Socialism Books

I was introduced to this book by a friend of mine 15 or 20 years ago. At the time I was young and middle of the road politically. I thought some things the government endeavored to spend money at were good and others downright silly.

After reading "The Law" my understanding of government in general crystallized to a large extent and has not changed much since. The author uses some examples from his time, but its not hard to follow his intent.

This work stands the test of time and is still as relevant today as it was in the mid 1800's. I would also recommend his other works as well. They also are concise and to the point.

I bought three copies of this book as I had lent my first copy out 10 years ago and it was never returned, which even though the original I had was sentimental to me, is OK since this book should be forwarded to as many people as possible. Legal Plunder is rampant in America today and will only be curbed by educating "We the People" about the cost of following these intolerable practices. Enjoy and then pass it on.

What is the law? Politial economist Frederic Bastiat suggests that the law is a negative, rather than a positive, concept: law is not justice, but a safeguard against injustice. As humans, Bastiat says, have a natural right to person, liberty, and property, one of the key criteria of justice is that it safeguards people's persons, liberty, and property. Thus, the government's legitimate role is to prevent theft and incursion onto individuals' liberties.

Needless to say, this was not then, and is not now, happening. Governments do not generally seem to limit themselves to protecting individual liberty, but go well beyond this, mistakenly supposing that they can legislate their way to justice. Whether it is social justice, a particular moral code, "fair trade," etc, governments often feel that the people cannot be trusted to recognize their own interests; government must enforce people's adherence to the government's interest.

Bastiat's greatest insight in this book is the concept of legal plunder. He suggests that while every government everywhere recognizes that it is wrong to steal someone's property (no matter how noble one's intent), government gives itself a free pass to take property, often taking from one class to give to another. Bastiat asks repeatedly this rhetorical question (for we already know the answer): if I may not steal from you to give to my friend without legal consequence, why can the government do this? If it is not fair when I take your property without your consent, why is government exempt from moral outrage when it follows suit?

Bastiat wrote "The Law" shortly after the French revolution, but it is not exaggeration to say that this terse and clearly argued book is every bit as necessary today as it was then. As I write this, the United States Congress (the real robber barons?) are set to give General Motors ANOTHER four billion of our tax dollars. This is the very defnition of legal plunder, as government is doing exactly as Bastiat says: taking from one group and giving to another (in this case, tex dollars are being funneled to a for-profit business!). Legal plunder is as alive today as it was in Revolutionary France.

This is most certainly a book that everyone concerned with liberty should read (and at less than 100 pages, we SHOULD all be reading it). Bastiat lays a fantastic theoretical framework for the liberal (small "l") state that we have been moving further and further away from. I would also suggest that one read, as a companion to this, Bastiat's "Essays on Political Economy," for as this book discusses liberty from a legal point of view, the other discusses it from an economic point of view (and is very much a precursor to the Austrian school of rconomics.)

So, read it and get angry!

Bastiat, a classical liberal shows just how evil a big government is, and how once you give government the power to get their hands on the economy, they quickly get involved in legal plunder, and it is not to the aid of the poor. He then talks about the absurdity of socialism, and how unnatural and ineffective it is. He talks about the absurdity of government violating property instead of protecting it, because after all, the only reason government comes into existence in the first place, is to only protect property. He also talks about the types of plunder and also makes the distinction that law is supposed to enhance freedom, not restrict it, although in our world, it is definitely the other way around. There is also a bit of history to be found in the book as well, and it goes back as far as ancient Greece. A must read for all people. Bastiat, the great economist, is also a great political philosopher.

The Law by Frederic Bastiat is perhaps the clearest and most logically founded explanation of the proper role of the law (government) in society I have yet read, and it is clearly in the same constellation of thought in which you will find the luminary ideas of our nation's own brilliant founding. Writing on his deathbed and freshly after the events of the 1848 revolutions, although the logic and consequences of his ideas are timeless, appears to have sharpened his mind and imparts this book with a profoundness and sagacity beyond its 106 short pages.

The simple central concept that shines throughout, familiar to Americans and certainly inspired by 1776, is that individuals have natural rights to life, liberty, and to property, which is the fruit of their efforts and faculties. Injustice is any violation of these rights, and the only just purpose of the law is their protection. As nature gave us the ability to defend these rights for ourselves, law is only their organized defense in the society.

At the core of the logic of his thought is a practical model of human behavior, one clearly developed by his background as an exporter. (The Law is his seminal work, his previous works were on economics.) He states

"A science of economics must be developed before a science of politics can be logically formulated. Essentially, economics is the science of determining whether the interests of human beings are harmonious or antagonistic. This must be known before a science of politics can be formulated to determine the proper functions of government."

Implicit in his reasoning is that once the organized monopoly on force inherent in government is wielded only to protect each individuals naturally endowed rights, human interests are harmonious and no further extension of the law is necessary. Human nature and interests are not inherently nor completely harmonious of course, necessitating the need for law in the first place. The vices he clearly identifies in human nature which must be guarded against are based in man's tendency to "live and prosper at the expense of others," or plunder. This vice ranges from the hard vice of illegal plunder, represented by anything from a petty theft conducted by an individual to the expansionist conquest undertaken by a whole people, to the softer sounding vice of "legal" plunder in which the law has been perverted to take from one class and give to another a positive right (i.e. to education, or health care, or housing) in the name of false philanthropy. Positive rights, which can only be produced by someone else's labor, come only with the destruction of naturally endowed negative rights as the law -force- cannot produce goods, cannot enlighten, cannot heal and cannot clothe by its mere existence. For the law to create these things it is only by use of force to coerce others to do them or take from their labor. This legal plunder sets up war of class against class, union against employer, trade against trade, as each races to beat the other in using the unchecked power of government to favor them. As simple proof of this he points out how no mob or lobbyist has ever rioted a police station in demand for a benefit, instead they storm the legislature where legal plunder can be drafted into law.

