Schindler's List

Originally titled, Schindler's Ark, this bestselling modern day classic, first published in 1982 by Thomas Keneally, was the basis for the blockbuster motion picture, Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Liam Neeson. The book's title was changed to reflect the motion picture title for continuity. The novel, extrapolated on a true story, won the Booker Award upon its debut in 1982. It tells the story of Oskar Schindler, self-made industrialist and "by chance" hero during World War Two. By the winds of happenstance Schindler found himself in the harrowing position of deciding if Polish Jews -- under his authority while working in his factory -- might live or certainly die in the furnaces and gas chambers of Nazi concentration camps. And thereby, Schindler begins covert efforts to save the Jews under his watch. Keneally's intricate research into the Schindler affair is only exceeded by his talent as a brilliant novelist. He draws the reader into an increasing web of horror and terror, as real as the times it tells of, as atrocious as Adolph Hitler and his fascist cohorts. Keneally makes you feel you are actually there, constantly looking over your shoulder, around the next corner, waiting for the next SS boot to fall ... very well possibly ... upon you.