Russia Books

Most of the stories in this collection are great, but one of them is astonishing. Victor Pelevin's 'Moscow Dynamo' is mind -blowing. Don't even consider not reading this story! The inclusion of this special piece turns what would otherwise be a merely excellent collection, into a classic.

Once again, Granta draws my interest to something I'd never thought about before. The Viktor Pelevin short story, "Moscow Dynamo", is worth the cover price on this (inevitably) fine issue.

This excellent exposition of FDR's relations with the Soviet Union makes us think... of the obvious. We think of Saddam defying the civilized world, we think of North Vietnam using the Kissinger treaty to overrun the south, we think of Anna Nicole with a case of Nesquick--Franklin would certainly try to charm Stalin and he would lose. That America tried to shmooz the communists instead of confront them certanly prolonged the cold war. If Frankin had not thought he could grin the reds into an decent deal, millions would have been free sooner. Crocker gives us Roosevelt's idiotic attempt at such idiocy a full hearing, and finds him a jackass.

This book demonstrates to anyone not snookered by the FDR myth that: Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the most traitorous President America has ever had. He was completely negligent in the manner in which he conducted the War. And the monumentally tragic decisions he made with respect to post-War Europe and Asia are simply unforgivable.

As a pure politician, Roosevelt was out of his league in dealing with Stalin, notwithstanding his assertion to Winston Churchill that:

"I know you will not mind my being brutally frank when I tell you that I think I can personally handle Stalin better than either your Foreign Office or my State Department."

Someone should have questioned the man's competence when he uttered the words:

"I have just a hunch that Stalin doesn't want anything but security for his country, and I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work for a world democracy and peace."

Stalin had already annexed half of Poland and all of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia when Roosevelt made that remark!

With the partitioning (and millions of lives) of Eastern Europe at stake, this man was acting on a "hunch?" Anyone who knew anything about Communism would have known that FDR's hope of appeasing Stalin was wishful thinking. Of course, none of his "learned" advisors (Harry Hopkins, Alger Hiss, etc.) said anything because it would turn out that they were Communist sympathizers.

But that doesn't excuse Roosevelt who should have been informed on who and what he was dealing with. After all, there were ample voices outside of government telling the administration that it was playing with fire by cuddling up with Uncle Joe Stalin. But Roosevelt just turned these voices off by labeling them "Nazi" or "pro-fascist."

The Bolshevik Revolutionary himself (Lenin) had said years before:

"We are living not merely in a state, but in a system of states; and it is inconceivable that the Soviet republic should continue to exist for a long period side by side with imperialist states [e.g. America, Britain]. Ultimately one or the other must conquer. Meanwhile a number of terrible clashes between the Soviet republic and the bourgeois states are inevitable."

Exactly what part of this did Roosevelt not understand?

Additionally, assessments from one of FDR's military advisors stated:

"Russia's post-war position in Europe will be a dominant one. With Germany crushed, there is no power in Europe to oppose her tremendous military forces. It is true that Great Britain is building up a position in the Mediterranean vis-à-vis Russia that she may find useful in balancing power in Europe. However, even here she may not be able to oppose Russia unless she is otherwise supported."

That FDR was mesmerized by Uncle Joe and wanted to keep him happy is beside the point. As the most powerful man in the world with the greatest military force behind him, why did Roosevelt ignore the Communist threat? Why was he giving Stalin so much with so few conditions?

In fact, Roosevelt seemed to go out of his way to assist Stalin, giving him things without a request from the Soviet dictator and even in his absence! Roosevelt apparently thought he was exercising wise foreign policy when he stated:

"Of course, it's just the thing for the Russians. They couldn't want anything better. Unconditional surrender [of Germany and Japan]. Uncle Joe might have made it up himself!"

And in stating the following, it wasn't the first time that FDR would make Churchill part of his act in cozying up with Uncle Joe:

"Trouble is, the Prime Minister is thinking too much of the post-war, and where England will be. He's scared of letting the Russians get too strong."

That Roosevelt was good at schmoozing with other politicians is beyond doubt. However, in making the above statement, he showed his utter incompetence in dealing with Russia effectively and realistically. If FDR had understood the Russian threat even half as well as Churchill did, the ensuing enslavement of Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain would have been averted.

