Pluto Books

this book covers everything about aba even bob costas said this book has it all so he wont write on about his time in the aba. 2 chapters on wackiest team ever spirits of st louis and tells of the greatest money deal ever by the silnas that will go on for ever. have read over and over and still enjoy can pick up book any chapter and start reading fun to read and very interesting

I rank this book right up there with "The Bronx Zoo" and "Thin Ice - A Season in Hell with the NY Rangers." It is a captivating book that is very difficult to put down once you begin reading it. A++++!!!!

If you were a fan of the ABA growing up this is the book for you. For some reason I just loved the ABA. To read about the beginning of the league and all the trials and tribulations the league went through is funny. Players I remember as a kid come to life. The Doctor, Lou Dampier, Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore, Laverne Tart. They are all here. The only challenge is that the book is narrated by many former participants and at times it is hard to remember who each person was. However, this is a minor criticism. This was a great book to read and brought back a lot of memories.

If Amazon was really on the ball, they would pair this book together with "Going Long," the book about the old AFL - both are entertaining, hilarious at times, and just great reads - you start to see a connection between the leagues in a way, the startup antics, the dubious franchises, and the hilarious happenings. If you are a sports fan or not, you have to get this book - it is hilarious and an absolute joy to read!

Before 24-hour sports coverage on cable TV and back in the day when a basketball fan was lucky to get one nationally-televised NBA game per week, there was an upstart league with a flashy basketball, flashier players and paychecks that oftentimes bounced higher than the ball.

Terry Pluto, a long-time sports columnist for the Akron Beacon-Journal, captures the crazy times and legendary personalities on the court and in the front offices in this oral history of the American Basketball Association.

It was a league that hit the NBA where it was most vulnerable; signing players to contracts that were unheard of at the time. For example, Mel Daniels - a number one draft pick in both leagues - opted to play in the ABA and became one of the all-time greats. There were renegades like Rick Barry and the sky-walking dunks of "Dr. J," Julius Erving, arguably the greatest player of his era.

The league went straight to the heart of the NBA for its first commissioner, hiring George Mikan as a means to gain credibility in the eyes of the stodgy national sports media. Larry Brown and Doug Moe were ABA players before becoming pro coaches. And - if nothing else - who could beat franchise names like the New Orleans Buccaneers, Minnesota Muskies, the Spirits of St. Louis and the San Diego Conquistadors (with Wilt Chamberlain as player/coach)?

Though the final few years of operation - with a merger inevitable and the league consolidating its shrinking resources - became an abrupt climax to the ABA, the teams and players that made the jump to the NBA made for a dramatic leap in the quality of the game & it can be argued set the pace for the style and grace of Magic, Michael, Dominique and LeBron.

I own the original French version of this book: "Peau noire masques blancs"! Franz Fanon addressed very well the racial issues encounted by previously colonized civilizations like the French island of Martinique. But Martinique is just an example. The truth is raw, but it's the truth, and there is still a long way for the freedom of the mind.

Frantz Fanon was a contemporary writer of the 1950's. Born in Martinique, he studied psychiatry and medicine in France as a young man after volunteering his services in World War II. He had an educational background in post colonial studies including racism and colonization. At the age of 27 he published "Black Skin, White Masks" which played a vital role in civil rights and Black consciousness movements throughout its time. Fanon's analysis of the Black psyche, "Black Skin, White Masks", was amazingly interesting and educational. It gave me a fresh perspective to what it means to live as the minority, as a person of color in a White world. This is a wonderful review of how the French of different backgrounds interacted with each other. There are also a few downfalls in understanding "Black Skin, White Masks". This book is hard to follow because it jumps around quite a bit, making various points throughout the same train of thought. There are many topics covered, one of the most thoroughly explored being romantic love between interracial couples. It also explores the use of language and the importance of knowing one's familial, racial, and cultural history.
One of the topics Fanon concentrates on is the Black man and his goals in life. To understand what Black men go through, one has to first understand the history of the particular Black man he is talking about which is born in an island off of France then moves to France and faces the culture shock of entering a country where the language and customs are different. Here the Black man goes from being comfortable and part of a larger entity to being the minority. At this stage the Black man feels he is worthless because of the history of the relationship of Blacks and Whites, where the Black man has led a forced life of servitude and abuse which has caused him to believe that he is inferior to the White man. The White man's racism has created the White man's feeling of superiority which correlates with the Black man's feeling of inferiority. Because of this inferiority complex the Black man has an overpowering need to prove himself equal to the White man. Fanon goes on to argue that the Black man's goal is to prove to Whites, Blacks and himself that he is an intelligent, good, and worthy of pursuing happiness individual. One of the most detailed examples was how the Black man attempts to get closer to being White by having any relationship, be it friendship or romantic (preferably sexual), with a White person other than a master/slave association. As an example Fanon tells a story of a young mulatto woman who marries a White man and in a split second goes from being the slave to being the master. Yet there are other cases when the Black man succeeds and he is not only rejected by Whites, he is repudiated by Blacks.
Another theme was that of language and what happens to a Black person when he arrives to France. The Black man has to learn how to speak French as it is spoken in France in order to become "whiter", for example, an educated Black man is no longer seen as Black because Blacks are savages while the intellectual is civilized. Yet there have been many cases where despite the success of the Black man, Whites refuse to accept them as equals and show it by speaking to them in pidgin or as children. There is also the struggle of remaining part of the Black community after assimilating into the White world. After learning to speak French, he returns home as white in the eyes of other Black people. The Black man must be able to code change in order to survive in both worlds.
Antillean education is looked at carefully in this book. Fanon compares the children of France with those of Martinique. As French children learn about their culture and their ancestors, Martinique children learn of the ancestors of others. Fanon proposes that the Black Martinique children should learn about Black history as a separate section in order to build self esteem and confidence. Children need to learn that there have been others in similar situations that have pulled through and made it despite discrimination and hate. If the educational system increases the Martinique children's knowledge and understanding of their own heritage and history, they will be able to make connections with their own ancestors and their amazing accomplishments. This would thus curb ideas of inferiority.
There was a contrast between Blacks and Whites that kept the world as it was. In order for there to be white, there has to be black. In order for there to be a slave there has to be a master. In order for one group of peoples to be superior another group has to be inferior, and this is the case with Whites and Blacks. As a result, whatever one group is the other is the opposite. Here arise a series of stereotypes that support how people think of these two groups. Whites are intelligent, progressive, civil people while Blacks are primitive savages in need of taming. Since Blacks are savages they cannot control their emotional and sexual needs hence in contrast Whites are not sexual and have the ability to suppress their emotions. From this Fanon argues that a subtle jealousy was born; the White man envied the Black man's sexual freedom.
As I read this book I could not help but think of my students and how they embody many of the same believes as Black men in the 1950's. The children I teach Mathematics to are people of color, either Latino or Black. I spend much of my day listening to them speak among themselves about various topics and have picked up on certain ideas that reflect that of past colonized populations. Although there is this total rejection of anything and everything that is White, there is also an underlining want to be White (perhaps mainstream is a better word). For example, I have heard my students discuss accents and the implication that those who have one are in some way less intelligent than those who speak like Americans. Students have also expressed in happiness that they do not speak their parent's native tongue, typically Spanish, which is an indication that they are closer to being white than those who's first language is not English. Another disturbing behavior I have noticed is the animosity towards Whites. It seems my students have been programmed to be hostile towards White people, especially peers. They constantly refer to Whites in derogatory terms; for example, when one of my mentors (an older White woman) spend a period in my classroom the students were flustered and after she left referred to her as "the white b*$^%" as opposed to "the lady who was just here". At the same time they insult each other by using terms that are associated with being Black such as insulting the wideness of their nose and/or thickness of their lips. I find this to be an interesting contradiction and would like to explore it further in hopes of understanding the contemporary adolescent.
As a teacher I found this book to be very helpful in understanding why our children of color behave the way they do and why they consistently fail in a system designed for children who are not exposed to the gruesome situations the students in the South Bronx (where I teach) go through on a daily basis. These children could very well have an inferiority complex which they will have to overcome before being able to succeed in this White man's world.

Frantz Fanon was a black man born in the French colony and island of Martinique. He trained as a doctor specialising in psychiatry. He was deeply concerned about the impact of colonialism on the people of colour, particularly how it humiliated them, destroyed their culture, values and dignity. This led him to get involved in the Algerian war of independence in the 1950s.

The book "Black Skin, White Masks" was written almost fifty years ago. This was during the time when decolonisation of the African continent and elsewhere was gathering momentum.

To adequately capture and assimilate Fanon's thinking of the question of colonialism and racism and their impact on the coloured people, one also needs to read Fanon's other great works: "The Wretched of the Earth" and "Dying Colonialism". Here one can see his anger and the background to his conclusion that it was only through violence that people of colour could liberate themselves from colonialism, particularly from mental bondage and inferiority complex that accompanied colonial subjugation.

In "Black Skin, White Masks", Fanon develops his thesis about the impact of inferiority complex of subjugated peoples and the alienation of some of them from their kind resulting in their wish to identified with the colonialists or imitate the European. There are a number of celebrated and classic cases of coloured people who have tried various formulas to change the colour of their skins, the tone of their voices or their names so that they sound more civilised (European).

Fanon's ideas about how the coloured people can liberate themselves (physically and mentally) influenced many leaders of revolutionary movements that were fighting colonialism. Some organisations in the USA, such as the Nation of Islam, appear to embrace a lot of Fanon's ideas and thinking.

The book is recommended reading for those who wish to understand the impact of colonialism on the colonised around the world and their different reactions to this menace.

If you want to understand racial identity, you should read Fanon's approach. The most influential author on ethnicity and colonization in the twentieth century.

Fanon really draws you in with this book. One feels involved with Fanon's fight not just against racism and colonization, but also his own self evaluation and struggle within himself to accept himself for who he is.

Among other things, what struck me the most was the way Fanon showed that minorities do not feel inferior because they were thrust in the midst of a majority. Considering that South Africa has minority white population and yet the black population there took on the brunt of racism and that had nothing to do with the minority subjugation.

Another line of thought that Fanon brings about is the domination of the colonized language. In Martinique, the average middle class family would insist children to speak French like the French would and not the commonly spoken Creole. The Martinican returning from France was expected to uphold that standard and speak proper French. If he reverted to his old ways of speaking, it was looked down upon. Fanon shows that the black man of Martinique maintains locked in his own cultural impositions and unless that is shed it would make it difficult for him to rise out of it.

Fanon brings about how the psychological impact of colonization through language, culture and history plays on the black man. Fanon delves into studies done by others and compares or rejects ideas put forth by them either with by presenting his own experiences or a generalistic view of the colonized Martinique land.

Fanon digresses frequently from topics of discussion and jumps around wildly in some of the chapters. But overall the book is well written and makes you think and begs you to put your own experience and thought into it.

If you're looking for a light read, Trotsky's History of Russian Revolution is not the way to go by any means. But, despite its length, and despite the enormity of its topic, this is an amazingly accessible and engrossing account of one of the modern world's most important political and historical events, written by one of its main players. There are certainly some parts that are more difficult than others, and some where clearly Trotsky assumes an understanding of what happened in Russia during 1917 - an expectation of his readers that would have been utterly reasonable for the audience he was writing for, at the time he was writing, but which at times can be a bit confusing for a Westerner reading it almost 100 years later. But this is only occasionally frustrating and there is, in any event, a very helpful set of appendices and glossaris at the back that help you know who's who and what's what. It is, undoubtedly in my view, well worth the effort that it will take you to get through it. I don't think any other history of the revolution is as detailed, as comprehensive, and as engaging as this. There are times when it really has you on the edge of your seat - and that, no doubt, is largely because it is written by someone who was actually there.

Max Eastman, who was a friend of Trotsky, gives us a translation that feels tremendously fresh and was enthusiastically endorsed by Trotsky himself.

Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is partisan history at its best. One does not and should not, at least in this day in age, ask historians to be `objective'. One simply asks that the historian present his or her narrative and analysis and get out of the way. Trotsky meets that criterion. Furthermore, in Trotsky's case there is nothing like having a central actor in that drama, who can also write brilliantly and wittily, give his interpretation of the important events and undercurrents swirling around Russia in 1917. If you are looking for a general history of the revolution or want an analysis of what the revolution meant for the fate of various nations after World War I or its affect on world geopolitics look elsewhere. E.H. Carr's History of the Russian Revolution offers an excellent multi-volume set that tells that story through the 1920's. Or if you want to know what the various parliamentary leaders, both bourgeois and Soviet, were thinking and doing from a moderately leftist viewpoint read Sukhanov's Notes on the Russian Revolution. For a more journalistic account John Reed's classic Ten Days That Shook the World is invaluable. Trotsky covers some of this material as well. However, if additionally, you want to get a feel for the molecular process of the Russian Revolution in its ebbs and flows down at the base in the masses where the revolution was made Trotsky's is the book for you.

The life of Leon Trotsky is intimately intertwined with the rise and decline of the Russian Revolution in the first part of the 20th century. As a young man, like an extraordinary number of talented Russian youth, he entered the revolutionary struggle against Czarism in the late 1890's. Shortly thereafter he embraced what became a lifelong devotion to a Marxist political perspective. However, except for the period of the 1905 Revolution when Trotsky was chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and later in 1912 when he tried to unite all the Russian Social Democratic forces in an ill-fated unity conference, which goes down in history as the `August Bloc', he was essentially a free lancer in the international socialist movement. At that time Trotsky saw the Bolsheviks as "sectarians" as it was not clear to him at that time that for socialist revolution to be successful the reformist and revolutionary wings of the movement had to be organizationally split. With the coming of World War I Trotsky drew closer to Bolshevik positions but did not actually join the party until the summer of 1917 when he entered the Central Committee after the fusion of his organization, the Inter-District Organization, and the Bolsheviks. This act represented an important and decisive switch in his understanding of the necessity of a revolutionary workers party to lead the revolution.

As Trotsky himself noted, although he was a late comer to the concept of a Bolshevik Party that delay only instilled in him a greater understanding of the need for a vanguard revolutionary workers party to lead the revolutionary struggles. This understanding underscored his political analysis throughout the rest of his career as a Soviet official and as the leader of the struggle of the Left Opposition against the Stalinist degeneration of the Russian Revolution. After his defeat at the hands of Stalin and his henchmen Trotsky wrote these three volumes in exile in Turkey from 1930 to 1932. At that time Trotsky was not only trying to draw the lessons of the Revolution from an historian's perspective but to teach new cadre the necessary lessons of that struggle as he tried first reform the Bolshevik Party and the Communist International and then later, after that position became politically untenable , to form a new, revolutionary Fourth International. Trotsky was still fighting from this perspective in defense of the gains of the Russian Revolution when a Stalinist agent cut him down. Thus, without doubt, beyond a keen historian's eye for detail and antidote, Trotsky's political insights developed over long experience give his volumes an invaluable added dimension not found in other sources on the Russian Revolution.

As a result of the Bolshevik seizure of power the so-called Russian Question was the central question for world politics throughout most of the 20th century. That central question ended practically with the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's. However, there are still lessons, not all negative, to be learned from the experience of the Russian Revolution. Today, an understanding of this experience is the task for the natural audience for this book, the young alienated radicals of Western society.

The central preoccupation of Trotsky's volumes reviewed here and of his later political career concerns the problem of the crisis of revolutionary leadership of the international labor movement and its national components. That problem can be stated as the gap between the already existing objective conditions necessary for beginning socialist construction based on the current level of capitalist development and the immaturity or lack of revolutionary leadership to overthrow the old order. From the European Revolutions of 1848 on, not excepting the heroic Paris Commune, until his time the only successful working class revolution had been in led by the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917. Why? Anarchists may look back to the Paris Commune or forward to the Spanish Civil War in 1936 for solace but the plain fact is that absent a revolutionary party those struggles were defeated without establishing the prerequisites for socialism. History has indicated that a revolutionary party that has assimilated the lessons of the past and is rooted in the working class allied with and leading the plebian masses in its wake is the only way to bring the socialist program to fruition. That hard truth shines through Trotsky's three volumes. Unfortunately, this is still the central problem confronting the international labor movement today. Read this book many times.

This is one of the most exciting books I've ever read. It tells the amazing story of the Russian revolution of 1917, from the overthrow of the Czar to the Bolshevik Revolution of October. What makes it an incredible read is that the author, Leon Trotsky, was at the middle of it all, as one of the central planners of the insurrection that took power. Trotsky was a great revolutionary and great writer. But one thing I especially like about the book is that Trotsky uses excerpts from many other accounts, including those who hated him with a passion, to tell the story accurately. It is an inspiring story, especially for new generations of young people, workers and farmers who need to learn about an example showing that the dog-eat-dog system of capitalism we live in can be overthrown. For the definitive account of how this great revolution was later derailed, see Trotsky's Revolution Betrayed.

In spite of its length, I've read this book several times. It isn't just a widely acclaimed historic and literary masterpiece, written by a leading participant in the events he describes. It isn't just vividly written and thoroughly researched.

More importantly, it's one of the best books ever written about revolution, as relevant today as ever.

The most important conclusion that emerges is the crucial role of a revolutionary party with an overwhelmingly working class membership, leadership and political orientation: a party that has trained itself in the many years of partial struggles that precede a revolutionary crisis; studied together the lessons of past revolutionary struggles throughout the world; and done everything possible to educate broader layers of workers in those lessons.

(The point is illustrated both positively and negatively. More than once, Lenin had to turn to the Bolshevik's working class rank and file against wavering intellectuals in the party leadership.)

Please don't be put off by the first chapter, the driest and most difficult in the book. The basic idea is that capitalism arrived late in Russia, imported from abroad in the form of huge factories, which laid the basis for the rapid development of a strong, militant labor movement. As a result, the emerging capitalist class was reluctant to mobilize the masses against the feudal nobles and landlords that stood in their way, for fear that the aroused workers might turn on the capitalists themselves.

