Book Description
Lenin's politics continue to reverberate around the world even after the end of the USSR. His name elicits revulsion and reverence, yet Lenin the man remains largely a mystery. This biography shows us Lenin as we have never seen him, in his full complexity as revolutionary, political leader, thinker, and private person.
Born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov in 1870, the son of a schools inspector and a doctor's daughter, Lenin was to become the greatest single force in the Soviet revolution--and perhaps the most influential politician of the twentieth century. Drawing on sources only recently discovered, Robert Service explores the social, cultural, and political catalysts for Lenin's explosion into global prominence. His book gives us the vast panorama of Russia in that awesome vortex of change from tsarism's collapse to the establishment of the communist one-party state. Through the prism of Lenin's career, Service focuses on dictatorship, the Marxist revolutionary dream, civil war, and interwar European politics. And we are shown how Lenin, despite the hardships he inflicted, was widely mourned upon his death in 1924.
Service's Lenin is a political colossus but also a believable human being. This biography stresses the importance of his supportive family and of its ethnic and cultural background. The author examines his education, upbringing, and the troubles of his early life to explain the emergence of a rebel whose devotion to destruction proved greater than his love for the "proletariat" he supposedly served. We see how his intellectual preoccupations and inner rage underwent volatile interaction and propelled his career from young Marxist activist to founder of the communist party and the Soviet state--and how he bequeathed to Russia a legacy of political oppression and social intimidation that has yet to be expunged.
Customer Reviews:
Poorly written and filled with speculation.......2007-05-10
I'm amazed that anyone could enjoy this biography, regardless of the depth of new information it contains. Robert Service apparently doesn't know how to write a cohesive story. When I first started reading, his psychological insights into Lenin seemed stretched, and I kept wondering how he knew these internal secrets about Lenin's inner thoughts and emotions. By the time I was halfway through the book I realized it was mostly speculation, casting doubt on other statements he made.
Personally, I think Lenin was an evil man, but Service's moralistic slams against Lenin quickly became annoying. Again and again he made snide little remarks especially about Lenin's hypocrisy, which may be true, but become silly after a while.
These problems, however, pale in comparison to Service's writing style. His paragraphs seem to jump from subject to subject without warning. He will begin a story and never finish it, often abruptly moving to a new subject without properly explaining the first. He continually begins paragraphs with connect phrases, such as "In light of this. . ." When one actually reads the new paragraph, however, one sees absolutely no connection with the previous discussion. Although you might think this is simply a minor criticism, it becomes quite serious when the book lacks a sense of logical and narrative flow.
Having said that, I learned an enormous amount from reading this book. The experience, however, was also the most unpleasant I have undergone in reading a biography. If you want a lot of fascinating insight into Lenin's life, perhaps this is a good source. If you want to enjoy the process of obtaining that insight, however, go elsewhere.
Balanced, definitive biography.......2007-03-15
Like Lenin's life, this book goes through slow, quiet times as well as periods of frenetic activity. Especially interesting are sections on Lenin's childhood and family, the October Revolution itself, and Lenin's final political struggle with Stalin as he battled his failing health. The chapters dealing with his nearly 20 years in exile are a bit of a slog, but do necessary justice to this phase of his life and illustrate that Lenin spent most of his adult life in petty but ruthless fights with other Bolsheviks.
Robert Service does not paint a pretty picture, but no honest biographer could with the today's open archives. Lenin was ruthless in pursuit of his socialist vision, destroying political rivals, horrifying many erstwhile allies with his ferocity, and never hesitant to use violence, and deceit. A bookish intellectual, Lenin advocated terror but let others do his dirty work. Lenin demonstrated remarkable tactical flexibility (several amazing flip flops are documented) even when his primary goals and assumptions never changed. As a young man, Lenin refused to engage in famine relief work with his family noting that peasant suffering and starvation will push Russia through necessary stages of economic development towards the inevitable communist utopia. With this, and other similar episodes, Service argues that Lenin was motivated more by hatred and revenge towards the tsarist regime than any sympathy towards the poor.
The book is quite successful as a biography in that it gives you a feel for Lenin's personality, family, likes and dislikes. He has a cosmopolitan love for European culture and a general disdain for all things Russian. Lenin is fastidious, cannot stand noise while working, and is obsessive about keeping his pencils sharp. His outward politeness disguised an inner ruthlessness. He is something of a spoiled "wonder child", adored and idolized by his mother, sisters, and wife. The biography does justice to the complexity of Lenin's character, and Service occasionally allows himself a little affection for his subject without ever condoning or whitewashing the horrors he perpetrated.
Note this is primarily a biography of Lenin, not a history of the Russian Revolution. Lenin's contributions and reactions to key events are given more attention than narration of the events themselves. Depending on your interests, you may want to consult a general history of the Russian Revolution instead of, or in addition to, this book. Sheila Fitzpatrick's "The Russian Revolution" is a concise and solid introduction.
This may be the best all-purpose Lenin biography out there. The treatment of Lenin is balanced, and Service presents alternative viewpoints fairly even when he dismisses them in favor of his own opinions. I preferred it to Volkogonov's biography, which is really directed at a Russian audience.