Socialism is at the heart of trying to provide positive rights and thus perverting the law towards instituting legal plunder. It was also at the heart of the 1848 revolutions, and it is not surprising then that his arguments against it receive the lion's share of this work. There are many parallels in his arguments against socialism applicable today, due to the unwavering nature of man over time. Bastiat describes in concise detail the pitfalls, traps, and false assumptions behind socialism, even in its most well intentioned and noble forms. Besides the inability of the law to create positive rights by fiat the largest false assumption is the inertness and malleability of men. That law is needed to create society, to socially engineer a mass of beings that can be formed by force and whom left to their own devices would slide into greed, destitution, and misery. This is at the heart of the Utopian fantasy which is so infectious to men's souls yet so ultimately poisonous. For if the natural tendencies of men are so poor, Bastiat asks us, how is it that the organizers of the law, the legislators, can be relied upon to be of a higher and better nature, pointing out the ironic self contradiction behind socialist and utopian engineering. Men are neither lifeless beings waiting for instruction from the law, man existed and developed before the law was created, nor are they so vile as to need the law to guide them in their lives and build their society for them, otherwise the cruel trick of man's cold nature would leave the development of good civil societies impossible. He shows how contradictions are not only inherent but central to socialism, and how socialism inevitably leads to tryanny and often to dictatorship. He also shows how faith in a free society, one in which government does not extend into providing education, health care, etc. is consistent with religious faith in how God made man's nature, and draws an interesting comparison between how modern secular societies are seeming to ineluctably move away from classical liberty and towards socialism. In another interesting flourish Bastiat also predicted how slavery would threaten to destroy the American republic before the Civil War, perhaps not an earth shattering prediction of the time but one he explains with an elegant degree of logic.

An amazing work which should be read by anyone interested in liberty, natural rights, philosophy, and the state of government. Each page rings with insight and reason for which you will be the better for having read.

This is a must read. I would like to see a copy of this book in the hands of every law maker in the country. So simple and so true. When I first read it at age 16, I purchased multiple copies to give away. As soon as I get back on my feet in this economy, I plan to do so again. LONG LIVE FREEDOM!

This book provides a multi-faceted history (i.e., social, economic, military, political, diplomatic) of the major powers (and their relations with the minor powers) for the period between the world wars. Very well researched from primarily sources and very well written. From reading it one understands how this period came to be as a result of WWI and how it ended up leading to WWII.

I just completed this book and found it to be very well done portrayal of the 1930s. Brendon vividly captured both the individuals at the heart of the decade -- Roosevelt, Chamberlain, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and a cast of others (including the shifting political leaders in France and Japan) -- but also brings to life the trends and experiences of the millions of anonymous "masses." Particularly compelling were the chapters on Stalin's 1937-38 purges and the chapters on Japan. While lengthy (692 pages) the book reads at a good pace and keeps one interested.

This is one of the best books I have ever read about that period or any other period of modern history. Brendon knows how to connect countries, people, events and even fleeting vignettes with the utmost mastery. You really get a global vision about those years and the spirit that animated them. Last but not least it must be mentioned the elegance of Brendon's pen. His ability to depict leaders or secondary characters with one stroke, one line, one adjective or two is amazing and always with a drop of sly humor.
In his best moments he remembers that other great history writer and wit, E. Gibbons.

Apparently I'm the only one disappointed by this book. I found it a mish-mash of political, social, diplomatic & economic history that flitted around the world without going into much depth in any country. Brendon is a bit like a gossip columist, writing brief tidbits & then moving on to the next item. Also, he mentions the major diplomatic events, Rhineland, Austria & Munich, only in passing. I had hoped there would be more emphasis on diplomacy & politics, as in "Munich" by Telford Taylor. I found the chapters on Spain & Italy most interesting, perhaps because I've read very little on the Spanish Civil War or Mussolini's dealings with the Vatican & the war in Ethiopia. The chapters on France are also good, but " Collapse of the Third Republic" by William Shirer is much better. The chapters on Britain are the worst. Brendon is biased against Churchill & doesn't do the man justice. I skipped the chapters on the U.S., Japan & Russia (except for the last chapter), so I can't comment on those.
Maybe this is good popular history, but I found it rather superficial. On the plus side, Brendon is a good writer.

Comprised of a set of chapters in three or so rotations on such splendid characters as Hitler, Mussolini, Petain, Franco, Stalin, and even Hirohito and his generals. I could not stop reading this hefty volume and regret that it ended where it should have logically ended. The book bears comparison to the more breathless writings of Anthony Beevor and I heartily recommend it to specialists and to the general reader. Bravo!

This is one of the most unbelievable stories I've ever read. It's written with superb simplicity, making it a rapid and engrossing page turner. What a great gift Bardach has given us in writing this book about his horrific and heroic experiences. This is the best account of any world war 2 camp survivor, period. He clearly illustrates that the Soviet Union was about as horrible a place to be as Europe at the time. The book is as well written as the story is interesting. Fantastic. Thank you, Janusz!

I read this after reading The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin. This book may be bleak and shocking, but remember, the author survived! It is an amazing, gripping, shocking story about humanity. I loved it.

The most important thing that I gained by reading Janusz Bardach's book is that the will to survive is as important as food when it come to survival. More times that he imagined, he survived because he felt that he would, like he had a special angel or just more "good luck" than other people. It doesn't matter if it's true, it only matters that you believe it.

Luck is also helped by brashness and the will to succeed. His story about becoming a medical assistant, though he had absolutely no formal training, reminds me of Solsenitsyn's tale of how he survived the Gulag by lying about having training as a nuclear engineer. It's the ability to adapt that keeps you alive. Goebbels said that if you told a big enough lie enough times, people would begin to believe it. The only way to survive in the Gulag was to lie to yourself and everyone else.

Since so many of the NKVD were corrupt and brutal, the only way to survive in there world was to also appear to be corrupt. Stalin sent so many of the NKVD and those who worked for them to prison, that they were well cared for by their ex-comrades, because they knew they had a good chance of joining them. Who could survive better in a criminal state within a state then a criminal?

This is a story of hope without all the 'hearts and flowers'. It just the true story of what went on, warts and all (lots of warts).

I can't really say anything that hasn't been mentioned already, and I think that it would be inappropriate to give away any of the plot.

This is simply the most fascinating story of survival of any that I have ever seen. It is incredible as well as inspiring. It teaches you to value your life, and the relationships that you have with the people you care about most. There were so many instances when he could have resigned to his fate and accepted death, but instead he kept going. Millions of people died in prison camps during the war, and unfortunately all of their stories cannot be told. But to understand what they had to go through in their fight for survival, nothing beats this book. Besides telling his story, it examines the history and psychology behind what happened to him. And overall I believe that it is a valuable read for anyone interested in Russian Gulags or prison camps in general during WW2.

