Have any of you read "Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick?

FDRrocks

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Sun Apr-11-04 12:48 AM
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Have any of you read "Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick?

I'm about halfway into the book and I find it extremely fascinating. The writer seems to be moderate on the whole Cap/Com thing, but I was wondering if the 'typical russian folk' he talks to are really the typical.

I just ask cause the whole last half of the 1980's in Russia sounds hellish and completely corrupt. Almost beyond belief, but not quite given the plutocracy we have going now.

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Menshevik

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Sun Apr-11-04 03:01 AM
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1. it's on my "books i need to read" list

also, check out "black earth: a journey through russia after the fall" by andrew meier...fascinating book

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Rhiannon12866

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Sun Apr-11-04 04:35 AM
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2. No, I have not, but thanks for bringing it to my attention

I have actually visited Lenin's Tomb and I am absolutely sure that it's really him in there. I looked very closely. He died in 1924, under suspicious circumstances, but looked better than most recently deceased people whose wakes I have attended. They, apparently, reembalm him every ten years. Eeeww! I believe you about the corruption in Russia. It was, sadly enough, a much safer place under the Communists, which was when I visited. I felt safer there than when in New York City. It has become a much more dangerous place. Anyway, sounds like a fascinating book, thanks.:-)

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mobuto

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Sun Apr-11-04 08:11 AM
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6. Lenin's Tomb is not, fwiw, about Lenin's Tomb

but about conditions in the Soviet Union as it was breaking up.

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Crunchy Frog

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Sun Apr-11-04 05:39 AM
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3. Yes, it's been a few years but

I thought that it was an excellent book. I used to be quite the Soviet scholar.

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mobuto

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Sun Apr-11-04 06:39 AM
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4. Yes I have - and its absolutely terrific

Edited on Sun Apr-11-04 06:40 AM by mobuto

One of the best written books of the last decade. Remick's great; I think I read it in a single sitting.

The writer seems to be moderate on the whole Cap/Com thing, but I was wondering if the 'typical russian folk' he talks to are really the typical.

Well, he's a free-market liberal. He's a "capitalist" the way Democrats are capitalists, but he supports government when and wherever necessary to protect the people.

On edit: I don't know if you've gotten to it yet, but my absolute favorite part is when he talks about the movie Wall Street.

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solinvictus

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Sun Apr-11-04 08:04 AM
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5. Yes

I took several courses in history and political science dealing with the Soviet era. My poli science professor was a Pole who escaped in 1973 by sneaking into West Germany. He said that Remnick's book was very accurate in detailing the corruption, inefficiency, and poverty of the Soviet system in Russia. Essentially, the Soviet style of rule inside the Warsaw Pact was to take the resources of the country under the auspices of protection. It was a simple extortion racket.

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