Pyschobabble with a generous mix of bizarre hatred.......2007-01-18
As someone interested in the Russian Revolution, I found this book at a school library and read it. I was not favorably impressed. Lenin is pushed down to the level of megalomaniac idiot. You don't have to like the guy to try to really explain his motivations or to seek real answers to the questions that bamboozle people. In addition to the pyscho-babble mentioned by other reviewers, I had a problem with Robert Service picking on someone who is to dead to sue him for slander. Robert Service accuses Lenin of shooting down his own Soviet troops (an absolute idiocy in the middle of a civil war).It may be fashionable to produce "exposes" of Soviet leaders, but that doesn't make it a good trend. Modern biographers of the Russian revolutionaries need to remember that Joe McCarthy and his Committee are no longer here to black-list them. In Robert Service's biography, I was upset to find the author judging Lenin through 21st century glasses. By this I mean:
1. Cutting out the context of the Russian economy's ruin during the Civil War.
2. The abject failures of the "democrats"
3. Forgetting what the alternatives would have been had the opposition won (I don't mean the Whites- even the peasants hated them)
I wonder what Mr. Service would do if he were in Lenin's shoes... While I'm wondering, I think I'll go pick up W. Bruce Lincoln's books on how the revolution happened and what happened during and after the civil war.
Great Book Whether you love him or hate him........2006-07-22
This book would be great for a research paper about Lenin! I enjoyed reading it immensly. It is well researched and well written. (see below for more on that) Whether you love him or hate him, if you are looking to find out anything about the man behind the name, then this is for you.
The only reason I do not give this 5 stars is because the language can be a bit hard to read for some. I am an avid reader, and am well educated, but even I had to get out the dictionary a few times.
Interesting... but Ultimately Disappointing.......2006-05-31
I approached this book with some enthusiasm as an introduction to a major 20th century figure about whom I knew very little. Now having completed the book I can say that I have a grasp of Lenin as a man, as a politician and as a historical figure but it took me a while to get there. Service paints a well rounded picture and clearly reveals Lenin's ruthlessness and intolerance and illuminates many other aspects of the man's character. Ultimately Lenin comes across as a monomaniacal egotist driven to impose his view of Marxism on others and uniterested in anything but politics.
The book though is marred by two failings. The first, which has been pointed out be other reviewers before me, is that Service occasionally overreaches on his conclusions regarding Lenin's psychological motivations. Certainly speculation is a part of historical biography but Service often gives the impression that he knows Lenin's thoughts. Secondly, and this is purely subjective, the book just didn't "grab" me. I have read several major biographical works of historical figures and the best ones draw me in as if I were reading a novel. This one did not, though I cannot explain exactly what it is about the book that fails in this regard. Perhaps Lenin is such an unsympathetic character and such a total politician that ultimately I could not find anything to relate to.
Book Description
Lenin, from the October Revolution to the U.S.S.R.
- Lenin's life and thoughts and the importance of ideology in both.
- The cultural revolution is examined.
- Explores Lenin's cult and the re-evaluation of his legacy.
Beryl William's Lenin is a clear and interesting introduction to the life, ideology and impact of Lenin, one of the formative figures of he twentieth-century. Lenin provides an excellent introduction to Lenin and his role in the Russian Revolution and provides an objective account of his years in power between 1917 and 1924. The author has written in light of new documents made available since the Gorbachev era and the end of the Soviet Union. Lenin provides as up-to-date evaluation of Lenin's life and thoughts and the importance of ideology in both, the cultural revolution, Lenin's foreign policy and expansionism and Lenin's cult and the re-evaluation of his legacy that has taken place during the last decade. Lenin is a study of his life and work in the context of the period and like other titles in the Profiles in Power series, it is not a biography, though inevitably it contains much biographical material, it instead analyzes the major features, achievements and failures of Lenin's career.
Customer Reviews:
Inaccurate and biased.......2005-06-08
The author makes more of an argument for hating Lenin than explaining his life, which makes the book into a long essay instead of a short biography.
The first few chapters are a fairly good explanation of Lenin as a youngster and how certain events may have influenced his ideological choices. The problem is, when arguing her point, Williams chooses to use a lot of speculation instead of fact.
The second half of the book blames the downfalls of the Revolution, the civil war, famine, disease, and every other obstacle in Russia on Lenin. It is argued that the main betrayal of the revolution lies in the fact that Lenin is a power-hungry man who will not compromise with anybody despite their position or knowledge. He also is sponsering terrorism and randomly shooting his own citizens for various reasons (strikes, being middle/upper class), and sometimes just for intimidation. Even if all the atrocities are true, and every decision did come directly from Lenin, she still does not explain his reasoning for doing so. More importantly, she did not answer the question, "Why did Lenin commit these horrible atrocities if he fought his whole life to make a better society?" Why would he randomly kill peasants while trying to elevate their position in society? Everything definately does not fit together by the end of this book. One is left feeling hatred for Lenin and his ideals. She does make him out to be a complete psychopath who is jaded by his brother's execution at the hands of the czar, and desperately wants revenge on everyone in Russia.
I could go on about how bad this book is, but I think you get the picture. If you are looking to argue with friends and colleagues about why Lenin is the first terrorist and the worst leader ever, still don't get this book. This book provides a very weak argument. On the back cover this book sounds as if you can make your own choice at the end, but Beryl Williams tries to make up your mind for you the whole book with some of the most idiotic arguments ever!