Janusz Bardach, who became a plastic surgeon in Iowa City, Iowa in 1972, recounts his experiences in the Gulag in this bleak tale of survival reminiscent of Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. A secular Jewish man and supporter of Stalin and communism living in Poland In 1939, he and his family fear their future as Germany's military forces are set up along the border. He is eventually drafted into the Red Army, but when he inadvertently gets his new tank stuck in a river, he's arrested and given a sentence of 10 years of hard labor. He, like the other prisoners, spends most of his time working to meet ridiculously high work quotas, while in a constant state of starvation. He travels from camp to camp during his six years in captivity working in various work situations including a mine, the forest felling trees, and as a medical assistant working with tuberculosis patients (which he eventually contracts). Once he recovers, he's sent to work in a psych ward, where the main focus is exposing the "fakers," those trying to get out of work. His job is to inject them with a seizure-inducing drug, which he does reluctantly. With a little help from his one surviving family member, Polish army officer brother, he is eventually released and finds out the fate of his grandparents, parents, sister and girlfriend. They were all executed.

Anthony Read's book "The Devil's Disciples, Hitler's Inner Circle" is a fascinating look at the Nazi leadership. Told in a flowing, easy to read narrative, Read expertly traces the rise of such Nazi stars as Goering, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Rohm, Speer, Himmler, and others. The portraits he paints are of calculatingly cool politicians who more closely resemble Chicago-style gangsters than leaders of a great nation. At the heart of this work is the bitter rivalry between Hitler's number two man and head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering, and his propaganda minister and Berlin gauliter, Josef Goebbels. Goering is presented as a borderline conservative as he seeks to avoid involving Germany in a second European-wide war. By contrast Goebbels is shown as the hard-core Nazi, pressing for ever more radicalization of the regime. The guiding principle in both men's lives, however, was total subservience to their mortal god, Adolf Hitler. Whatever Hitler wanted, these to men strove to give him, even if it was at odds with their desires.

Read's book is a wonderful and penetrating look at these men and the cause they served. It offers yet another small piece of the puzzle to the great riddle of the evil of Nazism.

There are many books about the life and death of the Nazi regime written with Hitler as the central character of interest. After reading a few of these books, one finds that Hitler was actually pretty boring.

This book is yet another retelling of the history of the Nazi party. It gets around the boring Hitler problem, by looking at the lives of 3 top Nazis (Goring, Goebels, and Himmler) who were very close to Hitler. Through these 3 people you get an insight to the brutal and darwinian world of the Nazi regime.

What sets this book apart from others is the excellent and easy to read writing along with a plethora of details that doesn't drag down the story. Was Goring a morphine addict during WW2? No. When did Hitler become a vegetarian? After the death of his niece, Geli. Was Himmler as boring as Hitler? Yep. What are the 3 myths about the Dunkirk evacuation?

In terms of today's 2009 history, would you rather read a book on politics based on the perspective of George W Bush or his henchmen, Carl Rowe, Dick Chaney, etc. I would definitely chose the later. It this perspective of the henchmen that gives the Devil's Disciples its historical punch and validity.

The all-too-human hatred and evil that fueled the murder of millions of innocent people is often told as the tale of one man: Adolf Hitler. The fact is, Hitler was merely a figure-head; an eloquent and seductive leader he may have been, but he would have gotten nowhere if it weren't for those who devoted their lives to him. With this in mind, I have always found the story of Hitler's supporters to be more chilling than that of the man himself. What kind of person willfully throws their lives into the hands of a madman? What kind of troubled mentality does that take?

"The Devil's Disciples" tackles this question. It focuses primarily upon Hitler's three main lieutenants: Himmler, Goebbels, and Goring, though other primary figures are mentioned and detailed. It is fascinating to see the story of the Third Reich told through the eyes and accounts of the men who built it from the ground up; the book chronicles their exploits from WWI all the way to the Nuremberg trials. Anthony Read is a detailed researcher, almost to a fault; there is far more information here than you ever wanted--or needed--to know. However, we can take it with a grain of salt, as this book is an interesting and (naturally) disturbing account of national politics at its worst.

The book comes equipped (at least in the hardback version I read) with a number of photographs of its subjects. To see the faces of these key lieutenants is spine-tingling; to see them smiling with their families is downright disturbing. That is the key point to carry away from this book, and the story it has to tell: call them "monsters," call them "demons," the men and women who brought Hitler to power, and who helped him carry out his atrocities, were as human as you and I. "The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle" is a chilling and detailed account of human evil given free-reign. Read it knowing that there is a lesson to be learned from all of this. Read it and remember.

I was utterly fascinated by the material presented here. I was quite suprised to find material I had never written since i have written every major work done on the Nazis.

Although it concentrates on the top leadership below Hitler (Goring, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Himmler, it also details Hitler's actions and leadership as a backdrop. From reading this, you really get a vivid depiction of his key henchmen and the complex intrigues among them.

Well-written, well-researched, and most impressive was how the plot weaves back and forth from Goring to Goebbels to other latecomers to the upper tier of leadersjip such as Speer, Borman,etc.

Brilliant historical work....

An excellent, well-written book that strays from the usual history of Nazi Germany by focusing not on Hitler but on his henchmen. Indeed, Hitler is almost a bit player for most of the first half of the book. Fascinating detail on the private lives and ambitions of Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, etc.
It is very well written and almost gripping, at times. He does have one little quirk, which is to occasionally throw in some very modern idiom, but it does not detract and is actually kind of fun.
I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to move beyond the basic histories of the Third Reich and find out about the strong-willed but self-serving and amoral men who worked out the revolting details of Hitler's regime.

The most remarkable history I have read re the German psyche on the way to 1939. Haffner was an adolescent during WW1 and a young lawyer in the lead up to 1939. His insights are astonishing to me. Answers the question: How did a nutbar like Hitler, achieve so much. Suddenly, I understand the America that allowed Bush to play so long. And that is as scary as WWII.