As a learned man of history, Churchill understood the threat of a Russia occupying Eastern Europe. Consequently, he had been promoting a plan for an allied invasion through the Balkans in order to occupy Eastern Europe. At the time Churchill made his proposal, Germany was still on Russian soil. An attack up through the Balkans would have enabled American, English and French forces to occupy Eastern Europe before Russia:

"The paramount task before us is, first, to conquer the African shores of the Mediterranean and set up the naval and air installations which are necessary to open an effective passage through it for military traffic; and, secondly, using the bases on the African shore to strike at the under-belly of the Axis [Balkans] in effective strength and in the shortest time."

However, it was not to be. Stalin didn't like the plan. Consequently, Roosevelt did not like the plan. As America's General Clark would later comment:

"A campaign that might have changed the whole history of relations between the Western world and the Soviet Union was permitted to fade away ... Not alone in my opinion, but in the opinion of a number of experts who were close to the problem, the weakening of the campaign in Italy in order to invade Southern France, instead of pushing into the Balkans, was one of the outstanding mistakes of the War ... Stalin knew exactly what he wanted ... and the thing he wanted was to keep us out of the Balkans ... It is easy to see, therefore, why Stalin favored ANVIL [Normandy Invasion]."

May Truth be redeemed and this man (FDR) dethroned from his mythic throne in the annals of history.

Fantastic insight into the great private collections of Imperial Russia.
Beautifully illustrated with photos of the collection's.

I am surprised that Russian nobility possesses great art collection that worth millions of dollars in today's money. Great works by Picasso, Poussin, Monet, Gainsborough, Renoir, Gaugin and other impressionists took pride in the private galleries of russian noble families.

This book will amaze you of the artistic side and wealth of russian nobility.

My only concern is that the pictures are mostly of black and white. Too wordy and contains few interesting information about the paintings and artists.

Still, I gave 5 stars for the effort of coming up with this extraordinary book.

My father actually has copies of the original book. One to keep and an extra to loan, only to trusted friends and family. We searched the world over for those two copies years ago. The book is an incredible read and study of communist Russia when no Americans could know the truth about how the people survived in that country. An entire college course could be taught with this book as the centerpiece. I almost flipped when just a random search showed this had been reprinted in 2007. Just this morning I was talking about it with a college student who is taking a Russian history class this semester. My dad was going to loan him a copy but now he can have his own and I know he will love it.
If you love history you will love this book.

I actually read the first virsion of this book, written in the 40's. I had to get it on loan from a collage library, because it was out of print. Oh, how I wanted a copy of this book. Ski York (one of the Guests of the Kremlin) was my mother's cousin. I tried to get an old copy of the book, and I actually saw a copy for $900.00. We are all lucky now, to be able to get a copy for approx. $25.00. The book will interest you so much, that you won't want to put it down. If you want to know what it was really like in Russia - in those days - the book has it all. It also has some good laughs in it. Of course, there is lots of action in the book as well. The nice thing is that the action really happened. I especially enjoyed it because I saw my Grandfather in Ski York. (name was changed from Cichowski) My Grandfather was Ski's - Father's brother.

"...may well be Solzhenitsyn's most stunning acheivement." --Time

In "The Destructive-Labor Camps," the first part of this volume, we experience the terrible plight of the working prisoners, the cruelty and caprice of camp authorities, and the tragic fate of the women prisoners and the luckless children born to them.

This chronicle of inhumanity is made bearable by the vitality and emotional range of Solzhenitsyn's writing that make his work on the "Archipelago" of Soviet repression one of the extraordinary literary events of our age.

"The Soul and Barbed Wire," the second part of this volume, is a magnificent statement on the possibilities of purification and redemption through suffering.

It was at the threshold of the camps that the first volume of GULAG left us. GULAG TWO takes us inside them.

The wit and wisdom of this book is almost beyond comprehension. I defy anyone to read the chapter, "The Ascent", and then tell me they have read a better twenty pages of literature....from any era.