Under the impact of war and economic crisis, the resulting mixture of different forms of class oppression exploded in a combined revolt of workers, farmers, and oppressed nationalities, destroying both feudalism and capitalism by the time it was through.

Several postcripts:

(1) If you're wondering what went wrong in the Soviet Union after such a promising start, I recommend "The Revolution Betrayed" by Trotsky; also "Lenin's Final Fight" by Lenin.

(2) I disagree with Trotsky's assessment of the pre-1917 differences between himself and Lenin concerning the role of working farmers, the relationship between democratic (anti-feudal) revolution and socialist revolution, and Lenin's formula, "the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry". I think Trotsky's discussion of this is confusing. I recommend "Their Trotsky and Ours" by Jack Barnes. There is also a good debate in "Bolshevism and the Russian Revolution" by Doug Jenness, Ernest Mandel, and V.I. Lenin.

(3) Another reviewer pointed out that this book is available online. However, the printed version has glossaries of people, places, organizations and unfamiliar terms; a more complete chronology; and a thorough index. I relied very heavily on all of these, so much so that I used color-coded post-its to turn to them easily. Also, parts of the online version are full of obvious typos; books from Pathfinder Press are proofread very thoroughly.

(4) Finally, I recommend the ads in the back of the book. Pathfinder Press is defined by a political goal, not commercial success. It aims to provide a platform for revolutionary leaders speaking in their own words. If you like one book, you will probably like others.

This is a huge and wonderful book-- three volumes in one book, some 1200 pages in all. The story Trotsky lays out is most inspiring and encouraging: how revolutionary-minded workers and peasants in Russia, led by the Bolshevik party, overthrew the centuries-old Czarist monarchy, defeated the attempts to impose a capitalist dictatorship and went on to establish a worker and peasant revolutionary government, opening the road to the possibility of building a socialist society. It's a book you can read repeatedly, getting more out of it each time.

Trotsky explains with rich detail the growing social crisis that wracked Russia, the devastating impact of World War I, the economic collapse, and the incapacity of the old regime to offer any way out. He takes up political developments amongst workers and peasants and the oppressed nationalities of the Russian Empire, including the many millions forced into the Russian army. You understand their growing conviction that the old society had to be and could be overturned and a new order established. And Trotsky gives real insight into the leadership that made possible an actual revolution under these conditions-- the development of the Bolshevik party led by V.I. Lenin and it's successful fight to win the allegiance of the struggling millions.

Trotsky was, along with Lenin, a central leader of the 1917 revolution and of the government it established. After Lenin's death in 1924, he led the international fight to defend the Bolshevik's revolutionary course against the conservative and reactionary bureaucracy headed by Joseph Stalin that came to power later in the Soviet Union. This work was a key part of Trotsky's efforts to make the real facts and lessons 1917 available to future generations of workers, farmers and radicalizing young people. Read it along with some of his many other important works, including The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution, In Defense of Marxism, The Revolution Betrayed, and The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany.

Love him or hate him, Noam Chomsky serves a vital role to any thoughtful and/or politically minded individual in the United States today. By focusing on what you're NOT hearing from the major media sources and political powers, Chomsky engages his audiences by exhaustively cataloging his sources and letting them make their own decisions on what they need to do with the information.

This book represents some of the most accessible Chomsky that you can buy. Comprised of a series of interviews with Alternative Radio founder, David Barsamian, "Propaganda and the Public Mind" does exactly what you would expect it to do; exposing propaganda as a weapon used by the powerful, how it can be recognized, and showing the extraordinary impact normal people can have when they work towards the right sort of changes. Even while discussing grave issues, Noam manages to convey his faith that positive action is alive and well. As a lovely bonus to the interviews themselves, the resources section of the book will help you get as deeply into any of the subject matter as you dare.

I was thrilled by this book. If I were a doctor, I would prescribe an essay a day (which, unfortunately would only last a week for this book) as an antidote for the daily news.

This book in an important insight into how public figures make hay of the psyche of the populace. The less prepared we are to see and understand what's going on, the more they get away with and the more we and our children eventually pay for down the road. This book should be mandatory material at the highschool level.

Walter Jacques, Oklahoma City

This is an excellent book filled with great information about the world we live in. Chomsky is easy to understand in interview format and still gives loads of facts with logical conclusions.

For the price, this is a worthwhile book that presents a different perspective on politics and current events. Just be warned this is not an objective treatment on the science or implementation of propaganda. I was looking for a book that explored how propaganda works and is managed. Instead, the author spends a lot of time criticizing policy and those he considers the power elite. I appreciate the author's point of view but tend to discount criticism that doesn't come with proposed solutions, examples, supporting data and facts.

What differentiates this books from other's in Chomsky's canon is that it is a series of interviews, obviously, but in other ways it's an simplified guide to Chomsky's beliefs and journalistic pursuit of modern life. Chomsky is an amazing person and an excellent humanists and his insights will be sure to help you try to understand modern life better.

A repressive shadow looms over the destiny of these men of all age, beliefs, and ranks ... insidious terror creeps into those innocent minds and their lives ends before they know it or before their hearts stopped beating. Some vainly fight back, some don't, but all are hopeless.
The implacable and revengeful wave of the Soviet rotten bureaucracy destroys the life of innocent men. When tyranny and deception shutters the greatest hope of and for humanity, one ought to question if it had to be that way.

I can only echo the five star reviews already on this list. I first read Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon" 40 years ago and it made a profound impression on me. I re-read it this year for a book club and still found it powerful if somewhat dated. "The Case of Comrade Tulayev" is a greater book. I have read a fair amount about the early Soviet Union, including Stephen Cohen's brilliant biography of Nicholas Bukharin and Bukharin's own fiction written in prison. Victor Serge ranks at the very top of European writers. No one who is the least interested in this era can afford not to have read him. He is the equal of Vassily Grossman, who's "Life and Fate" is also essential 20th century testimony.

Serge penetrates in the most vivid manner the society in which the purges took place and the outward behavior and inner workings of the players' minds and their rationalizing philosophy. Highest possible praise for one of the heros of modern Russia and a truly great writer.

