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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
Is it possible to rate such a comprehensive account of an extraordinary event in world history anything less than 5 stars, surely not.
“Many reviewers expressed astonishment that they knew so little about such a deadly tragedy”
I put my hand up; I was one of those people. Stalin, USSR, communism….. These were all words I knew about, thought I understood to some extent, but wow, my eyes have been opened. Thank you.
I must admit that early on in the book I thought I had bitten off more than I can chew. Other than my last few books, it had been years since reading a non-fiction book and never have I read a historical non-fiction book. So when the build-up of events started I was not sure I would be able to make it through, but that feeling didn’t last too long, thankfully.
“Starvation was the result, rather, of the forcible removal of food from people’s homes; the roadblocks that prevented peasants from seeking work or food; the harsh rules of the blacklists imposed on farms and villages; the restrictions on barter and trade; and the vicious propaganda campaign designed the persuade Ukrainians to watch, unmoved, as their neighbours died of hunger”.
Wow was the world a cruel place back then, the magnitude of cruelty that human beings can impose on other human beings is sickening to say the least. Reading these events I actually can’t help but draw some parallels (in a much smaller quantities of course) of the mind set of some leaders in African countries. Thankfully the rest of the world won’t turn a blind eye, and thankfully the condemned have a lot more options. I just wish these so called leaders could learn something from History.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for a review copy.
“Many reviewers expressed astonishment that they knew so little about such a deadly tragedy”
I put my hand up; I was one of those people. Stalin, USSR, communism….. These were all words I knew about, thought I understood to some extent, but wow, my eyes have been opened. Thank you.
I must admit that early on in the book I thought I had bitten off more than I can chew. Other than my last few books, it had been years since reading a non-fiction book and never have I read a historical non-fiction book. So when the build-up of events started I was not sure I would be able to make it through, but that feeling didn’t last too long, thankfully.
“Starvation was the result, rather, of the forcible removal of food from people’s homes; the roadblocks that prevented peasants from seeking work or food; the harsh rules of the blacklists imposed on farms and villages; the restrictions on barter and trade; and the vicious propaganda campaign designed the persuade Ukrainians to watch, unmoved, as their neighbours died of hunger”.
Wow was the world a cruel place back then, the magnitude of cruelty that human beings can impose on other human beings is sickening to say the least. Reading these events I actually can’t help but draw some parallels (in a much smaller quantities of course) of the mind set of some leaders in African countries. Thankfully the rest of the world won’t turn a blind eye, and thankfully the condemned have a lot more options. I just wish these so called leaders could learn something from History.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for a review copy.
Chilling tale of abuse of power and the failure of a state.
Not fun. Not even particularly absorbing to read. There are no heroes in this story, and not even engaging villains. Despite all the first-person accounts and access to the Soviet archives, the villainy remains faceless, the motivation seemingly abstract and bureaucratic. But a clear and worthwhile account of this horrid event.
As is usual with Applebaum, this book is impeccably researched, smart, well written, and accessible. She tells the horrific story of Stalin's purposeful starvation of the Ukrainian people, emphasizing the 1932-1933 famine years. The Ukrainians have always yearned for independence and their opposition to farm collectivization and to Russian exportation of Ukrainian grain while withholding it from the Ukrainian peasants who grew it during lean harvest years enraged Stalin. He brutally retaliated by ordering grain, livestock, and produce seizures from the fields and from Ukrainian homes. Millions of adults, children, and farm animals died of starvation. In the aftermath, Stalin and the Russian government desperately tried to cover up the Holodomor and destroyed census records that showed 8 million people were "missing."
Although the book gets bogged down a bit in the middle with, in my view, a few too many stories of the atrocities that occurred during the famine, including cannibalism and infanticide, it offers a real understanding of the clear and direct path from those times to what we are witnessing in Ukraine today. Fortunately, the same lies and attempts to cover up what is happening in Ukraine are harder to promulgate today because of social media and a world that is more globally connected. It is difficult to understand why generations of murderous dictators persist in the attempt to suppress such a brave, independence loving people.
Although the book gets bogged down a bit in the middle with, in my view, a few too many stories of the atrocities that occurred during the famine, including cannibalism and infanticide, it offers a real understanding of the clear and direct path from those times to what we are witnessing in Ukraine today. Fortunately, the same lies and attempts to cover up what is happening in Ukraine are harder to promulgate today because of social media and a world that is more globally connected. It is difficult to understand why generations of murderous dictators persist in the attempt to suppress such a brave, independence loving people.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Vital. As vital for the past and the victims of the Holodomor as to explain Russian current political disregard for facts in their imperial ambitions
Applebaum’s well written and well laid out book made reading about this very difficult subject possible. Looking forward to reading more from her.