Account of Lenin using his own words.......2003-11-18
After a brief intro about Lenin's early years, Williams covers Lenin from the time he joined the ranks of other Russian political revolutionaries to his death. The emphasis is on his actions in acquiring and maintaining power in the swirl of competing political leftist parties before and during the revolution, and his later actions with regard to keeping the reins of national political control following the revolution. In the context of this narrative, he discusses Lenin's views on politics, ideology, and policy during the different time periods covered in the book. The quotes from Lenin reveal a man concerned with power. Williams shows how Lenin's orders and actions left a legacy of justifications for killing people and destroying entire families and villages in the name of the "party" or the "revolution." He demonstrates in Lenin's own words the link from Lenin to Stalin.
Customer Reviews:
Succeeds in its purpose, but not much more.......2006-06-15
"Lenin's Last Struggle" is basically an overview of Lenin's opinions and views on a great variety of policy matters in the period from the Revolution to his death, as portrayed by the Soviet historian Moshe Lewin. Lewin has a tendency to be too positive about Lenin (at least in a moral kind of estimation) than is perhaps warranted, and that goes for this book as well, but it is fortunately not uncritical. The overview of Lenin's views itself is excellent and his contrasting of Lenin to Stalin well-done. The book's main flaw is that it is too short, with a mere 141 pages of actual content, and that Lewin generally assumes a pretty strong knowledge of history of the Soviet Union. In that sense, this book is mostly useful as a good summary of the Lenin of 1918-1924 for people already interested and somewhat knowledgable about the USSR.
The book includes a series of appendices with primary documents by Lenin. Very useful is the inclusion of Lenin's famous essay "Better Fewer, But Better", which is crucial for understanding Marxism-Leninism in practice.
Average customer rating:
- Simply anti-communist
- Provides Documentation of the True Character of Lenin
- Necessary correction.
- More misplaced 'info' from an old Cold Warrior
- Lenin speaks for himself
|
The Unknown Lenin: From the Secret Archive (Annals of Communism Series)
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
| British
| Canadian
| General
| Holocaust
| United States
Political
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Japan
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Former Soviet Republics & Siberia
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Greece
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Marxism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Political History
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Biographies & Memoirs
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Russian Revolution
-
Russia under the Old Regime: Second Edition (Penguin History)
-
Stalin's Letters to Molotov: 1925-1936 (Annals of Communism Series)
-
Russia Under The Bolshevik Regime
-
Communism: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)
ASIN: 0300076622 |
Amazon.com
Since the fall of Communism in Russia, the Kremlin archives have yielded a hitherto hidden history of the Soviet regime. Richard Pipes, emeritus professor of Russian history at Harvard and author of Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime, is the principal editor of this first collection of secret Lenin papers published in English. The collection reveals sides of the Bolshevik leader long guessed at in the West but never proven, particularly his efforts to subvert the West. Such revelations make this volume an invaluable historical tool that helps part the Iron Curtain of silence and disinformation.
Book Description
Lenin the man, the revolutionary, and world leader has remained an enigma, part myth arising from the tumult of the Russian Revolution and part image carefully controlled for nearly seventy years by the leaders of the Soviet Union and their sympathizers abroad. The Unknown Lenin, containing long concealed documents from the Soviet archives, helps correct the myth and revise the image. Lenin emerges here as a ruthless, manipulative leader who used terror, subversion and persecution to achieve his goals.
Customer Reviews:
Simply anti-communist.......2006-09-05
I read this book and I felt dissapointed. The author (who I later discovered is a well-known anti-communist in America) simply shows a serie of notes and documents that, according to him, say how ruthless Lenin was. I am sayin "according to him" because sometimes he dare to guess what those notes say, even when you can't possibly read them (some are illegible). The book has a total lack of impartiality and it reminds me to those books by Dmitri Volkogonov, whose hate against communism blinds him from doing a good and impartial book. My opinion is that if you want to read a good book on a political personality (or on any other theme) try to find an author that has no direct implication in the story (like Volkogonov) or that has not a blinding hate to the topic (like Pipes).
Provides Documentation of the True Character of Lenin.......2003-11-15
While this is a slender volume, it provides very important documentary evidence of what had been hinted at and alluded to previously. The criminal nature of the Soviet Union can no longer be explained away as a corruption by Stalin of the pure and noble ideology of Lenin. The documents provided here clearly demonstrate Lenin's criminality and his role in building the terror state that was the USSR.
Dr. Richard Pipes, a great scholar on Soviet history, has done a great service for us in putting this material together so concisely and powerfully. It is another important volume in the Annals of Communism series that I cannot praise enough.
Dr. Pipes provides an introduction and a biographical sketch of Lenin, a few pictures, commentary on the importance of each document. The documents themselves are often excerpts while many are presented in full translation. There are a couple of them also provided in the original by a photograph of the actual document.
This is a vital book in understanding the origins of the Soviet Union and the nature of the relationships among the founders of what led to so many horrors and so many deaths.
Necessary correction........2002-11-15
For many people from the left, Stalin was the ultimate gravedigger of the Revolution (Trotsky).
