BAMF Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Can somebody please recommend good sources (preferably internet sources) of information on Maoist China, Soviet Russia, and Nazi Germany? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Russell Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 (edited) Kori, your request is rather vague. What specific information are you after regarding Maoist China, Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany? I'm not as familiar with Chinese history as I am with German and Russian history. Dmitri Volkogonov wrote excellent biographies of the three major players of the Bolshevik Revolution, "Lenin", "Trotsky" and "Stalin". William L. Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" is a very good book on Nazi Germany. Mick Edited October 10, 2006 by Michael Russell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 I would add The Black Book of Communism on the Soviet Union and the PRC. Ann Applebaum's book Gulag is very well done on just one aspect of Soviet Communism. There are lots of sources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMF Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 Thanks! I know it was pretty vague. I don't know how to narrow it down though, because I'd like to learn everything. Haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Kori; Good luck with learning everything! I would guess you know this but be careful of internet sources. Can I ask why you are interested in these topics. I not saying anything is wrong I'm just curious if this for school or just a personal interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMF Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 Thanks! It's really just a personal interest. I keep hearing all different sides about issues surrounding these three and I'd like to just check out the facts myself. Of course I will be careful of Internet sources . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Russell Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Kori, have you read "We The Living"? Although a work of fiction, I found Rand's first novel to be one of the best descriptions of the oppressiveness of life in Russia during the early years of the new and criminal Soviet government.Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Kori,You might find the following two articles by Bill Bonner on Mao Tse-tung interesting. The Late, Great HelmsmanThe Late Great Helmsman, Part IINote that you have to scroll down to the middle of fairly long Internet pages to actually get to the articles because of a lot of advertising and secondary matters.Apparently Bill Bonner of The Daily Reckoning gave an overview of the information contained in the 2005 biography of Mao Tse-tung called Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday instead of a review of the book proper.Here is a quote from the first article:Now, with the opening of archives and the closing of the lives of most of the principals, we get to find out more of what really went on...and what these great revolutionary heroes were really like. And what a ghastly show it is! Hegel meets Helter Skelter. Das Kapital meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre.The Chinese are a smart people; just look at the names that make it to advanced science programs at America's top universities. IQ aficionados tell us the Chinese and Japanese have an edge over the rest of us. But read the story of Mao; it makes you wonder: how could so many smart people do something so moronic...it would be flattery to call them stupid?Who would have thought that one of the planets most ancient and refined civilizations would yield itself over to a lame-brained intellectual whose principle preoccupations were creating havoc...and making sure his own bowels moved? (...)What were the Chinese thinking, to let Mao get away with it? It was as if they didn't think at all. During his career, Mao-Tse-Tung was responsible for more deaths - murder, starvation, torture...the usual ways of dying, plus a few novelties added by Mao and his thugs - than any other man in history. Seventy million is the sum given by Chang and Halliday. Even the entire Mongel reign of Genghis Khan and his whole line - who conquered three civilizations...Muslim, Chinese, and Hindu...and threatened to conquer Christendom too...didn't match Mao in killing people. This is quite a story you don't find in too many other places.Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Michael; The biography you mentioned is excellent. I like Hegal meets Helter Skelter too. Kori; Have you read The Omnious Parallels by Peikoff about Nazi Germany. Good luck! Let us know how your research goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikee Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Kori,You might like to read Hong Zhang's article:http://rebirthofreason.com/Articles/Zhang/...of_June_4.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 It's been very long time since I read it, but I seem to remember that Hedrick Smith's The Russians was very good. You should be able to pick up an inexpensive used copy from online book stores.J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMF Posted October 15, 2006 Author Share Posted October 15, 2006 Thanks a lot! I have not read "The Ominous Parallels" and I have read "We The Living" (which made me bawl my eyes out for about the last 60 pages). I will check out all of your suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Anderson Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I'll second the recommendation for Hedrick Smith's The Russians. It was well-written and very informative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Kori; You last posted on this topic in October. How is your research going? What have you read? Have you found something that you could recommend to the rest of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reidy Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Hannah Arendt's Totalitarianism and the works of Robert Conquest are classics.Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack9f Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Lenin's Tomb is very good on the fall of the USSR. Trotsky's "My Life" was a good read on the beginning. Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov" gives a view of what was going on before that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack9f Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Oh, and if you are looking for a current view, I'm going to Russia in May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Lenin's Tomb is very good on the fall of the USSR. Trotsky's "My Life" was a good read on the beginning. Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov" gives a view of what was going on before that.Ivan,I am currently reading "Brothers Karamazov," but in snatches. I have a thing against overly-long paragraphs and that is all this really long book contains. They make it difficult for me to give myself over to the story, unless I have absolute peace and quiet for stretches of several hours each sitting. That seems to be getting harder and harder to find. It is fascinating as a slow read in snatches so far, though.Oh, and if you are looking for a current view, I'm going to Russia in May.I am very interested in reading your impressions.Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack9f Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Lenin's Tomb is very good on the fall of the USSR. Trotsky's "My Life" was a good read on the beginning. Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov" gives a view of what was going on before that.Ivan,I am currently reading "Brothers Karamazov," but in snatches. I have a thing against overly-long paragraphs and that is all this really long book contains. They make it difficult for me to give myself over to the story, unless I have absolute peace and quiet for stretches of several hours each sitting. That seems to be getting harder and harder to find. It is fascinating as a slow read in snatches so far, though.Oh, and if you are looking for a current view, I'm going to Russia in May.I am very interested in reading your impressions.MichaelYes, I know what you mean about BK. It takes time and commitment. I wonder about the translator. Mine is Pevear & Volokhonsky and they did a great job. I tried to read War & Peace and it was as you describe. I was very interested in the fact that much was the same 150 years ago and 15,000 miles away. Can you imagine if CNN and Fox were around then?In 1999 my first wife left me and I went to Lithuania to find where my grandmother was born. I brought back a new wife. This will be my first time over there in 7 years. My mother in-law was here 2 years ago, for the summer, and she will be our host in Moscow in May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Ivan,The translation of The Brothers Karamazov I am reading is by Constance Garnett made in 1912, so the language is a bit stiff in addition to the long paragraphs. But it is very readable.I wish you and your new wife all happiness. If I were to speculate, I would say that you have a very loving and devoted wife. It is quite interesting to bring a different culture into your intimate life. I did this with a few Brazilian women over the years and I am much richer for it. (btw - The fact that they did not work out as relationships had nothing to do with being from a different culture than mine. The fact is that they simply were not Kat.)Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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