Product Description

Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic -- a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annex" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1735 in Books
• Published on: 1993-06-01
• Released on: 1993-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com Review
A beloved classic since its initial publication in 1947, this vivid, insightful journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvelously detailed, engagingly personal entries chronicle 25 trying months of claustrophobic, quarrelsome intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist who has little tolerance for Anne's vivacity. The diary's universal appeal stems from its riveting blend of the grubby particulars of life during wartime (scant, bad food; shabby, outgrown clothes that can't be replaced; constant fear of discovery) and candid discussion of emotions familiar to every adolescent (everyone criticizes me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. Her death epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne through her diary, it is also a very individual loss. --Wendy Smith

From Publishers Weekly
This startling new edition of Dutch Jewish teenager Anne Frank's classic diary?written in an Amsterdam warehouse, where for two years she hid from the Nazis with her family and friends?contains approximately 30% more material than the original 1947 edition. It completely revises our understanding of one of the most moving and eloquent documents of the Holocaust. The Anne we meet here is much more sarcastic, rebellious and vulnerable than the sensitive diarist beloved by millions. She rages at her mother, Edith, smolders with jealous resentment toward her sister, Margot, and unleashes acid comments at her roommates. Expanded entries provide a fuller picture of the tensions and quarrels among the eight people in hiding. Anne, who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, three months before her 16th birthday, candidly discusses her awakening sexuality in entries that were omitted from the 1947 edition by her father, Otto, the only one of the eight to survive the death camps. He died in 1980. This crisp, stunning translation provides an unvarnished picture of life in the "secret annex." In the end, Anne's teen angst pales beside her profound insights, her self-discovery and her unbroken faith in good triumphing over evil. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This new translation of Frank's famous diary includes material about her emerging sexuality and her relationship with her mother that was originally excised by Frank's father, the only family member to survive the Holocaust.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Great Book!!
We complain about our lives so many times a day.. And most of the times it's not even something really serious. This book shows you a girl that even going through such hard times, she faces it all in a peculiar way.. Of course she has her outbreaks as everyone (specially in confinement) would have but it's so... Try it! It's a must-read for all ages, but particularly for the young people.

The Face of the Faceless
After I visited the building in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family had to hide during WWII, I finally decided to read her famous diary for myself. And I have to say: I was impressed. The book works very well on a variety of levels:

As History
This is an important historical witness of how the daily life of a teenager was restricted and finally squashed by the Nazi regime in Amsterdam. The humanity of Anne's daily thoughts - free-flowing and turbulent - make for a stark contrast to Hitler's cold machinery of might and control. Anne does not embody a perfect human but a real human. She becomes the face for all the faceless who were sucked into a totalitarian system.

As Literature
Considering that the diary is written by a thirteen to fifteen year-old, it is incredibly well written. The Nazis have deprived the world of a witty, pensive and creative writer.

As Psychology
Anne's diary is filled with insights into human nature. Her reflections on herself and her fellow humans are detailed and instructive, sometimes consciously so and sometimes unconsciously by eloquently voicing the feelings of someone her age.

As Child Education
This is an important book both for teenagers and parents. Anne's honesty about her feelings, development (physical and otherwise), problems and joys might help teenagers to deal better with their own development - and parents might be moved by Anne to more sympathy for that age group.

In short, this is essential reading, and ideal when discussing the Holocaust and the Second World War with a young teenager.

Amazing, This is the best book I have ever read...
This is truly one of the greatest books ever written. As a reader reads this book, he will see a young girl blossoming into a phenomenal young woman. All in the confines of her family's "Secret Annexe", while in hiding from the Gestapo, and to keep from being captured, and sent to a concentration camp.

As I read this book, I felt Anne Frank was speaking to me. I felt her anger, her rebellion, and laughed when she would tell a joke, or say something harsh about another member of the "Secret Annexe". Her words, so eloquently written, will touch anybody who reads them, and this book will become one that they will never forget, as it has with me. As I read her diary, and connected with Anne, I felt a depressing feeling, because I knew that at one point her diary entries would suddenly stop, and there would be no fitting ending for this masterpiece.

With that said, what Anne Frank has left for us is a memorable diary, which encompasses what she went through. The hunger, and horrible conditions that she, and many Jews were put through is a testament to how cruel, intolerant, and unjustifiably evil humanity can be.

I recommend this book to anybody who likes to read, and even to those who don't.