Tag Archives: Man vs State

Atlas Shrugged

Posted on February 27, 2018 by smellincoffee

Atlas Shrugged © 1957 Ayn Rand 1168 pages Sometimes the chains that bind us are made by our own hands.   Dagny Taggart knew as a young girl that she wanted to grow up to be the master of her family’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The Gulag Archipelago: Volume III

Posted on February 4, 2018 by smellincoffee

Archipeleg GULag / The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary InvestigationVolume III (of III)© 1973, 1974 Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn576 pages Throughout The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has taken readers on a tour of the Soviet concentration camps,  where human … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

German Resistance to Hitler

Posted on October 14, 2017 by smellincoffee

German Resistance to Hitler© 1988 Peter Hoffman188 pages Peter Hoffman’s research into the German resistance culminated in a 900-page History of the German Resistance 1933-1945, but this work – simply titled German Resistance to Hitler —  is a much smaller … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The Gulag Archipelago, Volume I

Posted on August 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

Archipeleg GULag / The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary InvestigationVolume I (of III)© 1973, 1974 Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn660 pages Such was my desire to read The Gulag Archipelago that when I found it on the shelf and observed that it … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Tragedy of Liberation

Posted on August 10, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957 © 2013  Frank Dikotter 400 pages Readers who approach Frank Dikotter’s histories of Maoist China (The Tragedy of Liberation, Mao’s Great Famine, and The Cultural Revolution) should brace themselves … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Fear No Evil

Posted on February 18, 2017 by smellincoffee

Fear No Evil: © 1988 Natan Sharansky437  pages Fear No Evil chronicles one man’s psychological war against the KGB and the entire Gulag system. Born a Jewish subject of the Soviet Union, Natan Sharansky wanted nothing more than to emigrate peacefully … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Brave Cowboy

Posted on October 21, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Brave Cowboy: An Old Tale in a New Time©  1956 Edward Abbey277 pages “Where’re your papers?” “My what?” “Your I.D. — draft card, social security, driver’s license.” “Don’t have none. Don’t need none. I already know who I am.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Fire on the Mountain

Posted on September 26, 2016 by smellincoffee

Fire on the Mountain© 1961 Edward Abbey211 pages Beneath the shadow of Thieves’ Mountain, Billy Starr has arrived to spend a summer with his grandfather. He has arrived in the middle of a six-month siege, however, one of increasing intensity. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Rape of Nanking

Posted on November 27, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Rape of Nanking© 1997 Iris Chang290 pages Long before bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were at war in China.  ‘War’ is not quite the word to describe  the aftermath of their invasion of Nanking, however.  There the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

V for Vendetta

Posted on November 4, 2015 by smellincoffee

V for Vendetta© 1988 Alan Moore and David Lloyd300 pages Remember, remember the Fifth of November.  The Britain of 1998 is a nation that has lost its spirit,. After nuclear war and crop failures, widespread disorder was quelled only by … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments