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Archie Brown

Autore di The Rise and Fall of Communism

20 opere 725 membri 9 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Archie Brown is Emeritus Professor of Politics at Oxford University and an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College Oxford.

Comprende il nome: Brown, Archie

Opere di Archie Brown

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A superb account of the rise and fall of communism and the communist states. Written in a direct, simple style, eschewing philosophical and existential jargon, it presents all sides of the phenomenon in a sober and factual manner. While the earlier chapters cover ground that is probably already to the keen reader, although they contain a valuable summary of Stalin's excesses and the sufferings of the people, it is the latter part that is of most interest, as it recounts the growth of glasnost and perestroika, the struggles of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, and the dominoes effect of the breakup of the Soviet Union on the erstwhile 'people's democracies' of Eastern Europe. Of absorbing interest are also the author's discussion of the remaining communist states, especially China and Cuba, which have struck out in different ways from the Soviet model.… (altro)
 
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Dilip-Kumar | 5 altre recensioni | May 12, 2021 |
Disclaimer: This is a personal review and should not be taken into consideration before taking up this book

Pros:
1. A comprehensive history of the vast vast and complex Communism , cold war and its fall.
2. Very neutral . He seems to have no emotions into it and is just recording the happening with a little insight (that history always provides).
3. Very well defined scope of what he is going to deal with.
4. The writer has included everything , even small incidences of communist rising.
5. Loved certain moments as it provided a kind of simplicity and happiness that makes me like a book. Basically loved the Rise and Fall of Berlin Wall , the naivety or simplicity of Che Guevera made my day and made me believe in goodness for sometime. As a whole , I love Cold War politics and this book didnot disappoint me in it .

Cons:
1. For non native speaker , it is a super tough read. The language does not follow a free simple flow.
2. Very Western world centric. I don't buy his proclamation that Communism has ended whereas there is A huge China to prove otherwise. Though he justifies his thoughts , stating that China is at best a hybrid Communist state is a faulty one; if you look at it every Communist country molded Marx-Engels idea to suit their concept of power.
3. Pt.[2] brings to this , he seemed to treat Non European or Western countries/entites to be third class citizen who has no contribution to the world politics and all ideas have originated from the West, to be later used by them.
4. The writer has not dwelled upon the reasons behind such drastic change in the ideologies of USSR leaders. This was a personal peeve for me , as it seemed very astonishing to see the U turns taken by Krushchev or Gorbachev , without understanding where it came from . Though Gorbachev was a little explained towards the end but Khrushchev remained a mystery.
5. He seemed to be very harsh towards the strong leaders and to the idea as a whole right from the beginning. I personally would have liked a gradual change in tone as the novel proceeded.

Loved and hated the book equally. Will 3 star it till I don't find a book that will either make this book stand's better or worse.
… (altro)
 
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__echo__ | 5 altre recensioni | May 11, 2021 |
Como seria de esperar numa obra tão extensa, há partes mais interessantes do que outras.
O autor tem amplo conhecimento do tema, razão pela qual, por vezes, se perde em pormenores irrelevantes.
A parte da “ascensão” pareceu-me mais dinâmica do que a parte da “queda”, talvez porque a primeira foi um fenómeno quase universal e a segunda um fenómeno local com consequências globais.
Realmente interessante é a definição de Estado Comunista apresentada no capítulo 6.
 
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CMBras | 5 altre recensioni | Jan 23, 2021 |
Fascinating review of 20th century history

The book starts with a simple statement which to me was only obvious after I had read it: concentrating power in a “strong leader” means allocating it arbitrarily to the leader’s personal assistants.

Because no single human can cope with the increased volume of information and decisions - despite the myths these “strong leaders” like to perpetuate about themselves - the decisions get made by the close staff of these leaders.

This leaves out the other people who should have led on these decisions, eg cabinet members who are of higher calibre and expertise and experience than the advisers.

Furthermore, more discussion with more people gets better decisions. This is obvious with the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, Mao and Stalin as leaders who accumulated power. But the book is full of examples of other leaders to make the case.

I wish history at schools was taught about these leaders and events, the 20th century is about more than Hitler but sadly that’s too often all children are taught about.

I don’t know that the author’s case is conclusively proven - it’s hard to make this into a scientific argument. But it’s fascinating to read and - especially as the author dislikes Tony Blair greatly - to read it in light of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership style. A really enjoyable and thoughtful book.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
idiopathic | 1 altra recensione | Dec 13, 2020 |

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Statistiche

Opere
20
Utenti
725
Popolarità
#35,032
Voto
4.0
Recensioni
9
ISBN
83
Lingue
7

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