Alvah's Books

The Russian Revolution
By Richard Pipes
Random House 1990
944 pages
$40.00
 
Reviewed by Randall Radic

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls,” said Carl Jung.  Jean-Francois Lyotard said, “Being prepared to receive what thought is not prepared to think is what deserves the name of thinking.”  Woody Allen said, “Nothing works and nobody cares.”  All three men might have been speaking about the Russian Revolution, which took place in 1917, and which Richard Pipes exposes in his massive and monumental book, The Russian Revolution.

Pipes points out that what took place in 1917 was not a revolution.  It was a political coup d’etat.  The Russian Bolsheviks forcibly overthrew the remnants of the Tsarist Regime.  Once in power, the Bolsheviks appointed themselves the official spokesmen for the proletariat, who, in reality, had no say in anything.  The proletariat just wanted to get rid of the disease of Tsarism.  And they did.  But what they got in its place was no different than what they’d had before.

As Roger Daltrey sang:  “Meet the new Boss.  Same as the old Boss.”

The story goes like this.  Before the Revolution – in Tsarist Russia – there was no middle class.  There were only two classes – lord and peasant.  There were no Russian towns.  Not really.  Moscow consisted of a fortified castle called the Kremlin, round which grew up a mammoth farmer’s market.  This farmer’s market existed only because the Royal Court and its Royal Administrators, who were thoroughly Westernized in their thinking, allowed it to exist.  They allowed it to exist to support them.  The Royal Court didn’t understand the peasants and the peasants didn’t understand the Court.  Each put up with the other out of sheer necessity. 

Then came World War I and the abdication of the Tsar, which left a power vacuum.  A provisional government tried to fill the vacuum, but failed miserably.  A number of different groups tried to plunge into the vacuum by brute force.  By means of being more violent than the other factions, the Bolsheviks came out on top.  It was at that point, according to Pipes, that simply surviving became the driving dynamic of the peasants.  Obtaining food, shelter and clothing became the common goal.  Nothing else mattered.  This left Lenin and his minions free to do as they pleased.  It was under these circumstances that Lenin erected his one-party dictatorship.

Pipes’ criticism of Lenin and the Bolsheviks is unstinting.  As Pipes writes, “The Bolshevik Party was Lenin’s creation:  as its founder, he conceived it in his own image and, overcoming all opposition from within and without, kept it on the course he had charted.  Communist Russia, therefore, has been from the beginning to an unusual extent a reflection of the mind and psyche of one man:  his biography and its history are uniquely fuse.”  Pipes portrays Lenin as Dr. Frankenstein and Bolshevism as his monster.  Both were savage and amoral entities.

It should be pointed out that many scholars disagree with the interpretation Pipes sets forth in his book.  And since it would be presumptuous for the reviewer – because of his ignorance of the subject – to comment on who is right and who is wrong, he will not even try.  However, he will say this:  the colossal failure and decimation of human life under Lenin and Stalin does not recommend Bolshevism in any way, shape or form.  It should also be noted that Bolshevism is not communism.  For as Pipes makes clear in the book, Bolshevism was a radical branch of the Socialist Democrats in the same way that Al-Qaeda is a radical branch of Islam.  In other words, shooting all the dogs because one has fleas doesn’t make sense.

The Russian Revolution is an easy read.  Pipes writes in a lucid style that flows from one topic to another in an uncontrived way.  It is obvious he is a walking-talking encyclopedia of Russian history.  Yet he doesn’t start sinking under the weight of his knowledge and – Thank you, Jesus! –  he doesn’t believe in human sacrifice.  In other words, the reader doesn’t need to fear being offered up on the altar of pedantry.  Pipes keeps it simple:  he reveals and explains the transformation in the cultural, economic and political life of the unique Behemoth known as Russia.  One revelation which leaps to the forefront is this:  it is ideas that band people and nations together.  And ideas have consequences, some good and some bad.  In either case, the power of ideas should never be underestimated.  Nor should the power of books that examine these binding ideas.         

The Russian Revolution is a brilliant book that should not be underrated.

