Star, 60 years after he was nominated for it. I guess some people really are "larger than life," in spite of their critics...
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Summary: Senators Dole & Warner Present Silver Star to Michel Thomas
Review: On May 25, 2004, Michel Thomas was given the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor, at a ceremony at the WWII Memorial. Senators Dole & Warner presented the medal, and the Ambassador of France spoke also. Sen. McCain, who had submitted a referral letter to the Army on Thomas' behalf, was unable to attend. Sen. Max Cleland wrote a letter of appreciation to Thomas after the ceremony. The event received international press coverage, including American, French, and Spanish television. Two days later, Thomas was given a special salutation by the leadership of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum at their "Tribute to Liberators" as one of the liberators of Dachau. CNN aired a short bio of Thomas on Memorial Day, focusing on his being a recipient of the Silver Star, 60 years after he was nominated for it. I guess some people really are "larger than life," in spite of their critics...
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Summary: An amazing story
Review: QUICK REVIEW
Test of Courage is an amazing book about an incredible man. It is about a man living around the time of World War II, and his experiences of escaping from the grasp of the Germans and trying to bring them to justice, and about his life after the war's outcome. It is definitely worth reading. FULL REVIEW
This story, about a Jew named Michel Thomas, is a story of amazement, with events including prejudice, imprisonment, escapes, impersonations, lies, scandals, love and overall brilliance. It is at times surprising, shocking, upsetting and most of all intriguing. It tells of a life based and shaped within racism and war. Michel Thomas grows up in this life and is forced to adapt and find his own way. Born in Poland, as a very intelligent boy, he was on the move from a young age to escape the betrayal and danger that came with people's racial hatred of the Jews. The first half of the book is about what went on in his life from before World War II through to the end of the war. This includes the incredible stories of being captured and escaping, of worming his way out of difficult circumstances, and of underground forces fighting against German domination. The second half of the book is about life after the war, in which he hunts down German criminals of war, and traps and breaks up underground Nazi resistance still trying to exist after the war. This book will amaze readers and will leave them in awe of Michel Thomas and his experiences.
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Summary: A Preposterous Book
Review: Recently, John Carroll, editor of the Los Angeles Times, made some comments about this book at a symposion at UC Berkeley that in a nutshell give you all the reasons you need not to read this book. He stated: "We published a story awhile back, by a very clever reporter named Roy Rivenburg, about a man who published his autobiography. And, if you read the autobiography, you'd be amazed you'd never heard of this man, because he pretty much single-handed won World War II for us. It was a preposterous book, and our review of it was an investigative review. It debunked many of the claims in this book and had some fun doing it, had a few laughs at the author's expense. When you put yourself out in public and make claims that are preposterous, and publish a book on it, you're likely to get a reviewer who will look into that and set the record straight. I'm very proud of that story, we haven't retracted a word of it, we don't intend to because it was true." This book is actually a biography (not autobiography) of Michel Thomas by a British writer named Christopoher Robbins. The book is well-written and reads like a thriller, but thanks to some fine investigative reporting by the LA Times we now know that many of the "heroic" exploits of Thomas' life may be more fiction than fact.
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Summary: A salute to the heroic man!
Review: Test Of Courage is full of accounts of the personal escapades of Michel Thomas, living in Poland, Austria and France before and during WWII. Often he is the hunted, later he is the hunter when helping Americans track down Nazi War criminals. The book is awesome from several perspectives. It is a great insight into the costs and benefits of defending one's character & personal ideals. It is a great story about WWII, about fighting in the French underground, about concentration camp survival,about anti Jewish sentiment in Poland and France, about how the United States sometimes sat idle in the face of Nazi terror...from this book you can feel the deep impact world events had on individual lives. For anyone who is interested in the events of WWII or wants insight into the life of a very couragous man, a man of character, this book is an excellent read...I could not put it down. I salute you Michel Thomas...you are a hero!
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Summary: A salute to the heroic man!
Review: Test Of Courage is full of accounts of the personal escapades of Michel Thomas, living in Poland, Austria and France before and during WWII. Often he is the hunted, later he is the hunter when helping Americans track down Nazi War criminals. The book is awesome from several perspectives. It is a great insight into the costs and benefits of defending one's character & personal ideals. It is a great story about WWII, about fighting in the French underground, about concentration camp survival,about anti Jewish sentiment in Poland and France, about how the United States sometimes sat idle in the face of Nazi terror...from this book you can feel the deep impact world events had on individual lives. For anyone who is interested in the events of WWII or wants insight into the life of a very couragous man, a man of character, this book is an excellent read...I could not put it down. I salute you Michel Thomas...you are a hero!
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Summary: The Triumph of Courage: to Choose Life...
Review: The Michael Thomas story leaves the reader spellbound by a sinew of life threaded through a wave of racial hatred and apathy such as the world has possibly never known. It follows the inquisitive and courageous mind of a polish Jew named Michael who refuses to surrender his convictions under any circumstances, nor deny himself to the enemy. Surviving three French concentration camps, where the "siren song" of death paralyzes the masses, he survives to become part of the French resistance, and finally joins US Army Intelligence to establish a brilliant sting operation to capture the most offensive Nazi officers. Forever haunted by the love and loss of his mother, his aunt and his one true love Suzanne, he leads a life as a pledge to God helping others around the world in whatever fashion possible. Michael spearheads a mission to teach languages and establish an international university, in an attempt to help others awaken the sleeping giant within to crave learning and become self-empowered. The book also provides unbelievable insight into the cowardice and brutality of the Vichy French government, the horrible silence of the international community to help immigrate Jewish refugees, and the lengths to which the Army cloaked heinous Nazi crimes for their own technological gain. Michael's candor and compelling story leaves you wanting more.
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