The first one was Lenin, by creating a one party state ruled by him.
One should remember that in the free elections of 1919 in Russia, the bolshevik party got only a good 17% of the votes. But Lenin kept his power. As Tomsky said : there was only one party, the others were in prison.
Pipes' picture is all too real: Lenin was - and there are reasons for it : his brother's death for instance - a cynical, ruthless, aggressive agitator, who despised humanity and the workers to whom he told he was to create a paradise for them.
He understood that farmers and industrial workers saw only their own interests, not his: to create a new society with new human beings.
The results of his policies were dreadful: the USSR stopped to communicate health statistics to the WHO in the seventies, because they were too disastrous.
When I was in Moscow, an important person in Russia (I saw recently a quote from him in an international newspaper) told me the following joke: why are Lenin's statues on the market place of every village? Because his arm indicates where vodka is sold. That was the future of the country.
No, Julia Voznesenskaya is more than right: communism was the power of the soviets and the alcoholisation of the country (The women's Decameron).
I recommend this necessary political essay to everybody.
More misplaced 'info' from an old Cold Warrior.......2002-06-15
Richard Pipes was in Ronald Reagan's administration, simple facts state that he is an old cold warrior. Through his hatred for the communists and Lenin (no doubt Lenin was a ruthless man), he gives too many one-sided and biased accounts of Lenin. Perhaps Pipes should know that Lenin tried to please non-Russian nationalities of his empire programs such as Ukrainization, he even forgot communist ideology for one moment when he set up the New Economic Policy allowing his starving countrymen to sell their products and keep the money. The main thing Pipes is good for is history of Russia before the October Revolution where he is deprived of his prejudices.
Lenin speaks for himself.......2000-07-25
Richard Pipes' presentation of archival material concerning Lenin is of great value to anyone interested in the paper trail leading from the millions of corpses scattered across Soviet history to the feet of comrade Lenin. The reviews of this book are interesting since, speaking literally, Pipes did not write the book: Lenin et. al did. Lenin himself and his various murderer flunkies, wrote the documents that comprise the book. So those that squeal like a stuck pig over this book do so in the face of the fact that Pipes did not write it -- Lenin and his accomplices are the authors of most of the material. Pipes selected documents that demonstrate Lenin's hand in various murderous terror campaigns (the persecution of the Orthodox Church), his creation of a police-terror state, and his subversive work with the Germans. This is Lenin, these are the things he did. Others suggest that somehow Pipes' selection is 'unbalanced.' Hmmm . . . Does that mean that somewhere in all the archival material there is something like an order taken by Lenin's assistant asking that flowers be sent to his wife; a photograph of Lenin passing out candy to children; a letter where the diligent Lenin promises to come over to a common prole's house to roll up his sleeves himself and fix his leaking pipes? Better yet, perhaps in the Soviet archives there is a heartwarming birthday greeting Lenin sent to Dzhirnsky: 'Happy birthday! Don't gas too many peasants in the woods on this, your special day!" Did Pipes select only those documents that portray Lenin in a bad light? It is nonsense to suggest that Pipes purposely left out documents that allow a kind, gentle, loving, zany Lenin to come through. This book testifies to the fact that Lenin was simply a nihilist, someone who did not believe in anything and simply wanted to destroy out of hatred. There is no intellectual substance to communism. It is nihilism pure and simple and thrives on darkness. Read the book for yourself and don't let those who condone murder and destruction try and make it sound as if this book is somehow 'biased.' Lies beget lies and this is what nihilists live for.
Customer Reviews:
Further Insight On A Major Historical Figure.......2007-06-29
Lenin, no matter what is thought of his philosophy, is one of the major figures of 20th century history. The author of this book had access to newly released documents (at the time, ca. 1994) from the archives of the USSR, and has used them in a telling biography of the man.
Some have called the author less than objective, and that probably is true. The times in which the book was written need to be taken into account. But if the author was less than objective, this book still reveals much about Lenin and the inner workings of the regime he helped create.
Lenin had but one thing that he used as a criterion for deciding what must be done: Does it help the revolution? That he was capable of ordering the execution of 'undesirables', letting people starve, all because he thought it was good for the revolution tells the truth about the man. He was ruthless, he was cruel, and evidently had no problem with his conscience over anything he ordered done.
What I got from this book is that Lenin was the architect for what came after him. Stalin took full advantage of this, and evolved the brutality to new heights. But Lenin was the beginning. Stalin was but the continuation.
A book that does get bogged down at times in detail, and has to be 'waded' through. Hence only 4 stars. But there is plenty to read and learn, and the 'wade' was worth it. Despite that caveat, still recommended.
AN EX-STALINIST'S REVISION OF LENIN .......2007-04-04
In my political life I have read numerous biographies, sketches and essays on the Russian Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, none of them recently. Thus, in looking for a new book on Lenin's life I was searching for one that would reflect the latest information from the various archives opened up by the demise of the Soviet state in 1991-92. With that in mind I happened upon this biography by a Soviet historian who had intimate access to and control over the Soviet archives. However, even with that imprimatur this hostile biography could easily have been written in 1955 by any number of former communist turned anti-communist Western writers during the heart of the Cold War under the influence of the `god that failed' theory of anti-communism. So much for the virtue of access to the new files! Moreover, after reading the biography I found that it told more about the author than the subject. He was a good Khrushchevite when Khrushchev was in power. He was a good Brezhnevite when Brezhnev was in power. He was a good Gorbachevite when Gorbachev was in power. Finally, after the demise of the Soviet Union and the capitalist counter-revolution under Yeltsin he was a good Yeltsinite. No one can deny that the author knew how to trim his sails to determine which way the political winds blew. Whether such a checkered personal biography permits him then to write a critique of a revolutionary leader, any revolutionary leader, apparently without the least embarrassment is another question. Well, such is the literary life.