A voracious reader I thought I finished the Russian classics when I completed Cancer Ward and the First Circle having devoured Crime and Punishment and War and Peace years before. Not so . Victor Serge has it all :the prose of Tolstoy, the impending doom of Dosteyesky and the currency of the Stalin era. Don't miss this one. FPB Ann Arbor

This book is amazing for its ability to communicate the intimate thoughts of the characters and employ beautiful prose to describe the physical settings in which the action takes place, without abandoning the larger narrative. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Soviet history or literature. I read it after reading several other books on the period, and felt that they were an excellent preparation for this one (The Unquiet Ghost - Hochschild, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar - Montefiore, The Gulage Archipeligo), but even without the background this is a fantastic read.

To begin with, Victor Serge (1890-1947) is an anomaly. He is a Russian revolutionary and political agitator who just happened to be born in Belgium and who wrote most of his books in French. He is not widely read today because most of his books fall under the heading of politics, yet he wrote seven novels of which THE CASE OF COMRADE TULAYEV is perhaps the best known. He comes from a family of socialists, one of whom was involved in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. During the Russian Revolution, he took part in the siege of Petrograd and knew Lenin personally. (His wife was one of Lenin's stenographers.) He ran afoul of Stalin, who had him arrested for being a Trotsykite. After years of imprisonment, he was one of the few writers ever released by Stalin in response to international pressure from André Gide and other European cultural figures. Later, he was also "excommunicated" by the exiled Leon Trotsky as an anarchist. Always on the edge of poverty and now on the outs with the Communist Party in all its many flavors, he wound up in Mexico after Trotsky's assassination and worked on a biography of the slain leader. In the end, the high altitude proved too much for his heart, and he died in 1947 while in the back seat of a Mexico City taxicab.

THE CASE OF COMRADE TULAYEV has been reprinted in the excellent Willard R. Trask translation by New York Review Books, with an introduction by Susan Sontag. Although there have been other novels about Stalin's purges of the 1930s--most notably Arthur Koestler's DARKNESS AT NOON--nothing comes close to Serge's treatment. His story begins with two bachelors in Moscow who share adjacent rooms in an apartment building. On a sudden whim, one of them, the fusty Romachkin, buys a pistol and takes to carrying it around on his nocturnal rambles through the city. One day, just outside the Kremlin, he is shocked to find himself within a few feet of Stalin himself. Realizing that he could have taken out and shot the dictator before his bodyguards could intervene, he goes home and hands the gun over to his neighbor, Kostia, who also takes to walking around at night with it. When Kostia sees one of the more repressive members of the Central Committee, one Comrade Tulayev, getting out of a chauffeured limo to walk the extra few blocks for a clandestine tryst with his mistress, he shoots and kills him and gets away.

In the chapters that follow, the murder of Comrade Tulayev, whom we never really get to know, extends like a ripple through the upper levels of the Russian leadership. It is said that the character of Tulayev was inspired by Sergei Kirov, who was reportedly murdered at the instigation of Stalin. As in the case with Kirov, Stalin puts unrelenting pressure on his political bosses to find the culprit or culprits, even if they have to manufacture them:

"The case ramified in every direction, linked itself to hundreds of others, mingled with them, disappeared in them, re-emerged like a dangerous little blue flame from under fire-blackened ruins. The examiners herded along a motley crew of prisoners, all exhausted, all desperate, all despairing, all innocent in the old legal meaning of the word, all suspect and guilty in many ways; but it was in vain that the examiners herded them along, the examiners always ended up in some fantastic impasse."

Each of the major figures thus framed gets a chapter to himself in Serge's novel. Some of these chapters, such as the ones on party boss Artyem Makeyev ("To Build Is to Perish") and the character known only as Deportee Ryzhik ("The Brink of Nothing"), almost rise to the level of poetry. Makeyev is one of those talentless people who rise to the top through sheer consistency and brute strength. One day, he is visited by an old comrade, who for the first time plants the seeds of doubt in his friend's mind:

"Artyemich, I have been thinking things over. Our plans are 50 to 60 percent impossible to carry out. To carry them out to the extent of the remaining 40 per cent, the real wages of the working class will have to be reduced below the level they reached under the Imperial Government [i..e., the Tsar]--far below the present level even in backward capitalist countries... Have you thought about that? I fear not. In six months at most, we will have to declare war on the peasants and begin shooting them down--as sure as two and two makes four...."

As he goes backstage at a Moscow theater, Makeyev is picked up by the security services and whisked off, uncomprehending.

At the beginning of his chapter, Ryzhik is a prisoner in exile in a tiny hamlet in a godforsaken part of Siberia:

"Incomparable dawns rose for Ryzhik from the profound indifference of desert lands. He lived in the last of the five houses which made up the hamlet of Dyra (Dirty Hole), at the junction of two icy rivers lost in solitude. The houses were built of unhewn logs which had come down in the spring drives. The landscape had neither bounds nor landmarks. At first, when he still wrote letters, Ryzhik had named the place the Brink of Nothing ... He felt that he was at the extreme limit of the human world, at the very verge of an immense tomb. Most of the letters he wrote never reached any destination, of course, and none came from anywhere. To write from here was to shout into the emptiness which he sometimes did, to hear his own voice...."

Even so, the long arm of Stalin's prosecutors reaches him as a possible person to frame for the Tulayev murder, and he is whisked off to Moscow. He escapes having to admit his guilt only by cleverly going on a hunger strike unknown to the guards. He slowly feeds all his meals to the toilet until he is too weak to confess to anything and escapes further interrogation by his suicide.

In the end, three of Stalin's former associates are framed and executed. After a candid confrontation with the whimsical Stalin, one suspect is assigned to supervise a gold extraction operation in Siberia. As in the French Revolution, even the prosecutors and their stooges are picked off one by one and ground up in the mills of what passed for justice during those perilous times.

You will not find Victor Serge filed under Russian literature. You will not find him under French literature. You are not likely to find him at all unless you are extraordinarily fortunate. Reading The Case of Comrade Tulayev has whetted my appetite to hunt down other works by this most elusive of writers.

