Posted by Rizwan on 8/5/2008, 13:00:33, in reply to "Re: questions, etc."
208.118.161.49
: Has anyone else read A Confederacy of Dunces ? It's a
: lot of fun to read and won't take long if you haven't
: started it.
I have read it in the past and will try to participate...though I may need to refresh my memory with another reading, which I had been planning to do anyway. I will start it again tonight. I did enjoy the book, though.
I'm not nearly so well read in Russian history as Steven, but I will say that the best book I ever read on the late Czarist/early Soviet period was one by Stephen Cohen called "Bukharin & the Bolshevik Revolution."
http://www.amazon.com/Bukharin-Bolshevik-Revolution-Political-Biography/dp/0195026977
Absolutely fascinating to read about the dynamic between Bukharin, Lenin and Stalin, and, as I recall, how Stalin managed to take over after Lenin's death despite Lenin's strong preference for Bukharin. How different 20th century history would have been had this not happened!
The NYRB said of it: "This magnificent book will come to be regarded by those whose opinions are worth listening to as one of the two or three really outstanding studies in the history of the Soviet Union of the past 25 years."
Related question for Steven: what Civil War histories do you recommend? Are the Shelby Foote books good? Are they broader than just military histories? Also, I just picked up the Donald bio of Lincoln, which looks quite promising. Any thoughts you or anyone else have on Civil War era books in general, and on these in particular?
BTW: Random note here, but my office window, through which I am looking as I type this, overlooks Booth Alley, which runs from the back of Ford's Theatre here in DC, out onto F St. This is the path Booth took right after he shot Lincoln. You can imagine how often I've daydreamed here at work, recreating in my mind this scene from that fateful evening in April 1865.
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