And so what is the latest in Soviet historiography on Lenin? The author retails every `horror' story about Lenin that has been sifted through the anti-communist milieu since Lenin first came on the political scene at the turn of the 20th century Russia. Of course, the author starts with the Bolshevik-Menshevik split in 1903- that is the `original sin' for all anti-Leninists who claim to stand in any tendency of the international social democratic tradition. He then goes through the litany of later sins; the anti-nationalist, anti-war Bolshevik propaganda of the First World War; the hoary tales of `German' gold to the Bolsheviks in the wake of the February Revolution in Russia; the `sealed train' through Germany bringing Lenin and other Social Democrats back to Russia; the defeatism toward the Provisional Government; the Bolshevik `coup' in October; the outrage to the author's nationalist sentiments of the Brest Litovsk Treaty with Germany; and, the horrors of the Civil War, lightly passing over the White internal and foreign counterrevolutionary actions and placing the onus on the Bolsheviks. And much more in that same vane.
The real point of the documentation presented throughout the book, however, is to buttress the author's central argument that bad old Stalinism was not some sort of distortion of Bolshevism and Leninist thought but the true and natural heir of Leninism. Others have argued that position far more persuasively with far less access to the archives. The fact of the matter, at least based on this exposition, is that the archives provide little new hard material about Lenin and the early Bolshevik regime that has not already been in circulation for a long time. Take one example, the `relationship' between the Bolsheviks and the German military High Command during World War I that has been speculated on in reams of material. He sets up his argument for such an alliance using the time worn innuendoes of secret meetings, use of intermediaries, etc. However, if an author is using this argument in the post-Soviet period then one would expect some new information that definitely links Lenin to German `gold' or let it rest. Where is the smoking gun? As there is nothing new the author lets us off with some dubious circumstantial evidence and lots and lots of conjecture. It goes on and on like that throughout most of the book. The author has personal axes to grind here and the archives only marginally help him in his critique.
Finally, what of the counterfactual argument that every historian makes to argue that an alternative situation to the one that occurred was possible? Here the author argues that in 1917 some form of Menshevik/Social Revolutionary government or a more stable Kerensky government i.e. bourgeois governments could have brought Russia out of its impasse and into the Western democratic parliamentary tradition. He even has a kind word for the Czar in retrospect, at least as a battering ram against the Bolsheviks. This hardened Stalinist who has since found `religion' attempts to argue a very, very improbable position. Kerensky was the best, and I do mean best, those forces had at their command. And he was by all accounts (except his own) a lightweight. No more need be said.
Well, we do not always get the revolutions in the pristine condition we would like and this is not the place to argue extensively about the author's politics but both by their actions and by the crush of events the possibility of some kind of bourgeois democracy in 1917 Russia was the least likely possibility. In short, like in other such revolutionary periods, it was the Bolsheviks or the counterrevolutionary Whites. And one had to act accordingly.
Not a biography.......2007-03-07
I'm sorry, but there's no reason to give this a good review. First of all, the book is extremely slanted. In the beginning it's not so bad, but the author's country, Russia, is just coming out of Communism, and apparently he really hated that economic system. This guy was hell-bent on proving Lenin, as well as Communism, to be two great evils. Time and again he talked about Lenin's poor ability as a statesman, his bad decisions, his use of terror and his close-mindedness, among other things. For a chapter this author even goes into Stalin, when this book isn't even supposed to be about him! And then sometimes it goes into the last couple of decades of the Soviet country, talking about how some of the leaders were still applying Leninist and Stalinist use of terror and censorship! None of this has anything to do with Lenin's life, and it's simply used to show how bad Communism was. Apparently they spent so much time brainwashing their people that the only way for one person to convince himself Soviet Communism was wrong was to write a book disproving it. The first 100 pages or so are good and actually deal with Lenin, and are interesting, but as a biography... this is an EXTREME let down. It is NOT a biography. This is a history of Lenin, his friends, and Soviet Russia. It is like a book about Lenin and everything related to him. It could be retitled "The Leninist peroid in early Russia and it's effects on the country later on" and be more accurate. This book was not written by an experienced author, but probably published solely for the reason that this author had access to the secret soviet archives. Do not by this book -- find another biography.
Subject Without Objectivity.......2005-12-23
There is no doubt that Lenin achieved a level of recognition that will continue for as long as humans maintain a sentient capacity. The fact remains, however, that he gained this recognition largely through his association with others. Dmitri Volkogonov's biography does not acknowledge this aspect and is therefore singularly shallow. In fact, those central to Lenin's rise are not even mentioned.
