Written as a journalist might write a diary, Ansky’s accountings leave nothing left unsaid, no events colored over with fluff, and we, the readers, are left “watching” the evil through the vivid word images of brutality, destruction, rape, murder, mob mentality, mass-murder, and the affects on the Jewish communities in the shtetls from the events of the nauseating horrors of anti-semitism.

I won’t quote from the book, because one passage alone wouldn’t be sufficient to render the scope of the atrocities and horror. How can I choose one, out of so many? For me it is impossible, and would diminish the content of the book, down to that one blurb. One must read this in order to grasp the intensity of the events.

The Enemy at His Pleasure is a compelling read, and if you are prone to having a weak stomach from graphic word content, then I suggest you read this with that in mind. Do read it, because it will open your eyes to the accountings and sickening events that took place during the turbulent time when Russian, Austrian and German armies overtook the small Jewish shtetls catching and trapping the Jews in the middle. It is a look at history you will not soon forget.

S. Ansky died in 1920 at the age of 57.

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