Tag Archives: Robert Conquest

2008 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2008 by sheila

… in the order in which I finished them, understanding that very often I read many books at the same time. I count re-read books, by the way. I’ll include links to any posts or book excerpts I might have … Continue reading →

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“I Told You So, You Fucking Fools”

Posted on February 26, 2008 by sheila

or … that’s what Kingsley Amis reportedly told Robert Conquest should be the title of the new edition of The Great Terror: A Reassessment when it came out with updated information – information which basically not only vindicated Conquest (who … Continue reading →

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2006 Books

Posted on December 30, 2006 by sheila

Books read this year. I actually may end up adding a couple more to the list – since I am bed-ridden at the moment and could finish 2 more books by the time the damn ball drops across the river. … Continue reading →

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Today in History: Dec. 1, 1934

Posted on December 1, 2006 by sheila

Josef Stalin and Sergei Kirov From: Stalin and the Kirov Murder, by Robert Conquest: This century has seen horrible crimes on a mass scale, culminating in the Jewish Holocaust. No comparison with these can be sustained. But as an individual … Continue reading →

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Totalitarian Reading

Posted on June 2, 2006 by sheila

Over the weekend I finished two books: Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens (READ IT) and Language of the Third Reich: LTI: Lingua Tertii Imperii by Viktor Klemperer (I could say READ IT – but you would seriously have to … Continue reading →

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The Books: “The Great Terror: A Reassessment” (Robert Conquest)

Posted on April 13, 2006 by sheila

Next excerpt from my history bookshelf: Next book on the shelf is The Great Terror: A Reassessment, by Robert Conquest One of the most important non-fiction books of the 20th century. It was first published in 1968, and then was … Continue reading →

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Fungus in Red Square

Posted on March 21, 2006 by sheila

Member this whole story? About Lenin sprouting fungus in the middle of Red Square? The whole embalmed leader thing has always fascinated me on a very abstract level. It’s so creepy, and – so labor-intensive – like – people’s entire … Continue reading →

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Robert Conquest to Elias Canetti

Posted on March 6, 2005 by sheila

Finished The Great Terror yesterday. Have they taken away Walter Duranty’s Pulitzer yet? You know who struck me as even more ridiculous than Duranty? The “Webbs” , Beatrice and Stanley Webb. They sat at those trials, and saw justice being … Continue reading →

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The Purge Of the Artists

Posted on March 2, 2005 by sheila

This morning I read the chapter in Conquest’s book The Great Terror about the purge of the artists in Stalinist Russia. For obvious reasons, this chapter affected me deeply. The writers, actors, theatre directors, poets … and of course, the … Continue reading →

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“Grokking” Stalin And The Murder of Kirov

Posted on February 25, 2005 by sheila

Update: I just realized that my description of 3 a.m. anxiety may obscure the rest of the post, which would be unfortunate. So if you want to skip over that part to get to the Stalin stuff, feel free. You … Continue reading →

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