Excellent book on the rise of the Nazis by an author with a very humane and sensible view of life who lived through the events. Haffner gives voice to the average Germans who witnessed the rise of Hitler and did not approve - the majority, as it turns out - but who could simply not make sense of the madness around them nor could they find a way to realistically oppose the Nazis.

Haffner's narrative is often touching as he discusses personal events of his own, friends' and family's, illustrating how the sphere of their private lives was affected by politics. The result is that it reads like a 'non-fiction novel', and one extremely relevant for contemporary world events.

It is a pity that Haffner never actually concluded the book. In the last section, his son briefly explains what happened after the abrupt ending of the narrative, thus we miss the detail and richness that Hafner's own perspective would have undoubtedly provided. Still, it is an unmissable book, packed with lessons for present and future generations.

Sebastian Haffner's "Defying Hitler" has an ambitious initial scope - to chronicle the rise of Hitler from 1918-1939. The memoir is "unfinished" in that the narrative leaves off in 1933 as Haffner put down writing the manuscript with the advent of World War II and never came back to it. Haffner's son, Oliver Pretzel ultimately had the work published after Haffner's death.

Even in its "unfinished" condition, the work is a masterpiece. Haffner's purpose is not to excuse the average German in germany to succumbing to Nazism and to Hitler but rather to EXPLAIN the phenomenon. Excusing it would simply be post hoc. Explaining it serves the additional function of future application.

Defying Hitler was a difficult thing to do in practice. One could certainly not do so in public. The repression of Nazism in Germany was all the more pervasive by its reach into the private sphere and by doing so, obliterating the prior German distinction between public and private. The only safe way to defy Hitler was, ultimately emigration.

Haffner's narrative is frank, honest and ironic. It was a joy to read.

Finally, a word about Robert Whitfield, the reader of the Audio edition of "Defying Hitler." I believe there are instances in which the audio edition of a work is equal to or superior to the printed version. These instances of "audio excellence" are directly related to the quality of the reader. Robert Whitfield repeatedly accomplishes "aduio excellence." Whitfield's diction is spot on, his tone fluctuates to match the text. If the text is ironic, so then is Whitfield's tone. If the text is frank, so then is Whitfield's tone. If the text contains italics for emphasis, that emphasis is contained within Whitfield's voice. In short, his contributions always enhance a book and never detract from it. For other texts read by Robert Whitfield, I would recommend Bleak House by Charles Dickens, and The Abolition of Man & the Great Divorce: Library Edition by C.S. Lewis.

This is the story of Sebastian Haffner, a man who lived in Germany during Hitler's rise to power. I loved hearing the story from the perspective of the average German. I can't imagine living in such tumultuous times, but reading this book gives me a glimpse. The best part about it is the fact that it tries to answer two very important questions: how on earth a regime like the Nazis could rise to power, and how almost the entire nation where corrupted by them. It's a wonderful story that I would recommend to anyone that is the bit interested in that period. Remember, it's by understanding the past that we can best keep from repeating it.

Haffner is one of those few Germans who did it right. Rather than live life under Hitler and the Nazis, he choses to go abroad. Haffner describes his life from World War I until the eve of World War II. He describes the revolution in people's minds, and how people decided that Hitler and his party might be bad,but they could live with him. Haffner describes these experiences as Hitler rises to power. His girl friend is Jewish and he has many Jewish friends. He also has friends from across the political spectrum. He himself was more on the conservative side, but he loathed Hitler. This is his personal chronicle of those troubled times.

For a man of such a young age, Haffner was very astute on the coming future of Hitler's Germany. He correctly indicated that Hitler was the downfall of Germany and possibly the world.

Americas future, in a nutshell, if we continue to allow the government to run our lives!

I recently finished reading "Capital" by Karl Marx as part of my goal of reading all Encylopaedia Brittanica's "The Great Books of The Western World" (it's Volume 50). I found Marx to be an absolutely wonderful writer - reminded me of Charles Dickens' descriptions of the hardship of the early factory workers in Great Brittain in the middle of the 19th century. It was thus a natural progression to move onto "The Marx-Engels Reader". I have not been disappointed! In his Preface to the 2nd Edition the Editor, Robert C. Tucker stated, "A knowledge of the writings of Marx and Engels is virtually indespensable to an educated person in our time, whatever his political position or philosophy." Prophetic words indeed considering the current economic crisis facing us all and considering that the solution may be found using Marxist priciples!


Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy (Penguin Classics)Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 3 (Penguin Classics)

Very in depth reader about the works of Marx and Engels. Gives some historic information on the life Karl Marx and the order in which he wrote most of his works. If all you have read by Marx is the Communist Manifesto then do yourself a favor and pick this book up.

The other reviews cover the content, but as for the format (at least in the elder edition this reviewer has), the pages are stubby and short given the length of the binding. Increasing the width by another 1.5'' would have reduced the somewhat crammed text, but Norton must have needed the paper to print other books at the time.

Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Includes Capital (Das Kapital) and Communist Manifesto. FREE Authors' biographies and essays in the trial version.

This ebook contains essential works of Marx & Engels. Great digital item!

As Don Budge replaced Bill Tilden as America's top tennis player, the Roaring 20s were well into the Depression. But, Tilden was still one of the top sports icons of that era.

But, the US Lawn Tennis Association was glad to see him fall. They knew, as few others did, despite jokes, that Tilden was gay.

Meanwhile, across the ocean, aristocratic Baron Gottfried von Cramm resisted calls first, then pressure, to join the Nazi Party even as he rose in the tennis ranks. He, though married, was also gay, and watched over his shoulder as the 30s grew longer.

Then, befriended by Tilden in the mid-30s, he raised his tennis game even higher. And with Tilden rebuffed even as a USLTA coach, so, he sat watching von Cramm face off against Budge in a do-or-die Davis Cup match three weeks after Budge had whipped von Cramm to win Wimbledon.

Fisher weaves these story lines together, both before and after the dramatic clash, including the eventual arrests of both Tilden, in the U.S., and von Cramm, in Nazi Germany.

An excellent look at various slices of life, expertly woven together.

quite interesting juxtaposition of tennis greats and pre world war 2 history. Well written.

Fisher, Marshall Don. "A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, A World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played", Crown Publishing, 2009,

What A Story!

