From Munich to Geneva
This week I wasted two hours of my life on a terrible new film called “Munich: The Edge of War.” It is based on a best-selling novel by Robert Harris. Now the problem with Robert…
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Review: Kronstadt, 1921, by Paul Avrich
It’s been a half century since Paul Avrich’s definitive history of the Kronstadt mutiny first appeared — and a full century since the revolt itself. Others have written about how “Red Kronstadt”, whose sailors had…
How the Democrats are paving the way for Trump’s return
No one is working harder to get Donald Trump back into the White House than the leadership of the Democratic Party. Preventing Trump from winning the 2024 elections would seem to be a top priority…
The real “Money Heist”
The hit Netflix series La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) tells the story of two spectacular robberies. One involved the seizure and occupation of the Spanish Mint (where paper currency is printed). The other took…
Review: Dolphin Junction, by Mick Herron
While we wait for the next Slough House novel to come out (on 12 May, but who’s counting) and for the Apple TV series based on that those characters (no release date yet), along comes…
Review: Black Sun, by Owen Matthews
Owen Matthews knows the Soviet Union. First of all, he was born in Leningrad. He went on to become a journalist there, serving as Newsweek’s Moscow correspondent for years. He wrote an excellent biography of…
Review: The Kronstadt Uprising, by Ida Mett
If you’re looking for a short book about the 1921 rebellion of the Kronstadt sailors against the Bolshevik dictatorship, this is not a bad place to start. Written from an activist rather than an academic…
Review: Ship of Fate: The Story of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, by Roger Moorhouse
What was the greatest maritime disaster in history? The Titanic? Not even close. It was the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff, with over 10,000 people on board — some 9,000 of whom died in the…
Review: Lucky, by Alice Sebold
Alice Sebold is a terrific writer and this book proves it. A memoir of her rape at a time when she was a young student at Syracuse University, it begins with a harrowing and honest…
Review: Confronting Antisemitism on the Left – Arguments for Socialists, by Daniel Randall
Dan Randall is a British socialist and opponent of anti-semitism. That should be a tautology; after all, aren’t socialists by definition opponents of all forms of racism, including anti-semitism? Clearly not. Randall is a member…