As the text reports on another page distinguished by compelling photographs to the case of Jewish determination, "despite the high walls of the ghettos and the military strength of the Nazis, many
people in the ghettos escapes or fought in their hearts and minds. For
most, resistance took the form of clinging to the love of family and
friends, holding on to traditions, and strengthening their hope." (Wood,
66)
Reviews of the text are uniformly positive, particularly pointed to
the healthy balance of objectivity and sensitivity found in the writing and
layout. In particular, the arrangement of real-life testimony, statistics
and traditional text-book multimedia layouts would together produce a text
regarded by critics as thorough and compelling. The review offered by
Publisher's Weekly on the text is a straightforward explanation of the
contents of the text. Most effusively praised by the review is the appeal
to first-person accounts of experience in ghettos and concentration camps.
The review notes that "each chapter includes a two-page spread entitled
Voices, devoted largely to excerpts from 23 interviews in the Foundation's
video archives." (PW, 1) This is a uniformly powerful way, the review
suggests, of demonstrating the individual scope of tragedy within an
academic context that also takes account for the enormity of suffering
which the Nazis spread across Europe.
According to the review, there is also a positive perspective offered
on the perseverance of the Jews which matches the testimony noted above
concerning the retention of identity. Publisher's Weekly states of the
author that "she clearly wants to reclaim the individuality and humanity of
those...

What matters is each and every human being who was murdered by the Nazis) and she never resorts to lecturing
readers on how they should feel." (PW, 1) Again, the core objectivism of
the work is part of its value in a discourse which has witnessed
(positively speaking) a wealth of contributors and perspectives.
The critique offers only the drawback that "the book's detailed
charts and maps contain almost too much information at times, often
demanding very close scrutiny to fully decipher." (PW, 1) However, the
position taken in this discussion is driven by the utterly human
determinants of its value. Testimonies are devastating and images are
inarguable. Thus, when finally the author arrives at a discussion on the
remarkable upswing in Holocaust denial across recent decades, it is already
the case that she has built a completing damning case against the Germans
and all of humanity for allowing the events of the Holocaust.
It is moving to read Wood's discussion on the moment at which the
world became fully aware of the behaviors committed by the Germans. Here,
the text tells that "the soldiers in the liberating armies, whether Soviet,
British, or American, were deeply shocked by what they found in the death
camps and the horror has stayed with them." (Wood, 148) Indeed, this
horror stays with the reader of Wood's text as well, denoting that she has
effectively delivered in appropriate detail the realities and implications
of the Holocaust.
Publisher's Weekly (PW). (2007). Review: "Holocaust." Amazon.com.

Wood, A.G. (2007). Holocaust. DK Children.