Wow, this book has so much information. I learned a lot interesting facts from 1947.

I received the copy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The book is a wonderful, if short, summary of one of the important years in history, 1947. I had no idea all of that happened in 1947, and I have seen so many issues in there that were still popular today, the most notable being the Palestine question.

The book goes month-by-month, switching locations, switching the famous people it focuses on, and summarises their achievements. From the person who coined the word ‘genocide’ and his struggle with getting the word to be recognized and used, to Nuremberg trials, to Simone de Beauvoir and George Orwell, to Christian Dior.

The location switching is swift and the description of people never go too deep, but it is still easy to understand. It is, as said, pretty short summary, never going in too deep (if it did, it would have multiple volumes and would be reeeeeeaaaaally long as it seems so many different, yet in different ways important events, happened.

I liked how it varied from hard political questions and struggles to, in comparison to that, relatively unimportant fashion icons (although I suppose they did have some kind of influence).

What I found ‘funny’ was how to council thought they could solve the question of Palestine in a few months. Looking at it from 71 years later, it seems so optimistic. The mentions of Marshall’s Aid because my grandfather was one of the people who got it. He still remembers the food that was included in and what it meant for the people at the time.

There is a slight personal story in the book, but to be honest, it did focus more on the other events.

The book has a very poetic style, and I did not know that it was classified as non-fiction. I guess it is on that border between non-fiction and fiction.

I would urge Åsbrink to read / research a bit more (a LOT more) before writing a book. Of course this is but a translated version.

I received a free Kindle copy of 1947: Where Now Begins by Elisabeth Asbrink courtesy of Net Galley and Random House, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review to Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I the subject of the book sounded interesting and I have read a great deal around this time period. This is the first book by Elisabeth Asbrink that I have read.

This book was a major disappointment for me. This due to the author's writing style of mixing facts in with side interludes that can be classed as fiction rather than nonfiction. The book is organized in a logical fashion in that it goes from month to month during 1947, but the author bounces around subjects, starting with something in a month, moving to several other subjects and then jolting back to the original subject. 

This book may resonate with certain readers, but if you are a hard core nonfiction history reader I would recommend avoiding this book.

This is an outstanding book, written in a compelling style that moves the reader through it as though it were a page-turner. But it is not a page-turner: it is a finely crafted bricolage of events and people in 1947 which, taken together, provide important context for understanding the current historical moment. It also reveals eerie parallels to issues that Europe and the US area wrestling with right now.; the difference is that, in some cases, groups seen as protagonists and antagonists in 2017 had the opposite roles in 1947. The interlude where she describes her own family's experiences in the 1930s and 1940s anchors in a very concrete way much of what she presents in other parts of the book. It is an effective strategy, and reminds us that history written broadly is also deeply personal.
Asbrink writes the most effective and, in my opinion, best kind of history for a lay person. It draws on a range of archives and primary and secondary materials, but does not tangle the reader up in the academic apparatus necessary in academic historical accounts. It also leaves the reader with much to consider and conclusions for her/him to draw.

Thank you to NetGalley and Elisabeth Åsbrink for allowing me to read and review an ARC of 1947. I'm disappointed to say that I did not enjoy the book. Maybe it was too heavy for me, emotionally. I'm not sure, except that it was not "for me" at the time that I read it and I didn't love the translation.

absolutely stunning. There are a lot of stories that talk about what happened during WWII but I don't know that I've ever read one like 1947. It was an absorbing read, a new perspective on a subject people only think they know a lot about. I finished reading it and all I could say was Wow. My husband looked at me and," that good , huh?" Yes, it was.

War leaves behind many many horrific scars and a lot goes into getting back to regular life after it ends.
This book is about the aftermath of WW2 and the significant events that occurred in 1947, on the heels of the end of the war.
The Nuremberg trials and the attempts to resolve the Palestine conflict are two of the major topics it describes along with the start of a new music culture, development of fashion trends and numerous other events that shaped the post WW2 world into what it is today.
1947 was an important year for India as independence from the British was finally ours and this momentous event and the days leading upto and after are described here.
It served to educate me and give me a basis to understand many of these events and I liked the book for that.
The compilation of events across the world meant that the universal condition of people could be guaged and the effect of all that was happening around them.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2191630917