Truman Capote brilliantly encapsulated this problem in his 1994 New York Times review: 'Volkogonov's biography of this unique figure is flawed not by its inclusions but by its myopic exclusions. It is impossible to present a balanced account of Lenin without reference to the other three Beatles.'
Blind spot of the west.......2005-11-22
For some reason westerners continue to have something of a blind spot for V.I. Lenin. The conception that Stalin perverted Lenin's idealist vision, that Lenin's communism might have been a more viable utopian ideal had he survived, remains strong. This is one of several books that should help to shatter that illusion once and for all as it comprehensively documents the extent to which Stalinism was firmly rooted in Lenin's murderous totalitarian revolution.
Volkogonov's book is far from perfect in this English translation. The opening chapters are somewhat non-linear and unfocused (it only really picks up once it starts discussing Germany's role in Lenin's return to Russia in 1917, about a third of the way in), for all his supposed access to secret archive documentation the author is occasionally prone to speculation (though he usually admits as much, for example in discussing Lenin and Sverdlov's roles in the murder of the Tsar's family), and the English translator freely admits that he's cut out large sections of deeply Russian philosophical discussions.
But for all that, the book remains a powerful testament to Lenin's flaws. Few details in the book were that new to me. I knew the Germans had helped the Bolsheviks for their own ends in 1917; I knew about Lenin's almost mindless obsession with violence as the sole true path to revolution; I knew about Lenin's cynical willingness to discard almost any principles in the pursuit of power for the Bolsheviks. But seeing all of this documented - and far more of it is documented than some reviewers are suggesting - by the Bolsheviks' own hands makes it all the more powerful.
Nor do I think that the book is that biased. Certainly Lenin still comes off better than Stalin; Lenin doesn't so much come across as personally evil as he does blindly obsessed with the idea that his great misguided experiment justified the implementation of any means, however cruel, deadly or violent. But unlike Stalin, he wasn't interested in personal power for its own sake or personal self-aggrandisement. It's a small distinction, but an important one - though I would argue that a genuine belief in your visionary ideal makes it no more forgiveable when that ideal requires killing millions.
This isn't a book that's going to appeal to all tastes; some will find the first third (which, as others have noted, isn't really a traditional Western biography) hard going, and it probably isn't the only biography of Lenin that those interested in the subject should read. But readers who stick with it will nonetheless be richly rewarded.
Average customer rating:
- Lenin - The Man for Social & Economic Justice
|
Vladimir Ilich Lenin (World Leaders Past and Present)
John Haney
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Political
| Biographies
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Biographies
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Europe
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Teens
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Teen Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0877545707 |
Customer Reviews:
Lenin - The Man for Social & Economic Justice.......2006-07-05
Written for school children, this book describes Lenin "as a man of powerful intellect and unwaivering commitment". Later the author calls Lenin "a skillful organizer and a brilliant political theorist". My favorite statement from the book is "though historians continue to criticize his methods, Lenin was always at the center of the popular struggle for social and economic justice and his vision remains the guiding philosophy of communist movement worldwide".
Average customer rating:
|
Trotsky's Notebooks, 1933-1935: Writings on Lenin, Dialectics, and Evolutionism
Leon Trotsky
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Japan
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Eastern Europe
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Political
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Marxism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Socialism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0231063024 |
Book Description
These two notebooks were discovered while Philip Pomper was doing research at Harvard’s Russian Research Center for a book on Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin after the Russian Revolution and were published by Columbia University for the first time in 1986.
They present fascinating new insights into Trotsky’s philosophy, politics, and psychology and this volume is a significant addition to an understanding of his revolutionary career. They shed new light on his relationship to Lenin and Bolshevism, his criticism of dialectics and Darwin evolutionism, and his reflections of Freudian psychology as he ponders the relationship of the unconscious mind to the philosophical issues surrounding dialectics.
The original Russian text of the notebooks, prepared and annotated by Felshtinsky, is also presented here to make the material available to readers of Russian.
Average customer rating:
|
Lenin's Mistress : The Life of Inessa Armand
Michael Pearson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History
| Bargain Books
| Stores
| Books
General
| Biography
| Bargain Books
| Stores
| Books
All Deals
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Biographies & Memoirs
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Lenin's Embalmbers (Panther)
ASIN: B000FTCH8E |
Book Description
From the acclaimed author of The Sealed Train and Those Damned Rebels comes the definitive biography of Inessa Armand: revolutionary, tactician, and confidante and mistress of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Although she is little known today, after the October Revolution in 1917, Armand became the most powerful woman in Moscow.
The illegitimate daughter of a Parisian opera singer, Armand was fortunate to marry into a wealthy Moscow family, yet she left home after ten years and four children to live openly with her husband’s much younger brother, through whom she became deeply embroiled in Russia’s growing anti-tsarist underworld.
By the time she met Lenin in Paris, Armand had been imprisoned four times and had escaped Arctic exile, making her a fugitive in her homeland. Lenin soon recognized her talents, and Armand became his lieutenant, organizer, and lover. Through seven years of exile, she helped Lenin hone the Bolshevik Party, despite bitter internal strife, into the disciplined unit that would gain him immense power.
Following the February Revolution in 1917, Armand supported Lenin in his greatest gamble: She accompanied him from their latest exile in Switzerland through Germany—still at war with Russia—to St. Petersburg via the legendary “sealed train.” It was a journey that would shape the twentieth century.
