I was put in mind in reading this amazing book by Dan Bar-on of a truly great painting, one that can make you cry while also puzzling you and demanding from you every ounce of wisdom even to begin to understand. From relatively "soft" or easy cases such as the analysis of literal pathfinding in the Sinai, the author moves through an incredible array of examples ranging from the almost trivial (two people exchanging glances on a train) to how to begin to make sense deep within the most emotional possible of human contexts (sexually-abused children, children of both Holocaust survivors and perpetrators). Bar-On is never hesitant to re-examine(and have others critique)his own interpretations. By making his own reflections vulnerable to criticism and revision he sheds light on how his "subjects" did or did not accomplish the same and thereby may teach the willing reader this most important of skills.

I have only read the first chapter of Bar-on's book, but that in itself makes the book worth reading. This is the story of three Israeli soldiers and a Bedouin partner finding their way in an uncharted desert terrain, each with a different strategy. The story and its analysis is a stunning and amazingly explicit example of different perspectives, how each of the individuals learn to understand and appreciate one another, and most of all to recognize when each view is most useful depending on the situation. I highly recommend the book if only for this one chapter--there's nothing like it.

I thought "Legacy of Silence" was a well written book with countless amounts of information. I read it after it was recommended by a Holocaust researcher, while I was doing a report on the Holocaust for school. During the course of my research I read several books and interviewed a Holocaust survivor. "Legacy of Silence" was without question the most helpful of the books I read. "Legacy of Silence" gives the reader a unique insight to the personal lives of Nazi leaders and the inablility of their children to cope with their parents crimes. On many of the book's stories the children seem to recall almost pleasantly the activities of their parents. In my opinion it shows how, while the children of Holocaust survivors actively attempt to understand what their parents went through, the children of the perpetraters try to avoid dealing with their parents sins. I read "Legacy of Silence" shortly after my interview with a survivor. That interview along with "Legacy of Silence" and many other pieces of information have caused me to educate myself on the Holocaust even now that my paper has long since been completed. As a younger American I am trying to understand what happened during that horrible period of human history. If you are like me and want to learn more than what is in the Encyclopedia. Then I encourage you to read "Legacy of Silence".