Amos Lassen

In July 1937 tennis seemed so completely civilized when Don Budge, the son of a California truck driver played against his friend Baron Gottfried von Cramm, a German aristocrat. The swastika flew with the Union Jack over the tennis court and Nazis had tea with the queen of England. Von Cramm had been coached by the legendary Bill Tilden and the three men's stories collide here. Von Cramm had a secret--he was gay and his Jewish lover had fled from Germany. He had been investigated for homosexual activities and was barred from several matches, He refused to become a Nazi and he confided in Tilden who was also gay that he was playing for his life. This is an amazing story and quite readable.

I read an excerpt of this book in "Tennis" magazine a couple of months ago, and found it intriguing enough to buy and read the book. This is masterful writing at its best as Fisher weaves the lives of three main characters (tennis players) into the fabric of the political and social scenes of the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's. I happen to be a tennis fan and player, but I really believe that even if one is not familiar with tennis, he/she could enjoy this story. It is compelling.

As a tennis history buff, I have always believed that a good tennis player and fan should know something about the history of the game. This includes the great champions and matches of the past because they helped to lay the foundation for the modern game that we see today.

I recently read this masterful, well-researched and highly-praised book on a riveting period of tennis and world history - the 1937 Davis Cup semi-final match played at Wimbledon Centre Court between Germany and the United States, as the world prepared for war.

Here's my detailed review:
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Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, A World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played. Marshall Jon Fisher, Crown Publishers (April 2009). 321 Pages, 6 Chapters, 8 Pages of Black & White Photos.

(*The book's title comes from a quote from Thomas Carlyle about "Fate [which] envelopes and overshadows...[against which] human will appears but like flashes [of] a brief and terrible splendor...")

Before Federer and Nadal, before Sampras and Agassi, before Borg and McEnroe, the greatest tennis match of all, argues the book's author Marshall Jon Fisher was probably the singles match of the 1937 Davis Cup semi-final played at Wimbledon seven decades ago between the great Don Budge for the USA (ranked number one in the world at that time), and Baron Gottfried von Cramm for Germany (ranked number two).

Click here for a Photo of Budge and von Cramm:
[...]

The greatness of the match was based on more than pure tennis (though the tennis was indeed extraordinary), but also the backdrop of impending world war and the high stakes for all, especially von Cramm.

This match was a five set thriller before a raucous crowd on the edge of their seats. It ended only after five match points in the fifth set, culminating with a spectacular running forehand winner around the netpost, and after both men were exhausted and tested to their ultimate limits. One man was playing for the honor of his country - Budge. The other, Von Cramm, was literally playing for his life (as he was targeted by the Nazi regime in his home country for alleged offenses, and only his victory on the tennis court assured him safety.) In that sense, the match became a metaphor for the poignancy of the human battle and, in the words of the publisher, ultimately the "triumph of the human spirit".

Against it all, Fisher also writes beautifully about the rising drums of war across Europe and the world, interweaving the Budge-von Cramm match with the story of a world on the brink of global conflict.

The three extraordinary men of the book's title are: Budge and von Cramm, of course, and the third man - Bill Tilden, the great US tennis superstar and champion of the 20s. Fisher makes many insights into their lives and inter-relationships, traces their seminal tennis contributions and even touches on their personal demons.

Budge and von Cramm were good friends on and off the court, who genuinely liked each other. Budge and Tilden naturally had the greatest respect for each other and their respective abilities. Tilden said of Budge in a comment published later: "I consider him the finest player, 365 days a year, who ever lived." Tilden was a visitor many times to Germany and, in an interesting twist, unofficially coached the German Davis Cup team, including von Cramm and was rooting for him at the Davis Cup match, to the obvious dismay of American fans.

Bill Tilden
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The first great tennis superstar, who transformed the sport from a gentile country club pastime to an arena for world-class athletes where winning was the ultimate goal and aim. Tilden in his prime simply was tennis. As sports writer Frank Deford wrote: "It was Tilden and tennis, in that order." From 1920 to 1926, Tilden never lost a match of any consequence, a record unequaled even to now. He won 10 lifetime major championships. He was also a talented writer and a brilliant student of the game. His 1925 classic book Match Play and the Spin of the Ball was studied by generations of tennis students. Consider what he wrote in his book about the "all-court player", almost a premonition about the game's future:

"What is the future of the tennis game? ... As one of the champions of today, I see vistas of progress ahead, of which I glimpse only a bit, but which the champions of tomorrow will have explored and developed. Where are these lanes of progress? Not from the backcourt. Not from the net. It is rather in the use of the forecourt for sharp angled shots, in the use of the mid-court volley, the half volley and rising bounce shots, that future progress lies. Every player who desires to succeed in the future must equip himself with every shot in tennis and then strive to explore the mysteries of the forecourt."

And Tilden was a consummate showman and entertainer. And he lived a flamboyant and extravagant lifestyle. He was famous for a reputedly 150MPH cannonball serve - with the wood rackets of old. Witnesses at matches, including Gene Mako, recalled that he could take 4 tennis balls in one hand - one between each finger and thumb and serve up 4 aces on command!

Tilden boasted a long career, playing on the pro tour well into his 40s and even 50s. In his late 40s, when he once beat Budge on the pro tour, Budge remarked that Tilden taught him a lesson, playing "the greatest tennis I have ever seen." At 53, Tilden could beat much younger stars Fred Perry and Bobby Riggs. It was said he could still be the best in the world for one set. "All they can do is beat him", wrote columnist Al Laney, "they cannot ever be his equal."

In 1950, a AP Sports Writers poll, without any real dissent, voted Bill Tilden the greatest player of the half-century.

(Oddly enough, Tilden shares a birthday with me - February 10, and comes from the same hometown - Philadelphia. I have even played at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia where he learned to play.)

Tilden sadly carried a dark secret from the public until the end of his days. He was a homosexual, and was charged late in his life of corrupting teenage boys. He was ostracized in public but always his tennis accomplishments were honored. He died of a heart attack in his hotel room at the age of 60.

Don Budge
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Budge was the skinny, red-haired kid from Oakland, California, son of a truck driver, who learned the game at Bushrod public court. Later, he justifiably became "Mr. Tennis", literally inventing the "Grand Slam" by intentionally planning and winning all four majors in 1938. (In Budge's day, a sea journey to Australia to compete in their Open was 22 days.)

