I too noticed the reference to "The Vanished Kingdom" by James Roy and having not read it, scanned the local library catalog to see if it was available (it was not). I have recently read de Zayas, "A Terrible Revenge" and Barbara W. Tuchman's "A Proud Tower." Both were found to be most helpful in understanding interaction between Prussia, Poland, German and the world in the late 1800's through 1946. I may take a pass on Roy's work. Could you recommend a less biased reading resource covering Prussia/Germany in the later 19th century? I would appreciate it Warren Haase janwgh@msn.com<mailto:janwgh@msn.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: Karl von Loewe<mailto:Karl@KarlvonLoewe.com> To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com<mailto:prussia-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 7:27 PM Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Roy,"The Vanished Kingdon" (was Questions about naturalization papers) Kay Ruckle wrote that she had just finished reading James Charles Roy's "The Vanished Kingdom; Travels Through the History of Prussia." Kay, I too recently read Roy's "The Vanished Kingdom..." I was severely disappointed by his anti-Polish bias, including a picture of a "drunken Pole" (perhaps not the exact photo caption) and the like. It borders on being an anti-Polish polemic. He seems to be pre-occupied with the notion of how unworthy the Poles are to be in control of what was Prussia. I guess I expected too much from the book. I had just finished Alfred de Zayas' "A Terrible Revenge," and expected better than I got from Roy. Even though I am a trained historian of Russia and Eastern Europe, it is only in the last three years, when I have been investigating my family's genealogy, that I have firmly grasped the frequent, consummate ugliness of nationality and ethnicity - and their equally frequent confusion with one another - in Eastern Europe. De Zeyas makes a poignant plea, something to the effect that we should not expect neighbors to love one another, but at least not to hate one another. Alas, that is too much to ask of human beings even in this millennium. I regret if some feel I have politicized this very helpful listserv, but I could not let the reference to Roy's book go without remarking on my view of his work. Karl von Loewe ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com<mailto:PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message