The Russian Revolution: Fear and Paranoia, Part 5

New Stories from the South 2009
Madison Smartt Bell, Editor
Kathy Pories, Series Editor
Algonquin Books
357 pages
$14.95 

Reviewed by: S.L. Weis

New Stories from the South 2009, the twenty-fourth annual volume in this series published by Algonquin Books, offers a sampling of the year’s best short stories which are either set in the Southern United States or authored by Southern writers.  The authors featured in this volume ranged from established Southern writers, such as Wendell Berry, Pickney Benedict and Cary Holladay to debut authors, and while the stories varied widely in content and tone, all were generally of high quality.  A few, such as Stephanie Soileau’s Camera Obscura, Wendell Berry’s Fly Away, Breath, were exceptional.  

If a Southern anthology captures the collective unconsciousness of its population, then how do their struggles and dreams differ from those of other regions?  How does a story capture place?  What does it mean to be Southern?  How can this be contrasted with what it means to be more generally American, and do themes like alienation, teen pregnancy, desperate love and suicide have a greater significance in the south than elsewhere?  Or are these themes common to the broader cultural landscape in an age of disrupted families, economic decline and the homogenizing effect of mass media?  These are all reasonable questions that, given the geographic emphasis, resound from the pages of this volume.  In fairness to its editor, this does not reflect a lack of editorial focus.  In his introduction, Madison Smartt Bell described his struggle with these questions as he selected the pieces for this volume.  He described the diversity of topics and treatments in hopeful terms, as a departure from focus on the Old South, the Confederacy and racial tensions to a broader set of concerns more reflective of what he called the new south’s rootlessness.  

Katrina, which surfaced in one form or another in a few of these stories, has emerged as a metaphor for this new rootlessness; for the way the South has been torn apart and is re-emerging in unexpected ways.  He argues that the South has, like the rest of the country, largely moved beyond the false duality of race and has adopted a broader, less stereotyped character.  However, one thing that seems to be virtually absent in this set of stories is the lyrical Southern dialect, arguably­ one of the most distinctive facets of Southern literary tradition. While it is true that Southern dialect is often misappropriated and used as shorthand for a number of derogatory characteristics, it would be hoped that Southern fiction could reclaim those stereotypes and place them in a context more befitting the reality of the New South, rather than to wipe out the Southern flavor of the language in favor of uniformity.

The Russian Revolution Part 3, Fear and Paranoia

The Russian Revolution Part 4, Fear and Paranoia (continued)

The Game On Diet!
By Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson
Harper
291 pages
$14.99

A few Sundays ago I wrote I was shooting to run a 5K race and lose five pounds. My attempts to train for a race were thwarted thanks to very painful plantar fasciitis that left me hobbling around the house and outside when I walked the dogs. So, no training or walking long distances. The pain in my heel turned to be a be a pain in the ass when it came to my fitness goals; consequently because I wasn’t getting enough exercise, I was getting very grumpy, and used food for comfort. Instead of losing five pounds, I gained four.

One day on Twitter, I noticed the hash tag for The Game On Diet! (#gameon) and wondered what this was all about. It seems that a few of my followers were playing this game and losing weight. What the hell was it all about I wondered? I ventured to Amazon and searched for the book, looked inside and thought that I might as well plunk down the money and try it, but in the back of my mind I thought it would be one of the many diet books (or snake oil remedies, as one reviewer for Alvah’s Books likes to call them) that would collect dust on my shelf.

Well, I was wrong.

In a nutshell, The Game On Diet is actually a game with teams, rules, points, penalties, and a grand prize. The reasoning behind the diet is to get dieters motivated to lose and have fun. Let’s face it, dieting is not fun and it’s hard to stay motivated. However, with The Game On Diet, players are motivated to earn their points and stay on track to lose the weight (which really is the BIG prize, achieving that goal and not getting frustrated).

Krista Vernoff, Emmy winner and head writer for TV’s Grey’s Anatomy, writes of her trials and tribulations with weight, but when she became pregnant, had her baby and then couldn’t shake off the 25 pounds, she knew she had to do something that would help take it off, but what? Vernoff readily admits that she wasn’t into exercise, that her eating habits weren’t great, and that she wasn’t disciplined about her meals. So how did she manage to lose over 40 pounds? Her trainer and co-writer Az Ferguson, Million Dollar Body for Life champion,  came up with a neat psychological device that made losing weight into a game. And Krista loves games and loves to win even more.

