War of the Rats
War of the Rats, written by David L. Robbins, and the movie Stalingrad, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier, are two excellent sources to be used in furthering one’s understanding of the second world war and specifically the battle of Stalingrad. Both of these sources cover generally the same material. They both are dramas about the battle of Stalingrad, yet each has their own unique perspective upon the war. These two sources can be used together to increase one’s knowledge on the subject at hand.
War of the Rats, a book that has been recently published is basically a war inside of a war. It focuses more on a personal battle of two men then it does on the battle of Stalingrad on a whole. The book has four main characters and is mostly based on these people. Robbins seems more content on telling his drama he is revealing to the reader then giving actual historical accounts on the battle of Stalingrad. Robbins story starts out about the Russians skilled assassin, Army Chief Master Sergeant Visily Zaitsev. Zaitsev is a famed sniper, known for killing the opposing Germans with ease. The Germans realize how dangerous of a weapon Zaitsev is, and counter with their own master sniper, S.S. Colonel Heinz Throvald.
Throvald is sent with one mission; kill Zaitsev. Also included in the plot of Robbins’ book are Tania Chernova, Zaitsev’s assistant, and Corporal Nikki Mood, a composite German soldier. Tanis Chernova and Vasily Zaitsev eventually fall in love. The novel eventually ends with the two master snipers, Throvald and Zaitsev, crossing each other’s paths. In somewhat of a cliffhanger, the book finishes off with both Throvald and Zaitsev putting crosshairs on each other’s head. Although it is very entert...
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...ery educational. Both are based on factual events. War of the Rats is more about two individual people than the actual war, but still gives a brief overview about the battle of Stalingrad. Stalingrad focuses on the suffering of the German soldiers and probably is more useful than the War of the Rats in the sense that it covers the actual war more. However, both are highly recommended and go hand in hand. One would probably understand the importance of the Second World War on the Eastern Front in world history most if he or she looked into both sources.
Works Cited
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Dogan, Shamed. “Legal Drinking Age Should Drop to 18.” High Ground.com. 1997 February 14, 1997
Group Survey of 100 people. “Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered to Eighteen?” May 25, 2000
With time, tragedies become statistics. The lives lost culminate to numbers, percentages, and paragraphs in textbooks,and though a recognition of its occurrence becomes universal, an understanding of its severity dies with those who lived it. “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” is a literary medium by which the nature of tragedy is transmitted. Set in the post-battle Leningrad, the poem encapsulates the desolation not of war and its aftermath. Paramount in this translation is figurative language. Olds’ use of simile and metaphor in “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” allows the reader to understand the incomprehensible horrors of war and, through contrast, the value of life.
Eastman III, Donald R. “Lowering the Drinking Age: Let’s Keep the Dialogue Open.” St. Petersburg Times. 25 Aug. 2008. Print.
Baxandall, Michael. "Exhibiting intention: Some preconditions of the visual display of culturally purposeful objects." Exhibiting cultures: The poetics and politics of museum display (1991): 33-41.
There has been an ongoing controversy in the United States on whether the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen like most of the world or if it should stay at twenty-one. Underage drinking has been a major controversial issue for years, yet why is it not under control? Teenagers are continuing to buy alcohol with fake identification cards, drink, get into bars, and drink illegally. As a teen I have proof that these things are going on not only in college but in high school as well. There are a lot of factors that come together to why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen; the most obvious reason is too many people are drinking before they are twenty-one. Liquor stores, bars, and clubs all want to make money and if they can get away with selling to underage teens then they will. A study done by the Academic Search Premier agrees that, ?By now it is obvious that the law has not succeeded in preventing the under-21 group from drinking? (Michael Smith 1).
He points out that the philosophical study of humor is focused on determining “what has to be true of something in order for it to count as assuming” (Morreall 7). The study has shifted from identifying the theories to now explaining the psychological reasoning behind humor and laughter. Philosophers want to know what does a situation have to satisfy to cause laughter. Over the years, three theories have emerged, the Superiority, Incongruity, and Relief Theory. Morreall particularly focuses on the Superiority Theory. Combining the philosophical ideas of Plato, Thomas Hobbes, and Roger Scruton, this theory claims that “laughter expresses feelings of superiority” (Morreall 6). Laughter comes from feeling better than someone else, like neighbors laughing at the man tripping on the sidewalk in the earlier story. His neighbors could laugh because they are not in his position. The man embarrassed himself in front the whole neighborhood and got a scraped-up knee from doing so. On the other hand, his neighbors are happily sitting on their porches, free from embarrassment in front of fellow peers and have no bruises from a fall. Since they are socially and physically superior to this man, they find the situation
Scientists have asked the question of whether homosexuality is a choice or something the individual has no control over. The search for the ‘gay gene’ is a relatively new study. According to Pease and Bull (2000) the physical sex of an organism is determined by the gonad type, testes or ovaries, as well as secondary sexual traits. An organisms sexual preference is determined by its preferred sexual partner, if the organism prefers to have sex with its own sex, it is classed as homosexual, however if it prefers to have sex with the opposite sex, it is classed as heterosexual. Gender identity is a separate topic that is very pertinent. G-+ender identity is how an organism sees itself, is it male or is it female. The gender identity of an organism can be separated from the sexual preferences, for example, a male who sees himself as female may still have a sexual preference for woman.