Terry Pluto has written an excellent book and as an Indians fan for 70 years I can easily relate to his personal story and to the history given of the Cleveland Indians. It is an excellent history for the most part, written as only a sports writer can, though he contradicts a couple other writers a few times. I espeically like the emphasis on the heroes of my childhood, Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Larry Doby and others on the famous 1948 team. I disagree with his contention that the l948 championship team was not one of the greatest championship teams ever and this is disproved in the detailed book An Epic Season by David Kaiser. Also for a really complete history of the Indians before and leading to 1948, Franklin Lewis wrote a book titled Clevland Indians published in 1949. Sadly, I don't know if that one can still be found or not, even through Amazon. It is more a history. Nonetheless, Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir is a very good read and brings back the agony of the countless opportunities that former owners of the Indians let get by them. And the new owners may be doing that again today. :( As a personal story it is superb.

Absolutely wonderful weaving of an at times diffcult father-son relationship (congrats for telling it like it was!) and the history of the Cleveland Indians. Never gets bogged down in year-to-year stats and his way of comparing Shoeless Joe and Manny Ramirez's careers was brilliant. The stories about Manny are priceless.

Like all his other sports books, Terry Pluto is easily the best sportswriter on the planet.

This is a superb book because it goes beyond being a great sports book. Terry Pluto's weaving of his relationship with his father into his lifetime love of the Cleveland Indians makes it a book that readers will think about long after they've finished reading it. It's not necessary to be a Tribe fan to enjoy this book. I'd even go as far to say that a reader need not be a baseball fan to feel empathy and self-reflection on his or her parent-child relationship, regardless of whether the person is the parent or the child. I've also read the author's "Loose Balls", a wonderful look back at the American Basketball Association, and recommend that to those who remember the ABA (go Oakland Oaks!) and to those who weren't around to enjoy those years.

This is a fantastic book for any Indians fan who grew up watching games at the old Stadium. It's for all of us who grew up rooting for a sad team who had never won anything before and was never likely to do so in the future. It helps us to remember those days when the important thing wasn't how good the team was or if they had a chance at the Series, but rather spending time with our fathers watching the game. Maybe, just maybe, this book will help us to remember what is really important once again.

This book is as much a story about a son and his relationship with his father as it is about baseball, and tells each of those stories wonderfully. For basball fans it is an entertaining history of the Cleveland Indians and is full of colorful players, managers, and even owners. From the perspective of this one baseball team, the reader has a ring side seat on how much our country, society, and professional sports have changed and grown over the last 75 plus years. Just from the standpoint of the baseball Terry Puto is as good as Ken Burns or George Will.

But the story within the story is really about the author and his father. That relationship is one that is full of joy and sadness, wonderful memories and yet regrets. The author comes to better understand and appreciate his father after a stroke makes it impossible to talk to his father. In a cruel irony, when the time came that the author was ready and wanted to share stories and talk to his father, he was not able to.
All fathers and sons should read this book.

A final comment on Terry Pluto's writing style. I have read three of Mr Pluto's books and appreciate the way he writes in a clean, no non-sense style and yet fills his books with so much detail and color.

I was a huge Browns' fan growing up, even though I lived about 5 hours away from Cleveland. When the Browns lost on a Sunday, I had a miserable week and couldn't wait until 1 o'clock the next Sunday. Ah, the joy of growing up.

I learned a lot about the Browns that I never knew before about Paul Brown, Art Modell, Blanton Collier and the whole team. What memories it brought back. If you were a fan of that era by all means read this book.

Five years ago upon visiting the midwest I stopped in Cleveland to see a game and visit Jacobs Field. That Sunday morning I drove out to see the remains of League Park because that's where the Browns had their practices. League Park is arguably in the worse part of any town that I've ever visited a ballpark (and I've seen 150-200), but boy was it worth it. Too bad so little remains of the ballpark, but I have a baseball book describing and picturing League Park.

Pluto has done it again. This book, especially the second half, is a must-read for any Browns fan. Pluto's compelling take on the last Cleveland championship is loaded with information that cannot be found elsewhere. If you're a Browns fan, this book, if nothing else, needs to be in your collection.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE

What a book! It takes you back in time to when the Browns were not only part of the fabric of Ohio, but also the team that captured every heart. The section on the training camp and the players sneaking off to a local gas station is worth the price of the book alone. It was a special time and this book captures it beautifully.

I read it, loved it, and gave it to my Dad and he practically read it in one night.

For me, the acid test of books like these is whether they manage to engage the neutral. Certainly Browns fans will enjoy this pleasant wallow in nostalgia from a time when football was still football.

I'm not a Browns fan but I found myself wallowing along with them. Pluto manages to capture the essence of the '64 season and yet not neglect the wider context. Fascinating stuff.

A well written and consise book with a lot of information for those with ears to hear and eyes to see.......

St. Clair has been talking to the elves, nature spirits, rocks, trees, and otherworldly beings since childhood. He started out in those "highly spiritual callings" in the military, law, and banking to survive, but left all that boring, soul-killing stuff behind to become an astrologer and a psychic predictor.

No prediction can be set in stone, but he does claim to see our most possible futures, if we don't change our ways. The future is that up to 80 percent of us will be dead within a few years. The unenlightened dead will end up being dark spirits that cannot reincarnate in bodies anymore (sounds a little Calvinist). Only a remnant shall be saved, but they will eventually enter the gates of peace and paradise. The people who survive will be psychic and will have a new consciousness based on cooperation, not violently aggressive competition. All the races will be eventually mixed into one. All those of the old consciousness will eventually die off. There will be no borders and people will roam the earth, ever changing, to survive and thrive in the new world. As the ages change, cataclysms will occur: many land masses will go underwater and new land will rise up out of the sea. It will be an age of knowledge, not belief. Expect the beginning of the collapse of society on all fronts by 2009. Get out of the cities and go to remote areas 5,000 feet above sea level. One positive prediction is that corrupt and incompetent politicians will be a thing of the past by 2020.