Pancho Segura once joked that Budge was so confident in his ability on the court that if you were his opponent, he was saying to you: "You can be my ballboy". And for good reason. His powerful backhand often hit on the rise with devastating consistency is even today considered one of the greatest in the game. Indeed, Budge's "unassailable package of power and consistency" is still viewed by many as "the finest ever", even seven decades later. In 1937-1938, he won 92 matches, 14 straight tournaments, including all the majors and 10 Davis Cup matches. He was voted by the press in 1937 and 1938 as the best American athlete.

Budge became a Hall of Famer in 1964 and retired in Eastern Pennsylvania. He died in a car accident in 1999.

Gottfried von Cramm
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von Cramm was the tall, blond, green-eyed, impeccably groomed, German aristocrat with the title Baron, son of a lawyer and military officer. He was very popular and well-liked in tennis for his gentlemanly conduct and fair play. Unfortunately, he rose to prominence when the Nazi party came to power in Germany. They wanted to promote him as an example of Aryan superiority, but he refused to be used as a propaganda tool.

von Cramm was being watched by Nazi officials for this reason and others. He had married his childhood sweetheart, who was part Jewish. And there were also rumors that von Cramm was also a homosexual, a grave offense in Nazi Germany typically calling for imprisonment and punishment in a concentration camp. von Cramm was reportedly assured that as long as he kept winning at tennis, no harm would come to him.

Before the Davis Cup match with Budge, von Cramm had won the French Open titles twice, made the finals of Wimbledon two weeks earlier, and rose to number 2 in the world. Tilden had agreed to unofficially coach the German team and von Cramm, and greatly sharpened his backhand for the match.

In the years after the match, von Cramm was eventually arrested and imprisoned for the morals charge of homosexuality, and banned from tennis. He was also later drafted and served in the German Army on the Eastern front. After the war and many letters of protest from tennis fans around the world, he returned to play tennis and Wimbledon in the 1950s. He died in a car accident in Cairo, Egypt in 1976.

The Davis Cup Singles Match: Budge v. von Cramm
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The Davis Cup matches were a major sporting event in tennis in 1937, closely followed around the world.

There were unconfirmed reports that just minutes before the match, von Cramm got a call from Hitler, and that he looked pale and deadly serious, answering with "Yes, mine Fuhrer."

The match itself was a five set spectator's marvel, with shot after shot thrilling the raucous crowd who rewarded a particularly brilliant point with an entire minute of applause.

von Cramm, serious and methodical and under Tilden's tutelage, took the first two sets, 8-6, 7-5 with an onslaught of net volleys and groundstrokes deep and hard to Budge's baseline, which were "like a barrage of leaden bombs." Budge who, according to Alister Cooke, played "crazy and inspired tennis", fought back by doggedly moving into net himself - intercepting von Cramm's deep shots at mid-court, hitting volleys from "no-man's land" on the way in, and took the next two sets, 6-4, 6-2.

One writer described the tennis as "winners hit off of balls which themselves appeared to be certain winners". James Thurber wrote that the level of play was an "inspired brilliance, amounting to almost physical genius..." Walter Pate declared years later "No man living or dead, could have beaten either man that day."

In the final set, to Budge's dismay, von Cramm pulled out to a 4-1 lead. Budge re-grouped and stormed back to a 6-6 tie. Point after point late into the fifth set became an epic duel, a "heroic and sustained" effort "with such gorgeous shots." It all ended at 8-6 in the fifth, after five match points, on a screaming running forehand winner to the crowd's thunderous cheers.

I won't reveal here who won but you're welcome to look it up. The important point is that both men, tested to the ultimate, hugged each other after the match, genuinely happy for each other's play - as the Centre Court inscription says - "meeting triumph and disaster and treating those two imposters the same."

For those who want to hear a Podcast Interview of Marshall Jon Fisher, the book's author, with Photo Slideshow, click here:
[...]

End

This book is a must read for anyone trying to understand China today and how much it has evolved in the recent 20-30 years. Lijia's personal account of her coming of age draws the reader into another world; politically, socially and culturally. It's a feast for the curious and those wanting to know more than the standard media accounts of what has been happening in China.

Lijia's personal anecdotes are honest and heart-wrenching and so much more. Slowly, the deeper layers of Chinese culture and its society are revealed. Also, the inevitable demise of socialism (in the practical sense) and the growing contradictions which aspirational capitalism bring, begin to present some serious dilemmas and interesting issues.

This book was an eye-opening surprise for me. It is not only a great feat for a forthright and politically open Chinese writer wanting to speak to the world but also for China's governing elite. Despite it's surprising candidness, Lijia now lives and works as a successful writer and journalist in Beijing without minimal sanction or censor.

It leaves the reader wanting more and wondering where to from here?

I had picked up the book from the local public library's 'New Arrivals' shelf. After I read the book, I was simply amazed. I immediately ordered for more copies for me and a few of my select literary friends.

She has brought in a new realism in the contemporary writing. Her observations to details and at the same time the measured descriptions of these details are astounding.

Lijia has opened up a new vision for the New China being so open, honest and upright in her approach. I hope more and more writers start following her example.

She is a new trend-setter in the contemporary literary world.

A tongue-in-cheek title, a touching picaresque through one womnan's coming-of-age decade and through 1980s China. Autobiography has become a its own sub-genre in the flood of China books--some are worth leaving on the shelf (e.g., the self-absorbed White Swans), while others are worth treasuring, such as Cheng's Life and Death, Gao's horrifying Born Red and Ma's Red Dust. Lijia Zhang's tale, which starts at the end of 1980 as she is hauled out of high school and sentenced to lifetime employment in a missile factory in Nanjing, is firmly in the second group.
Zhang's quest for her dream of higher education and a career as a journalist seems doomed at the beginning of the work. But she quickly reveals an exceptional young woman who doesn't put one off by asserting that she is so, while illuminating grinding poverty without pleas for pity. She acquaints us with her rigidly proud mother, unbroken by torture during the Cultural Revolution, and her frail, bound-foot grandmother, and dozens of other intimately-evoked characters. They, plus her description of the roundabout way she gained the education she yearned for, and learned some lessons she hadn't sought to, all lend themselves to the portrait of a country running as much from its past as toward its future.
No Chinese version is available, nor will one likely appear. One reason why bercomes clear by the time we reach the final chapters: Zhang relates a speech she made under Beijing's Drum Tower in the spring of 1989, at a demonstration she organized, as the Tiananmen massacre was brewing. "We workers are supposedly the masters of the nation. But do we have a say in our government? Can we express our views freely?" She recalls this speech while under detention and interrogation following the massacre. She's facing the loss of her dreams a second time--read the book to learn how she overcame--more than once.
Read Socialism is Great!, get to know a remarkable young woman, and through her a country that, 30 years ago now, took a great leap forward, head first and eyes closed, into sanity and modernity.

