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August 21, 2010
Those crazy Bolsheviks
For various reasons of self-flagellation and book donation (gee, thanks, John) I spent a big chunk of bedroom reading this year on Robert Service's triology: Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Yikes.
I'd read lots of stuff about the period -- from Doctor Zhivago to Darkness at Noon. These three are more soul-deadening than anything else. There are dissenting views, but mainly about tone, not detail.
Let's all admit it - the Soviets were worse than we were, however craaaaaaazy that Woodrow Wilson ever got. The best anti-Wilson treatment I've ever read (well, heard - Audible on iPod) was The Great Influenza by John Barry. If anyone ever told you that George W. was a fascist just read this treatment of Totalitarian America.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at August 21, 2010 8:57 PM