I can certainly relate to that. When I read Krista’s story, I thought, yup that’s me to a T—I hate organized sports, but love board and card games, and I want to win, win, win! This is the only time I’m actually competitive, and to make matters worse, I am a terrible winner because I gloat and let’s not even talk about losing.

The rules to game are fairly simple to follow. To win your daily 100 points, you have to eat five meals a day, basically three meals with two snacks. Each meal has to be balanced. That means a carbohydrate, a protein, a healthy fat, and as many green, leafy veggies as you like—minimum 2 servings a day. Vernoff and Ferguson provide a list of verboten foods which they’ve labeled as F.L.A.B.B or fat-loading or belly-bloating foods as well as healthier alternatives labeled as  F.Y.T or flatten your tummy foods. In addition to healthy eating, there’s also healthy drinking. To earn 10 points, you have to drink 10 glasses of water or three liters. Alcohol is only allowed on your day off, if you decide to lush it up one evening, plan on losing 25 points per drink. Oh, and when you lose points so does your team—so it’s not all about you.

As for exercise, Vernoff and Ferguson only ask that players make a daily 20 minute commitment to get their heart rate and their limbs moving. No exercise, no 20 points.

Other rules include getting enough sleep, keeping in touch with teammates for motivation, and one very interesting rule which is eliminating one bad habit and starting a good one, which helps a great deal with discipline (at least it does for me). Snacking is the one activity that is almost every dieter’s Achilles heel and that sabotages a weight loss regime so there’s a no snacking rule–not even popping a handful of cereal or taking a spoonful of peanut butter. You snack, you get minus 10 points per infraction.

If you think about The Game On Diet it’s really all about the common sense basics of dieting that every one knows, but the authors really drum into your head that it’s the quality of calories that you eat and will burn. In addition to the basic rules, there are few give aways, you’re allowed a 100 calories daily of FLABB foods with a meal (butter in a baked potato or some dried fruit in a salad); one meal off during the week, and the entire-the day off–in which you can say toodles to the rules and just have a rest day, eat what ever you like, have a drink and slip into one bad habit. However, some players (like me) might not want to lose momentum and apply some of guidelines even on their day off.

The Game On Diet is an amusing and fast read. Most people will finish the book in two days. Some minor issues should be noted about including possibly too much dairy and/or protein in every meal. Some of the rules need clarification; for example are players allowed to weigh daily or not. Once a week is the rule, and there is a penalty for weighing more than once, however Vernoff later writes that she weighs in daily (most diet and fitness books recommend once a week,while a minority say that weighing in daily is a good method to keep you on track daily).

Some readers might find Vernoff’s jokesy manner a little over the top (the section on water and crack wasn’t really that funny), but overall, she writes in a manner that’s chummy and shares her success story to dieters who have lost all motivation and keep on piling the pounds.

How have I fared? I’ve completed one week of The Game On Diet, followed all the rules, with the exception of one weigh-in penalty, and one popcorn snacking penalty, and I’ve lost six pounds, and I still have three more weeks to complete. Six pounds lighter, not flabby, frustrated, grouchy, or hungry, and very motivated to continue, now that’s a game I like.

This is a five part series of the Russian Revolution. It provides a nice summary with several reenactments of the events and outtakes from the film Reds.

The Russian Revolution Part 1: Freedom and Hope

The Russian Revolution Part 2: Freedom and Hope (continued)

Continuing with the leftist theme, August offers reviews about….Communism and the Russian Revolution. Just like the Spanish Civil War there’s a vast number of books on the subject that can make anyone’s head spin like Linda Blair’s in The Exorcist. This month, we’ll try to recommend the books we like best. Some have been around for a long time like Richard Pipes’  The Russian Revolution,  Theodore Draper’s The Roots of American Communism, and other’s like  Archie Brown’s The Rise and Fall of Communism published this summer.

This month will also include some new fiction reviews as well as the weekly bestseller lists and cookbook reviews.

So to kick off August and get you in the spirit,  here’s a little song: