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Book reviews for "Yoors,_Jan" sorted by average review score:

Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II
Published in Paperback by Waveland Press (1989)
Author: Jan Yoors
Amazon base price: $11.50
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the crossing by Jan Yoors
I could not put this book down till it was over and even then I read ti again! his first one the gypsies was jsutas interesting. He lets you in to the world of the mysterios Gypsies and let's you know how real they are. Fastinating info!

Do NOT miss this one.
Jan Yoors was the son of a Flemish stained glass artist. At a young age he ran away with a troupe of Gypsies (more properly, the Rom) who were camping in his Belgian home town. Yoor's parents amazingly accepted his new double life, as Yoors lived on and off with the Rom for many years. His life with his Rom family is covered in his first book "The Gypsies." (which is another must-read.)

"The Gypsies" ends as WWII sweeps over Europe and catches the Rom in its poisoned grasp. Yoors then became an agent of La Resistance, and this book tells, in spare language and deep feeling, what happened to Yoors and his adopted family of Rom. Some of it was so horrific that Yoors can only allude to the events, and his emotions are so deep that we only learn a tiny bit of what must have happened to many of his beloved Rom family. The insight into the deep dedication of the Resistance leaders and fighters is unique.

Do read this book. It is so utterly wonderful that I pass copies of it out to many friends.


Gypsies
Published in Paperback by Waveland Press (1989)
Author: Jan Yoors
Amazon base price: $15.50
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An inside look at gypsy life by one of the best raconteurs
I knew Jan in New York City in the 60's and he was a great story teller, indeed. This is a great book to take turns reading out loud on a car trip with children say 10 and over.

Captures the Rom spirit
The account of Jan Yoors' travels with the romani captures the spirit of gypsy life better than the more academic anthropological reviews I have read. I would recomment this book for anyone wanting to learn more about their heritage or about the beautiful and oft misunderstood culture of the Rom.

A Revealing, Critical Understanding of These Tribal People
I came across this book without much intention, and it proved to be a revealing, first-hand account of the traveling Rom peoples of Europe in the early 20th century. Yoors lived with the Rom on and off through their genocidal persecution under Hitler's regime. A lyrical writer, Yoors captures a detailed essence of these people whose seemingly mysterious ways, he points out, were often perpetuated by the Rom themselves as defense mechanisms against civilized culture (or Gadje, the outsiders). His account demonstrates personal and cultural revelations about how the Rom have been persecuted through time in the form of outright racism, genocide, and overt hostility which continues through today. The US only recently -- 1998 -- decided to stop officially discriminating against US-based Rom, and the word 'gyp' is still commonly used as a slur even among seemingly enlightened people. More importantly, Yoors' account reveals how, despite the racist, mysterious, mainstream view of the Rom, they instead lived a relatively harmless, carefree, dependable and sustainable lifestyle in which each tribal member was (is) cared for. Dysfunction among the nomadic Rom pales in comparison to that of so-called civilized people. Perhaps tracts such as this one will be impetus for a certain new tribal evolution in the face of a clearly threatened collapse of civilization.


Crossing
Published in Unknown Binding by Simon and Schuster ()
Author: Jan Yoors
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The Gypsies of Spain.
Published in Hardcover by MacMillan Publishing Company (1974)
Authors: Jan Yoors and Andre A. Lopez
Amazon base price: $12.95
Used price: $24.95
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