The indigenous tribes with their ancient spiritual knowledge will be respected once again and colonizing will be stopped. "Cool" indigenous tribes, to St. Clair, are the Celts, the Mayans, and the Tibetans. "Uncool" colonizers are the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Spaniards. I do not share his belief that indigenous tribes are morally superior to the colonizers. I think that were just losers in the violent competitive game of life, best represented in the violent sports that most people love to watch in which the victor wins all and the loser is "beaten". The author didn't prove their moral superiority to me; I don't think they were less violent.

He touches on almost all the new age apocalyptic themes, giving one the impression that you could just write a book by recycling other writer's ideas, although I am not accusing him of that. He convincingly advocates for the importance of the imagination and emotion and how suppression of such in the modern world is destroying us. He even talks about certain reptile aliens, not all, that are the dark lords of this planet who are trying to control us, free thought, and the internet, but will not succeed. Some aliens are creating human alien hybrids because the aliens are dying out because they valued technological progress over emotions and spirituality.

I would have liked the book better if he had gotten an editor to edit the many small but annoying mistakes that leave a bad impression and make me take the book less seriously. His style is adequate but not as good as esoteric writers such as Manly P. Hall, David Icke, or Julius Evola. Still, any writer that uses quotes from such polar opposites as the Christian C. S Lewis and the Satanist Aleister Crowley can't be all that bad.

The books Zen of Stars and Forseen by Michael St.Clair have made it possible for me to see into the future
Profoundly informative essential reading
I could not put the books down until they were finished
I have been changed by these writings
Sally Williams
Melbourne
Australia

All I can say about this book is WOW!! I stumbled upon Micheal St.Clair by accident (or rather synchronicity) via an online video, and I was instantly hooked and bought the book here. This book will take you on a journey that afterwards you'll be asking yourself whether you are awake, sleep-walking or dreaming... What impressed me about the author was his precociousness as a child and his depth of knowledge to how the universe works. I just don't understand how astrologers do it; however, after reading this book, I realized that Micheal St.Clair is truly gifted beyond belief. If you have pondered, wondered and searched for answers your entire life, then this is one book that will provide the quantum-leap (jump-start) to a higher level of understanding and knowledge.

St.Clair si most definetly a Magi, and has broken through the veil of duality and illusion...and in his book "Zen Of Stars" he tries to help others in doing the same...besides explaining astrology and earth changes that are happening and that possibly "could" occur....he weaves a most wonderful picture of his life, telling how spirit has always been a part...he also explains where we all come from, which of course is "Cosmos" or the "Stars"....I would recommend this book highly, especially for anyone on a spiritual path, who is looking for answers...the most important one is that they must look within...

I have gone through 4 or five of the Natal Horoscopes of friends and relatives while consulting this book.. of course, centering on utilizing -and checking it's accuracy and usefulness- via my own Natal chart.

Personal revelations can be -and are- hard won. Anything that encompassess the Natal Chart concerning the Outer planets can be from original spaces, early trauma, overall unconcious behavior and trends, and deep early learning and leanings. The colors of your life, basically. What and where you come from...and move to. Does your direction and the understanding of that -in depth, aid you or harm you? Unconcious behaviour in overall drive..can only lead to harm within one's self and others..as....there is no one at the wheel.

That is not a good thing. One must mind the steering, otherwise one wanders off course; and it's hard to pull out of the ditch. of course..one must be in the ditch.. before they realize they were not paying attention to who, or what was driving! The planets form the road; the shape direction and lean to it...and it is up to you to pay attention to where things are directed to. Just like the song said:" Keep your eyes on the road, and your hands upon the wheel".

It's too bad the learnings of youth teach one nothing of such behaviour..but then again, how can one learn if they never fall off the road? The more times you fall of the road, and get back on..the more you learn to not to do it again. (I've worked hard {seriously!} at becoming an expert at that) I think I can stop hammering myself now...

Of course, finding such a book helps one find inroads to understanding one's own particular flavour of reptitious self- damage. I explained this once to a friend, I used it as a way of expressing to them, hopefully..a way in which they could begin to see how to deal with finding a way into their own depths. Each case is different:
~~~
" One way to look at some aspects of life is: We all have these glass walls we look out from behind, that restrict and control our movement and direction. We usually cannot see the edges or shape or position of these glass walls we live within -they are too huge and too close to us. They are utterly transparent to the one who is contained by them...we cannot even find the edges! Although... we can see those walls within/upon others, and in that moment of interaction...catch a glimpse of the reflection of our own. Tell me what you see in me..."
~~~

Sometimes I hammer people into anger, and get them to actually open their minds. (last resort!) They get angry and blurt something out... and are then mollified and confused, as I sit there and smile...and thank them for having an opinion or viewpoint...because without it, and moments left unspoken, we would get nowhere in life. I want to give them a big hug when they get angry...there...it finally came out..I'm happy now! The 'Moment Of Change' begins...at last!

The basic patterns of our lives that we keep repeating...(wheels within wheels) and when the next or current crisis may come from. Standing to the side for a moment..and learing to look up and down the road...for once. Seeing those patterns of behaviour erupt and repeat within the lives of loved ones, friends and associates. Witnessing the layers of the activity and motions within their existence. Like John Lennon said: " I'm just sittin' here watching the wheels go round and round..I really love to watch them roll...."

This book allows one to gain egress into the understanding of what the outer planetary motion means in the course of one's life..and in early life Natal Chart considerations. It can, and will create many poignant (eureka!), and quite likely difficult moments within the self, and bring one closer to being clear on where (and when!) they come from, and are going to. 'Suffering is the short road to spirt', they say.

The house positions for each planet, in transit (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are fully and clearly covered. The Transits formed with all planets from Sun to Pluto are covered for each of the three. The psychology and origins (mythological-base truth) of each of the influences of the three Outer Planets are very neatly and nicely covered in a very complete way. There is little left to be misunderstood, or questioned afterwards. What this means is, that it is well stated by the Author what he feels the situations involving (and surrounding) these planets is -and can be.

There is little for you to be lost in, as for questing for an answer that cannot be found. Relatively speaking, the directions for you to find that place within yourself to find -and deal- with your own crisis, is defly and fully laid out. The book will enable you to find answers..which is what the book is all about..and thus, makes the book worth it's weight in gold. Things become clear enough, that you will be able to transpose that to understanding as to what may be occuring for other people, which many here are interested in doing. Ie, Astrologers; budding or otherwise.