For any who have any nostalgia for the Soviet Union, this book should put it to rest. This book is hard to categorize; it is more than one man's opinion, but less than an objective history. It is, as Solzhenitsyn puts it, "an experiment in literary investigation": a combination memoir and dissertation on the evils of Communism and its inevitable product, the forced labor camp. Some have criticized Solzhenitsyn as an anti-Communist/pro-Western polemicist, but that is not an accurate description. He is a realist, showing not only the faults of Communists, but also those of the West and Western leaders. This should be required reading for European and world history classes. Volume 1 (of 3) describes the arrest and interrogation procedures, as well as life in the Gulag.

This is vintage Solzhenitsyn; his brilliant mind shines forth splendidly. A book that is difficult to put down, places one inside his mind to see what he describes, so much from having spent hours memorizing while in the camps so he could later give us a glimpse of the horror that millions upon millions of human beings endured.

As a first introduction to the writings and teachings of St. Theophan this book is excellent.

It covers not only the main events in St. Theophan's life, but also interesting details of his form of monkhood, of his vast correspondence, and a general presentation of his writings concluding with a sound study of The Way of Salvation, his main book.

Those who want to study St. Theophan's writings further will have many thousands of pages to enjoy!

Theophane's writings of full of piercing insights into the human condition and the path to union with God. Theophane is a guide along the Bhakti path, pointing out it's pitfalls and the essentials needed for success. I have read this book over and over again and each new reading I glean many new insigts.

Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat is a superb work of scholarship by author Bahman Azad. Azad begins his work in defense of the relevancy and superiority of marxism in contrast to the prevailing bourgeois ideologies of today. He then proceeds with a sort of "marxism 101," discussing such important issues as the nature of the socialist economy, the role of a revolutionary party, the nature of the workers state and socialist vs. bourgeois democracy. The bulk of the book, however, is devoted to an analysis of the different development models persued by the Soviet leadership. I would have liked to seen more discussion of the role of the "second economy" in influencing the direction of the Gorbachev era, yet aside from this minor flaw, I cannot recommend this work enough.

This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand why and how the socialist bloc disintegrated in 1989. Azad explains in detail the errors made by the leaders of the communist party (particularly Gorbachev) and how they betrayed the revolution by moving towards a market economy. Azad argues that although imperialism has temporarily succeeded in crushing any opposition it has created immense social disparities between the rich and poor. In short, capitalism is facing social, political, and economic contradictons that it attempts resolve by further expanding its global reach.

Edited and translated by Rabbi Alter B. Metzer from the memoirs of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (the foremost Jewish religious leader of Stalinist Russia circa 1927), The Heroic Struggle is the true and riveting story of Rabbi Schneersohn's arrest and brutal mistreatment for his conspiring with other members of the Jewish community to create an underground network that would allow Judaism to survive despite Communist persecution of religion, religious beliefs, religious ceremonies, and religious symbols. A harrowing testimony of an enduring human spirit, and culminating in Schneersohn's miraculous release after his death sentence was commuted to exile, The Heroic Struggle is a superb contribution to 20th Century Jewish History reading lists and reference collections as being a profoundly inspirational testimony about the power of fighting for one's roots and beliefs.

By resisting the Stalin regime and creating the organizations and the atmosphere that survived those dark days, the Rebbe inspired and enabled the rebirth Yiddishkeit in all the lands of the former Soviet Union.

It is possible that without the underground movement inspired by the Rebbe instead of refusniks and the massive exodus of the 80s and 90s, Russian Jewry might have dissolved in a haze of assimilation.

In The Heroic Struggle we have Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak's own account of his ordeal. As riveting as a contemporary thriller He writes: "... sensitive and talented authors would find much material for lengthy works on the nature of human feeling and conduct by merely depicting ... the ... two hours from my arrival in the prison ... " Actually the Rebbe hasn't left much for other authors. His narrative is vividly detailed, insightful and sensitive. From the remarkably detailed description of his cell to the penetrating analyses of his captors, interrogators and fellow prisoners, the Rebbe involves the reader in his experience.

I love this book. It was so easy to get caught up in everything that was happening, and I couldn't put the book down until I had finished it. I highly recommend it.

I've read the first two installments in the Songs in the Night series. Both were excellent reads, with Under His Watchful Eye being even better than the first. I couldn't put it down. As a library director, I have recommended to many of my patrons and nearly everyone has rated it a ten! I'm waiting for the third book to come out this year...hopefully.