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Tag Archives: Stalin
The Books: Arguably, ‘On Animal Farm’, by Christopher Hitchens
On the essays shelf: Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens Christopher Hitchens wrote an entire book on Orwell called Why Orwell Matters (it’s great, no surprise). His mentions of Orwell in print probably run into the hundreds of thousands. And not … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Animal Farm, Arguably, Christopher Hitchens, essays, George Orwell, Stalin
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The Books: Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays, ‘Visit to a Small Planet’, by Christopher Hitchens
On the essays shelf: Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays Anyone who’s read me for a while knows my fascination with totalitarian countries, autocracies, dictatorships, group brainwashing masked as ideological fervor, the whole nine yards. I actually could spend … Continue reading
The Books: Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays, ‘The Old Man’, by Christopher Hitchens
On the essays shelf: Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays Isaac Deutscher wrote a three-volume biography of Leon Trotsky (which I have not read: I mean, life is short, you know? I’m sure it’s amazing). Deutscher’s history is an … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Christopher Hitchens, essays, Love Poverty and War, Stalin, Trotsky
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Memoirs of a Revolutionary, by Victor Serge: A Chapbook
A phenomenal accomplishment, written on the run, through deportations, exile, imprisonment, and published posthumously. One of the most important books of the 20th century. Up there with Robert Conquest’s The Great Terror: A Reassessment. Victor Serge was active in Socialist … Continue reading
Today in history: November 7, 1917
Yesterday’s post was a bit prescient, considering that today is the anniversary of one of the most seismic events of the 20th century: The Russian Revolution (or, at least, that first successful power-grab.) Look at that rogue’s gallery. I love … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day
Tagged Edvard Radzinsky, George Orwell, Grey Gardens, Lenin, Nicholas and Alexandra, politics, Russia, Stalin, Trotsky, Victor Klemperer, war
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Stuff I’ve Been Reading
— I’ve seen this linked all over the place and finally got around to reading it: How the Freaky Octopus Can Help us Understand the Human Brain. I certainly don’t want to meet an octopus out in the wild but … Continue reading
Katyn (2007); Dir. Andrzej Wajda
In mid-September, 1939, on a bridge in Poland, groups of people flee from opposite directions. The Germans invade from behind, and the Russians approach from the front. It is utter chaos. The crowd is well-dressed, for the most part, holding … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Andrzej Wajda, Germany, Poland, politics, reviews, Russia, Stalin, war, war movies, WWII
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György Ligeti’s “Musica Ricercata” in Eyes Wide Shut
I watched Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures last night. When he was a teenager, he was already becoming an accomplished photographer, with a dark room set up in his parents’ house. In 1945, when FDR died, he took the … Continue reading
2009 Books Read
A pathetic showing when you consider how much I normally read (2008, 2007, 2006, 2005), but whatever, I did what I could. I did not read a book, not one word, from about March to August. Or, that’s probably wrong … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Personal
Tagged Billy Crystal, books read, Necessary Sins, Nureyev, Stalin, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
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The Boat Cemetery in Central Asia
Ryszard Kapucinski in his book Imperium writes: Central Asia is deserts and more deserts, fields of brown weathered stones, the heat from the sun above, sandstorms. But the world of the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya is different. Arable … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellania
Tagged Central Asia, Imperium, Ryszard Kapuściński, Stalin, Uzbekistan
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