Inluded, is a list of suggested further reading, which contains the names of associated texts to chase after and absorb, which can lead to further understanding in areas where one may be stymied within themselves, or to extrapolate that understanding..once again, in the serivce and care of others.

Definitlely worth buying, and is a "Must Have' for anyone dealing with the subject of Astrology. Hard for a person new to Astrology (like me!) to state such, but I believe that this statement will hold true in anyone's analysis of this text.

I think we were robbed when Howard passed some years ago, he was a brilliant, self aware and humble astrologer who had a message and got it out to those who loved his work. He is sadly missed. This is the best book on transits out there in my opinion as it takes in the whole not just the day to day things that many transit books take into account. The inner workings of transits from the outer planets. I love this book.

The late Howard Sasportas packed a huge amount of high quality astrological and psychological information into this intelligent, clear and accessible book. It has been one of my constant companions over the last 10 years or so, both in my work as a professional astrologer and in following my own transits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

The first section, "The Collaboration with the Inevitable", is an excellent summary of how astrology can be used as a tool for understanding ongoing personal transformation, helping to turn perceived crises into opportunities. Sasportas then moves on to look in great detail and depth at the transits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto to each planet in the natal chart. A very large number of case histories are dotted throughout the transit interpretations, with a wide range of examples of how each planetary combination can show up in daily life. These possible events are considered in the context of the psychological development of the individual, Sasportas drawing on his extensive knowledge of many fields of psychology, mythology and spirituality.

Much of the astrological material here is similar to other classic transit books such as those by Robert Hand, Betty Lundsted or Stephen Arroyo (who Sasportas acknowledges), but Sasportas has masterfully integrated a huge number of additional psychological and spiritual insights from many sources. The Gods Of Change is a wise and compassionate conribution to modern astrology.

The BEST book on the transits of the outer planets - by far. Indispensable for any astrologer - beginner to expert.

Particularly useful if used in conjunction with a graphic ephemeris as done by WinStar - the astrology program. You can do a 50 year graph of the outer planet movements seeing all activations of 45 degree aspects at a glance. See what happened in the past to predict pretty accurately what will happen in the future - after all time is just a construct!

Having worked extensively with Liz Greene on the Psychological Astrology series, one might expect Howard Sasportas to have given us an equally compelling study of the transpersonal planets here. Right? Well--No. Sasportas' prose is tedious, uninformative and unimaginative and has what I find to be a strongly materialistic bias. Perhaps its a case of complementarity, with Sasportas playing the dry Freud to Jung's lushness, but there is no mythic imagination or Jungian amplification of symbols here. I finally sold this book, my further searches leading me to far better studies, including R. Tarnas "Prometheus the Awakener" (a superb post-Jungian amplification of Uranus), Liz Greene's own masterpiece, "Astrological Neptune" and her "Outer Planets and Their Cycles" (the latter still excellent after all these years). Jeff Green's work, "Pluto: Evolutionary Journey of the Soul" is also highly regarded. But don't buy this one unless you're looking for a literalist, quasi-Freudian view of psychology with no symbolic interpretations, no amplification and little real psychology.

I'm happy with the purchase, just typing on the keyboard in the privacy of my own home, selecting a book, clicking on it, easy, quick, effecient. Book arrived quickly, new book. All was well in my world. Only complaint would be that 2 of the 3 books I ordered simultaneously came packaged together in an excessive amount of packaging. Overboard on the plastic wrap followed by extra cardboard for protection, followed by a box. Don't need all that for books. Need to think about the environment Amazon.

I could not disagree more with Goldman's ultimate philosophical conclusions, but I enjoyed this book, and volume II as well. Her essential humanity emerges, and it is a good case study and an interesting read, historically, philosophically and personally. She is no Mark Twain or Billy Faulkner, but her life was interesting and her prose adequately conveys the milieu she became enmeshed in. A fair degree of antecedent historical knowledge is necessary to fully enjoy this book, but you most likely have that or you wouldn't be reading about Emma to begin with. If you don't, or find that you are getting lost in the history and sequence, it would pay to do a little research to better understand what she lived through. It will also help you spot bias on Goldman's part. I heartily recommend this book. It is informative, enlightening and entertaining to boot.

In her autobiography Emma Goldman explains her life, narrating the experience of marching to her own drummer. Depending on the reader's political expectations, Emma's life is either inspiring or downright terrifying. Those who believe in social conformity would probably be more comfortable moving on to other fodder.

Nevertheless, this eyewitness account of American and Russian history, ought not to be trivially dismissed. Emma fought for things we have taken for granted in modern life, such as birth-control and the eight-hour work day; she went to jail in the struggle to obtain these for us. This book explains how she lived her commitment to individual liberty, choosing who she would love, advocating revolution, and harrassing those of her "allies" who compromised on these principles.

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the book is her years in Russia. Here she describes arriving at the "Promised Land" of the peoples' revolution and how that mutated into a sense of disillusionment and horror at what she saw as the betrayal of that revolution by the "dictatorship of the proletariat."

Her writing style is nothing exceptional, but the story she weaves from the material of her life is nothing short of fascinating. Another reviewer suggested taking a break between volumes--I couldn't! I had to know what happened next.

Although there are a lot of pages to wade through, I will give this book as a gift to the young women in my life. I believe that Emma can serve as a role model for living one's own life, not living out the expectations of friends, family, or society. In a dysfunctional world, we have too few people who model this.

Emma gets three stars for writing style, but the powerful and plentiful content bring the rating up to five stars. Not to be missed.

(If you'd like to discuss this book or review, click on the "about me" link above & drop me an email. Thanks!)

NOTE: THIS IS VOLUME ONE ONLY! It's a great book but it is not labeled as just the first half of the memoir.

This is the best autobiography I've ever read, because her life was lived with such commitment & independence. Certainly, she was hugely influential in her time, but her success was scratched out of nothing, with no support, and huge opposition. The difficulties and the times are conveyed amazingly well. The book will make you look carefully at your own life ... in ways that can only change it for the better.