While bookshop shelves are heavy with tales of woe from China's Cultural Revolution, for many readers the tumultuous early years of `opening-up' remain a blank. Stepping into the breach, Lijia Zhang's "Socialism Is Great!" provides a lively account of love, sex and intellectual ferment growing up in Nanjing during the 1980s.

At 16 an unsuspecting Zhang is suddenly pulled from school by her mother and thrust into the cold world of a state-owned missile factory. There she finds her every material need met, but her life closely monitored and choices severely circumscribed. When economic reforms begin to shake up the nation, Zhang grabs every opportunity to escape her cloistered existence.

In the process she grows from a naive, dreamy adolescent, to an intellectually outspoken and sexually adventurous young woman. What makes her tale so absorbing is the interaction between her personal journey and the tale's backdrop - a China balanced between its stark Maoist past and a hopeful but uncertain future. In short, the author's maturing reflects the transformation of the People's Republic between 1980 and 1989.

Zhang does manage to transcend the world she's born into - the book's publication is proof of that - but her struggle reflects both the achievements and disappointments of her generation. This isn't a dour tale of suffering though. The author tumbles through the turbulent period with energy, humour and spirited determination. And her vivid evocation of the era's hopes and ideals is a timely reminder that the early years of reform in China were about a lot more than just making money.

I've bought 2 copies of this excellent book so I'd like to recommend it to Amazonians in the US as well as the UK.
Lijia Zhang is now an internationally acclaimed journalist and writer, but began her career as a factory worker in provincial China. She has written a very funny, touching and insightful account of her youth in the 1980s. Her hopes of higher education were first dashed by her mother's decision to make her leave school to work in a factory, and then gradually realised as she took courses through the "TV University", studying first engineering and then, thankfully for us, English. The book recounts both China's transformation from the last traces of the Cultural Revolution to a market economy, and the author's own transformation from a subservient daughter and model worker to a radical protestor and budding writer. It tells us a lot about China's politics and economics in that period, but it is also very personal, food and sex being central elements in the story.

Several reviewers have observed that the one thing that is missing from the book is what happens to the author after 1989. Perhaps volume 2 will reveal it but in the meantime Lijia's website has more information about her as well as about this book.

I have met Lijia Zhang and seen her on TV. I was charmed by this account and recommend it very strongly.

I loved this story. I hope Emily Wu writes more about her life and what led her to America. This was a beautiful story about how the cultural revolution in China robbed people of there childhoods and destroyed families. I intend to read more from this author.

Emily Wu and Larry Engelmann book "Feather in the Storm", an amazing openess of Emily Wu's life and history of China during the Cultural Revolution. The events that unfold carries the reader from youth to adulthood during a time of hardship and struggle which reminds us why hope and love is so neccessary and reasons to allow history to not repeat itself...

Feather in the Storm is a heart-wrenching and deeply moving story of a childhood lost in the terrors of Communist China. The story opens as three-year-old Mao, as she is known by family and friends, meets her father for the first time - in a concentration camp. Moved from family to family and from city to village, little Mao finds herself striving to learn who she is and where she belongs. Fed by her starving grandmother and protected by her outcast parents, Mao attends school and performs her daily chores at home without complaint, maintaining her hope for a brighter future.

Mao's father, a university professor who studied in America, has been labeled as an extreme rightist by the communist party in China. Cast out of the university apartments, Mao's family is sentenced to live in a tiny village so that they can "learn from the peasants," becoming better citizens. Here, Mao and her family live in a tiny mud house which melts away in storms, leaving the family exposed to the elements. Forced to leave home as a teenager after high school, Mao is sent to live in a remote village on the top of a mountain where she falls in love with a young man she is forbidden to marry.

Throughout all of the trials and tribulations Mao faces growing up, and in every village and town she lives in, she is able to make friends and gain the respect of her teachers and neighbors. With an undaunted courage to survive, Mao teaches the reader that hope can be found no matter what the circumstances. Surrounded by death and destruction, Mao creates a life for herself and embraces those who struggle by her side.

Author Emily Wu expertly captures the essence of what life was like during this tremulous age, and helps the reader experience the drama from a firsthand point-of-view.

Armchair Interviews says: Stunning read.

"Feather in the Storm" is a fantastic book. It is well written, and enthralling. I rarely get attached to a story, but I read it through cover to cover with only one break. I couldn't put it down. I am looking forward to the sequel! It is depressing but enlightening. People are really terrible to one another. There is a whole generation lost to the policies of Chairman Mao in the chaos. This comes to light in this true life story of Emily Wu's struggle to survive.

My wife and I met Emily Wu at SIUE while on her book tour. Her story was amazing, so we had to buy the book to get the details.

It normally takes me about a year to read a book, but this one I devoured in a matter of days. The perspective of the book grows as she grows. In the beginning it is written as though you are only a couple feet tall - the details are in the words she hears, people's feet and the underside of cribs and tables. Later on she gets taller and you start to experience more of the people around her. But, like the limitations put on a pre-teen, she can only see so much and know so much, therefore her story is limited to just what she could see and understand. You feel as though you are a child right alongside her.

Often I found myself trying to figure out what things meant (names of Mao's movements and doctrine), but that just muddled the story. At times you feel like more should be written about the backstory of the Red Guard, but if you think about the fact that she didn't know much about them at the time it leaves it all in that child-like perspective. She writes about what she saw and read and experienced as a child, especially her reactions to how it changed the people around her.

