Waiting for that Rocket part Deux

“As we come to the collectivization of 1930, it is sensible to think of it, if anything, less the social terms of collective ownership and work but more in terms of it providing a method of putting it beyond the power of the peasant to withhold his product from the state.” (Conquest, 49)

“This is a book about Stalin's relationship with his entourage in the years after World War II. It tells the story of an aging and distrustful despot who habitually picked on and humiliated his companions. Sparing no one, Stalin aimed to infect the ruling circle with the suspicions and insecurities that characterized his own mental world."

S2:E7 The Portland Trip

Amen [or thanks]”

I regret quoting a Nic Cage movie, but this sums up everything for me right now. Maybe it does you, too.

Because my Book Dealer always looks out for me I have another book by Vasily Grossman. This one a collection of short stories and non-fiction. I just learned that, while Grossman was writing for a paper of the Red Army during the siege of Stalingrad he was on the short list to write a piece about the necessity of killing deserters of the army. He turned it down, another writer got out of it, and Aleksey Tolstoy ended up with the honor.

"This is a civilized country [...]. There are so many cases that mistakes have been made, but they'll be righted in time. We will write petitions, prove our innocence; then our cases will be reviewed and we'll be released. It's just a matter of reaching the right person; then you'll see that everything will turn out all right."

5. Melissa Ferrick

I hate that this is a story too many Muslims, Hispanics, and other nationalities know today.