Armand was soon appointed chief of the Woman’s Section of the Central Committee, with unique access to Lenin and the power to make legislative decisions. Her relationship with Lenin was profound yet volatile. The demands of revolution were great on both of them, but an attempt on Lenin’s life in 1918 brought a renewed closeness. In 1920, Armand died of cholera after taking a holiday in the Caucasus at Lenin’s insistence, and at her state funeral, an extremely rare honor for a woman, Lenin’s visible distress shocked his comrades.
Michael Pearson, with access to family papers (including 150 letters from Lenin to Armand), previously censored materials from Russian archives, and interviews with Inessa Armand’s descendants, brings her to life with precision and insight—as a wife and devoted mother, political standard-bearer, and woman in love.
Customer Reviews:
A fascinating story.......2002-05-01
Lenin's Mistress is a fascinating story not only about his mistress but about a whole class of people who worked to achieve the revolution in Russia while Lenin was out of the country. The author makes his contempt for Lenin obvious.
One of the best books I've read about this period in Russia.
This book would also be good for people interested in Women's history.
Average customer rating:
- A strange mix of politics and embalming...
- An odd, but interesting, book
- If you want something really different
- Mostly fascinating
- Not what you might expect, but a little gem nonetheless
|
Lenin's Embalmers
Ilya Zbarsky , and
Samuel Hutchinson
Manufacturer: Harvill Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Former Soviet Republics & Siberia
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Marxism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End
-
Lenin's Mistress : The Life of Inessa Armand
ASIN: 1860465153 |
Amazon.com
"Comrades, Vladimir Ilich's health has grown so much worse lately that it is to be feared he will soon be no more. We must therefore consider what is to be done when the great sorrow befalls us.... Modern science is capable of preserving his body for a considerable time, long enough at least for us to grow used to the idea of his being no longer with us."
On January 21, 1924, just three months after Joseph Stalin spoke those words, Vladimir Lenin died. Trotsky, already falling from favor, argued that turning Lenin's remains into a relic ran counter to Lenin's own beliefs. Eager to strengthen his new regime, however, Stalin saw that preserving the body was a good way to harness the religious sentiment of the nation's masses for his support. The Committee for Immortalization was duly founded, and--after much debate--scientists Vladimir Vorbiov, Boris Zbarsky, and their assistants were selected to embalm the great leader. Lenin had been dead for two months before they were able to begin working in a laboratory housed inside Lenin's mausoleum in Red Square. Despite constant refrigeration and tentative preservation attempts, the body had deteriorated--"the left hand was turning a greenish-grey colour; the ears had crumpled up completely." Vorbiov developed a successful solution of glycerin, alcohol, water, potassium acetate, and quinine chloride, which restored the body to a lifelike appearance and is still used for preventive maintenance today.
Boris's son Ilya Zbarsky recounts this strange history and his family's experiences in Lenin's Embalmers. Technical details regarding the embalming process are interspersed amongst stories about Lenin, moving the body during World War II, and even traveling abroad to embalm other Communist heads of state. Zbarsky also reveals the political infighting that dogged the scientists, and how, even in the shadow of Lenin's mausoleum, it was impossible to hide from Stalin's purges. Finally, Zbarsky brings the book to its ironic conclusion: when their funding was cut by 80 percent, the mausoleum's scientists began embalming the former Soviet Union's nouveaux riches to support Lenin's upkeep. Full of interesting detail--and remarkable photos--Lenin's Embalmers makes for an engaging read. --Sunny Delaney
Customer Reviews:
A strange mix of politics and embalming..........2003-03-29
Written by the son of one of Lenin's main embalmer's, this short book follows his family's personal history against the backdrop of Soviet politics. The book is at its most effective in relating the Zbarsky's personal history in the face of Stalinism. Behind all of this is the story of Lenin's corpse. Indeed, the author's father was head of the labratory maintaining Lenin. A fair bit of technical detail is given about the preservation and tomb.
This is a very personal memior. The author had a poisoned relationship with his father, and the book is laced with this acid. Good or Bad, Zbarsky blames his father for misdirecting his studies and his career. In between this, the history of political distortion of science during the 1930's from a personal point of view is fascinating and chilling. The book also tells the story of how his father rose to a privileged position in Soviet society, and some of the double think involved in this. The Zbarsky's thought they were untouchable, having survived the purges of the 1930's only to fall foul of Stalin just before his death. Evidently, with some irony Stalin's death probably saved the father, who was in the gulag by then.
The book concludes with some history of other embalming done by the lab, first for political reasons and then for financial reason after the collapse of the Sovient Union.
In some ways, I thought the poisoned relationship between father and son detracted from the history involved. Perhaps it was deserved, but at some point it color's the author's perspective on other events. Having said that, this book is a strange but interesting story of life in Soviet Russia.
An odd, but interesting, book.......2001-03-20
I had never heard about this book until I saw it sitting on a shelf at a small bookstore. The title intrigued me, so I purchased it. While a lot of the work, at least initially, discusses the embalming of Lenin's corpse, there was a considerable amount of material about life during the purges of Stalin. The author was a witness to many events, albeit from a priviledged position in the Soviet hierarchy, and his recounting of the "show trials" and the terror of the "knock in the middle of the night" is revealed explicitly. There is also some recounting of other Communist leaders being embalmed by Russian experts, the section concerning the work on Ho Chi Minh during the height of the American bombing of North Vietnam being particularly interesting. Read this book to learn many different and interesting things about life under Stalin, and also the early days of the USSR.
If you want something really different.......2000-08-07
I have read so many books about the Former Soviet Union, that I would probably not realize I had read some of them, until I had read into the books for some length. This book by Ilya Zbarsky "Lenin's Embalmers" is not one you will forget.
The book is not ghoulish nor is it sensational; it is an incredible story about an exceptional event and profession. The book is primarily about the initial embalming, and the decades of maintenance upon Lenin's corpse that have followed. The book is made much more interesting, as the Author meshes the story of Lenin's remains with Soviet History as he and his Family experienced it. The Author also includes the History of the tomb itself, from the earliest designs, through the modifications it has gone through over the years. Architectural drawings as well as construction photographs are included.
The book maintains that all of Lenin was initially preserved, and contrary to persistent rumors, that the entire body has remained intact. Whether or not the book is convincing on these points, I leave to other readers. This really is a great offbeat read. It also is a serious explanation of the History, not a tabloid distortion.
Mostly fascinating.......2000-06-12
A sort of autobiography written by the son of one of Lenin's embalmers who himself became employed as one. Overall, it's very interesting and full of fascinating little anecdotes about the USSR in the 20s and 30s, although I thought that the narration wandered pretty aimlessly after Zbarsky was more or less removed from his position and therefore from the stream of events. He finishes off the last couple of chapters with some stories related to him by his successors. The story about the Russians running around in the jungles of Vietnam hiding the corpse of Ho Chih Minh from the Americans is worth the price of admission alone.
Not what you might expect, but a little gem nonetheless.......2000-05-24
When you buy a book entitled "Lenin's Embalmers" you might expect a work on the scientific process of embalming and maintenance of the body of the Soviet leader Lenin. However to be more precise, the book is really a biography/autobiography of Ilya Zbarsky and his father. The book shines when it does focus on the politics and science of modern embalming in the Soviet Union as well as the current business of preserving members of the current Russian crime gangs.
However the rest of the book should not be overlooked. Here is a facinating insight of what it was to be an intellectual under the Lenin/Stalin regimes during the first half of the 20th century. This is truly an extraordinary story of someone who has had a front row seat to one of history's most brutal regimes and the (eerie) hero worship that regime spawned.
Average customer rating:
|
500 Years Of Revolution: European Radicals From Hus To Lenin
Charles George
Manufacturer: Charles H Kerr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Revolutionary
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Communism & Socialism
| Ideologies
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0882862413 |
Book Description
An exciting history that chronicles - through the words of the participants themselves - the European radical tradition, via its major revolutions, and near-revolutions - in Bohemia, Germany, the Netherlands, England, France, and Russia. George's narrative is woven around a collection of texts - from the Hussites of 1420, John Lilburne, Gerrard Winstanley, the New Model Army, Levellers, Ranters, Jacobins, the Committee Of Public Safety, the Conspiracy Of Equals, Communards, Bolsheviks, Robespierre, Rosa Luxemburg and more. Here is the story of our out-of-step ancestors - a story of the triumphs and defeats, hopes and dspairs of 500 years of Revolution. "Ranging over half the millennium - from the prophetic insurrections of 14th century Bohemia to the Bolshevik Revolution - George provides the best and broadest available introduction to the tradition of European radicalism. The reprinted selections from 50 central texts of revolutionary history are situated and enlivened by the lively narrative and close analysis which surrounds them. An essential work for students - in and out of the classroom - of revolt, of Marxism, and of liberation." [David Roediger]
Books:
- Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community
- Little House on the Prairie Boxed Set ((9 Books) Little House On the Prairie; Farmer Boy; On the Banks of Plum Creek; the Long Winter; These Happy Golden Years; the First Four Years; By the Shores of Silver Lake; Little House In the Big Woods; Little Town On the Prairie)
- Long Way Round: The Illustrated Edition: Chasing Shadows Across the World
- Los Caprichos
- Lou's on First: The Tragic Life of Hollywood's Greatest Clown Warmly Recounted by his Youngest Child
- Love in Black and White: A Memoir of Race, Religion, and Romance
- Magic Tree House CD Edition Books 17-24 (Magic Tree House Collection)
- Mali: Land of Gold and Glory
- Matisse: From Color to Architecture
- Metro Boston, Eastern Massachusetts, Street Atlas (Metro Boston Eastern Masschusetts Street Atlas)(7th Edition)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
- Bad News/Good News
- The Cinderella Hour
- The Cosmic Code: Book VI of the Earth Chronicles
- The Same River Twice
- Chemistry for Today: General, Organic, and Biochemistry
- Why the North Won the Civil War
- Picture Postcards in the United States, 1893-1918
- Tesla: Man Out of Time
- High Performance Through Effective Scheduling
Stalin: A Biography
A History of Modern Russia: From Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin
Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives
Essential Works of Lenin: "What Is to Be Done?" and Other Writings
Mao: A Life