The tempo is well-paced and manages to catch you off-guard. It covers issues like capping and de-capping, the invasion of the Red Guard at the Anhui University campus in Hefei, book burning, cleansing of the "Old" ways, living conditions, food, suicide, female infanticide, arranged marriage, bound feet, class struggles, child-on-child violence and much more.

When you are finished, you will view your life through a new pair of glasses. You won't be able to go 5 feet without finding 100 things to be truly thankful for.

I have read many books about the cultural revolution but this one stands out amongst them all. The story he tell is a complete one. Finally, we get to hear positive things about communism as well as the negative. I enjoyed reading Zhu's account about what a good communist his father was during his life. I hear the pride in his words. Zhu's father must be thought of as a hero back in China. Usually, you hear about government officials using their position to benefit themselves, but his father believed in the system. Even though I don't beleive in it myself, it's refreshing to hear from those who do. Zhu has a gift with words that I hope he will continue to share with us.

I have read many books about the cultural revolution but this one stands out amongst them all. The story he tell is a complete one. Finally, we get to hear positive things about communism as well as the negative. I enjoyed reading Zhu's account about what a good communist his father was during his life. I hear the pride in his words. Zhu's father must be thought of as a hero back in China. Usually you hear about government officials using their position to benefit themselves. Zhu's father believed in the system. Even though I don't beleive in it myself, it's refreshing to hear from those who do. Zhu has a gift with words that I hope he will continue to share with us.

Having lived and worked as an American teacher in China now for two years, I've been able to read a number of biographies and memoirs of China's modern history. But unlike so many westerners who read such literature, I don't have the luxury of finishing a book and passing it off as some faraway account of a society and system that I'll never personally have to deal with. On the contrary, I see and share daily in the environment that China is - the aftereffects of her history of poverty and oppression, the often-autocratic decisions of the government, the worldview that communism and recent extreme nationalism have shaped, and the now-booming economy and the poor it has left behind - and I have no choice: I must live and interact as a good citizen with a positive attitude in the surroundings in which I find myself, for better or worse.

Jan Wong's `Red China Blues' was the first memoir I picked up and read after I arrived. Though her work is a masterpiece of brutally honest journalism and is invaluable in tracking China's progress and change from Mao to now, Wong herself is Canadian, not Chinese; she can ultimately take China or leave it.

But enter Zhu Xiao Di. Born in 1958 into the home of one of Nanjing's most principled and loyal communist public officials, Zhu learned from his father's undying commitment to personal and public integrity and came of age during the nightmare of Chairman Mao's 1966-76 Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. '30 Years in a Red House' is his memoir of his own youth and growth during this tumultuous time, but even more so a memoir of his father's bitter suffering under the frenzied policies of Beijing's leadership. It is a story not of a starry-eyed outsider attempting to join in China's revolution, but of a Chinese person himself trying to remain loyal to the highest ideals and find sensibility and good even in the greatest of miseries.

Wong shows you China through the eyes of a foreigner who can ultimately walk away from China and its problems if she must; Zhu Xiao Di shows you China through the eyes of someone who will die to save it. '30 Years' is, frankly, much healthier reading for foreigners such as myself who must maintain a positive attitude toward our Chinese environment.

Zhu's picture of every facet of his family's daily life in Nanjing is full of insights into the culture of communism and reasons why the society was structured the way it was. It's full of personal stories of friends and relatives who struggled bitterly through the Cultural Revolution and the economic emergence that followed it. And it's full of perspective on the shifts of government and the way in which policies from Beijing affected every person's life during that time. We learn of his grandparents and their youth and adulthood during three great eras of 20th-Century China; of his father's ten years as an influential and heroic underground communist, leading to a career as an uncompromising and loyal public servant, followed by a severe denunciation and internment as a public enemy, and ending in release and return to public work; and of Zhu Xiao Di's own education as a circumspect youth, his entrance into college and experiences as one among the great Cohort '77, his work as a teacher, and his eventual pursuit of overseas study as a means to ultimately return to China and be a contributor to her economic and social growth. His knowledge of historical and political events, his grasp of western literature, and his ability to aid the westerner (the American, particularly) in understanding and appreciating Chinese and communist values and thought, are marvelous and indispensable.

For those westerners particularly interested in life and work in China, I recommend '30 Years in a Red House' without hesitation. Could I do it over again, this would be the first book I would read upon arriving here. Other memoirs may tell more riveting stories of fear or horror, other biographies and texts may give greater details of the intricacies of history and politics and great figures, but few - perhaps none - will instill you with as much love and appreciation for China itself and burden to see her society become and just and prosperous one.

I have read many books about the cultural revolution but this one stands out amongst them all. The story he tell is a complete one. Finally, we get to hear positive things about communism as well as the negative. I enjoyed reading Zhu's account about what a good communist his father was during his life. I hear the pride in his words. Zhu's father must be thought of as a hero back in China. Usually, you hear about government officials using their position to benefit themselves, but his father believed in the system. Even though I don't beleive in it myself, it's refreshing to hear from those who do. Zhu has a gift with words that I hope he will continue to share with us.

I grew up in China. My family had similar experiences and background as the author. I could identify myself with the characters in the book. My personal experience was very painful before and during the "Cultural Revolution". For a long time, I couldn't look back without crying hard. Thank you for telling your story.
Whenever I read a book about China, either by native Chinese or foreigners, I found certain sterotype about China, Chinese families and Chinese people. A Chinese given name consists of 1 or 2 characters. Since Chinese characters are very rich in meanings they could represent, a name could tell a lot. My name, as well as my siblings' and all my cousins were carefully chosen by my grandfather. My given name, only two characters, tells where I was born. It also represents fountain flowing at great speed, which my grandpa thought was a symbol of life. It may be true that China is a male dominated society. However there are a lot of people who don't follow the trend. I was the third girl in the family. My parents were just as happy if not happier about my birth as compared if I were a boy. As a matter of fact, in the environment I grew up, there was no difference what so ever about boys or girls whom the parents preferred. Many families actually preferred girls to boys as Chinese people all believe when children grow up, girls are more considerate to their parents (this is another sterotype, but many believe it). I guess, after all, it is the parents, not the society decide if boys are preferred to girls. Families are different in China, just like they are different in the States.
BTW, My late father was a surgeon. My beloved mother had been a teacher before she decided to quit her job to be a full time mom.