Time to Lower the Drinking Age? U.S. News -. U.S. News & World Report, L.D., 07 May, 2014. Web. The Web.
Stalingrad, reduced to a burning shell within days of the first German assault, was defended by the Soviet 62nd Army led by General Chuikov. Although German troops captured 90% of the city, Chuikov maintained his hold on a strip of land a mile long. Stalin had issued the order 'not a step backwards' therefore discipline was harsh and traitors were killed without sentiment. The Red Army were merciless, executing over 13,000 of their own men. It was however the counteroff...
The “superstar” museum gained this status by considering every important detail during its establishment and initial phases of conversion from royal palace to museum (Gombault, 2002). As the purpose of the building changed, each room addressed new functions with new requirements. Although the function of the Louvre is different from the building’s original intention, the building is still appears dignified and important enough to display priceless artifacts and painting (Steffensen-Bruce, 1998). This consideration was applied in designing the Met. The Met looked towards the South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert) and the “ideal role model” due to its extensive collections and international reputation (Heckscher, 1995). The Met found itself in a similar situation to the South Kensington, because it did not have a building or a collection to start with (Heckscher, 1995). When designing museums, architects strived to create monuments that “prepare and educate the mind of the visitor (Steffensen-Bruce, 1998).” Education is an essential function of a museum. Acquiring, preserving, and properly displaying materials, permits a museum to fulfill this duty (Steffensen-Bruce, 1998). For instance, lighting is a factor that affects the manner in which artwork is viewed and can be properly appreciated. When determining the proper lighting for the Louvre, Comte d’Angiviller, strongly believed that natural, overhead lighting was the most effective solution (McClellan, 1994, p. 72). The same determination impacted the decision to add skylights at the Met. During the initial phase, architects Vaux and Mould, added skylights to the upper floor, and windows to the lower floor that provided a natural light solution (Heckscher, 1995). Additionally, glass-roofed courtyards provided “unimpeded light” for displaying
The battle of Stalingrad was one of the most significant battles because it was the Nazis first loss. This battle was the changing factor of the war and significantly changed the tide of the war for the Nazis. The Nazis had complete control of world war 2 and were simply unbeatable until their battle at Stalingrad. After that loss nothing went well for the Nazis and a chain of losses were caused. The battle of Stalingrad was easily one of the biggest blood bath in history with 841,000 German casualties and around 1,130,000 Soviet casualties adding to a total of 1,971,000 casualties; This is far greater than any battle. Strategically, Stalingrad was not very important for Hitler but It was more about personal redemption between t...
The rise of rock and roll into the limelight is to a large extent attributed to the teenagers of the 1950’s. Early rock music listened to by teenagers during the 1950’s was formed by blending together Rhythm and blues with country music. This kind of ...
The first possible cause of homosexuality is genetic factors. Homosexuality is a trait from birth (Buchanan, 2000). Studies found that identical twins share many common traits. A study found that identical twins normally share homosexual behavior if one of them is homosexual. This proved that genes are likely to cause homosexuality. In addition, according to (Santinover, 2002), homosexuality is a heritable behavior. Based on heritability studies, almost any human trait is heritable including the homosexual behavior. He stated that behavioral genes are found in specific chromosome. Thus, the behavior is obviously heritable. Moreover, Italian University of Padova (2004) believes that homosexual trait is passed from mother to male offspring by natural ...
Alder, Peter. "Stalin: Man of Steel." Prod. Guido Knopp. Dir. Oliver Halmburger. Perf. Ed Herrman. The History Channel, 2003. Videocassette. Youtube. 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 May 2015.
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Jacques Balthazart, in the book, Biology of Homosexuality, examines the historical and cultural context in which homosexuality is expressed and attempts to dissect homosexual behavior and cognition from a biological perspective. He explains that there are behaviors in human sexuality that exhibit greater diversity than the sexual behavior of other animals. This exertion may lead one to conclude that human sexuality, as a result of its biological and emotional components, is more complex than the sexuality of other species. (Balthazart, p.4)