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Title: Defiance

Subtitle: The Bielski Partisans

Author: Nechama Tec

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-14-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 94 votes

Genres: History, World

Publisher's Summary:

This is the riveting history of one such group: a forest community numbering more than 1,200 that carried out the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in World War II. Nechama Tec reconstructs the amazing details of how these men and women of all ages - hungry, largely unarmed, and exposed to harsh winter weather - managed not only to survive but to take on the dual role of fighters and rescuers. Under the guidance of their charismatic leader, Tuvia Bielski, they smuggled Jews out of heavily guarded ghettos, led retaliatory raids against Nazi collaborators, and offered protection to all Jewish fugitives who could find their way to them.

Critic Reviews:

"One of the most elevating and inspiring stories in the chronicle of death and despair that is the Holocaust....an accomplished and startling work of Holocaust documentation." (

Los Angeles Times)"An exciting story of rescuers and fighters - a story that should have been documented years ago....Defiance will no doubt engender further interest in the subject of Jewish partisan activity." (

Social Education)

Members Reviews:

Brillaint scholarship; hard read

This is a brilliant social history of a Jewish resistance movement in Belarus and Eastern Poland. It focusses on the Bielski partisan group lead by the three Bielski brothers.

What made this partisan unit different from the others active in the area was the fact A) they were Jewish and B) focused much more on saving lives than on attacking the Germans. Their efforts eventually resulted in the saving of more than 1,000 Jews.

The book is a standard social history that tackles its subject in a thematic rather than a narrative style. This makes the book less accessible. This is not a piece of popular history but is intended to be read by scholars who have made a study of the Holocaust or the Jews. The result is that the book can be hard to follow at times as it does not strictly follow a chronological format. Additionally, the book seems repetitive as the author supported his assertions with a large number of examples many of which are very similar.

This is a stunning piece of scholarship with the information presented logically and clearly in a remarkably evenhanded manner. This is done at the expense of readability and accessibility. Therefore, I would not recommend this book to the casual reader but to the serious student of the subject.

Academic, not narrative

The good part of this book is that it is uplifting. It describes real people in a practically impossible situation who endure and survive by relying upon ancient moral principles (although there are several morally ambiguous incidents). The bad part is that it is organized and largely written as an academic paper. It is not narrative. That is, it doesn't tell a story in a chronological manner but rather is organized on a thematic basis. This results in two problems: 1) there is a great deal of repetition and 2) the great inspirational adventure story this should be is hidden behind this academic objectivity. You have to squint to see a glimpse of the heroism and the humanity of these people.

Great audio Book

As a Jew, I was captivated by the book. I then saw the movie which was pretty darn good too.

Great Story, could have been told better

The raw material for this story is just riveting, which makes the flaws in the narrative that much more frustrating.