Book Review: It Happened in Italy - Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horror of the Holocaust by Elizabeth Bettina

From an historical standpoint, this book will be useful to let people know of the kindness of the Italians towards the Jews during the holocaust. I also feel it is a good starting point for others to follow and tell a better story. I felt that the author seemed intent on selling herself, which, in my opinion, should not be the purpose of this book. One of the things that bothered me the most was seeing pictures in the book of the holocaust survivors with Bettina standing with them. I believe those should be in her scrapbook or blog, but not in the book. The book actually reads like a blog. But to be sure, Bettina did work quickly to obtain primary research from the holocaust survivors and their families who reside in the U.S.A. I believe her overall intent was good which was to gather information about their life experiences in Italian camps. At various points she became somewhat of a tour guide as she made arrangements to take some of the survivors back to Italy.... and she seemed intent from Day 1 to get an audience with the Pope. This book does seem to serve to show the readers that if you get absorbed in an idea, and can write a diary, you can probably publish a book.

Bettina covered the holocaust from a different perspective, and as such, it is an important part of history. It was quite simply written, again, more like a blog or diary, often with only a few pages to each chapter. Out of 380 pages, there were 53 chapters in the first 300 pages, with the remaining 80 pages containing the Epilogue, six appendices, a bibliography, a blurb about the author, and acknowledgments. It was difficult for me to read this book to the end.

"It Happened in Italy" by Elizabeth Bettina, Thomas Nelson, Publisher, Nashville, TN USA, as reviewed by Diana Shores