Tag Archives: Robert Conquest

“The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.” –Robert Conquest

Posted on July 15, 2025 by sheila

“I think once you accept that you have the answer to everything, you can do anything to bring it about because your enemies are trying to stop you, are enemies of reason, of truth of everything – enemies of the … Continue reading →

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2021 Books Read

Posted on January 1, 2022 by sheila

I lived at three addresses this year. I moved twice. In the middle of a pandemic. It’s been a year of upheaval, transition, as well as endurance. For most of this year, the majority of my stuff was in storage. … Continue reading →

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Stuff I’ve Been Reading

Posted on October 13, 2021 by sheila

Lots of re-reads because 1. I’m in turmoil. The familiar is a comfort. 2. The majority of my books have been in storage for almost a year. We all have been reunited but they’re still in boxes stacked against the … Continue reading →

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Recommended Books: Non-Fiction

Posted on March 29, 2020 by sheila

I have been meaning to do a Part 2 to my Recommended Books: Fiction list – put together years ago. I wanted to recommend non-fiction, from history books to biographies to essays to whatever. Here is the Non-Fiction list. I’ve … Continue reading →

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Everybody Breaks, Bro: Costa-Gavras’ The Confession

Posted on April 29, 2018 by sheila

The fourth shot in Costa-Gavras’ excruciating film The Confession. If Robert Conquest explained the machinations behind the Soviet show trials in the 1930s in The Great Terror, and if, in Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler walked you through the the … Continue reading →

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2017 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2017 by sheila

I got into a good rhythm with reading this year. I did a lot of re-reading, going back to books I haven’t read in 20 years or whatever. It was fun, like a reunion with an old friend. Much of … Continue reading →

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Bookshelf Tour #9

Posted on December 22, 2017 by sheila

The books of Robert Conquest: first and foremost his masterpiece, one of the most important books of the 20th century: The Great Terror: A Reassessment, but also Reflections on a Ravaged Century, The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the … Continue reading →

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R.I.P. Robert Conquest

Posted on August 6, 2015 by sheila

Robert Conquest, one of the most important and influential historians of the 20th century (who started out as a poet, the guys he palled around with were Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin) has died at the age of 98. His … Continue reading →

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Rebecca West on Goering

Posted on March 25, 2010 by sheila

I’ve got a couple of what I call “intellectual idols”, people who analyze and parse the world and its events, in a way that seems singular, important, and (in some cases) life-altering (for me). I was one way before I … Continue reading →

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“Even his walk made him different from everyone else.”

Posted on January 30, 2009 by sheila

I’m reading Nureyev: The Life, by Julie Kavanagh right now, and it is superb!! I don’t know anything about ballet, and know very little about the ballet world itself – and while the bare bones of Nureyev’s story are familiar … Continue reading →

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