very much the kind of book i came to expect from lindqvist: using literature and personal anecdotes to paint a picture & teach the reader some hi3.5 ☆
very much the kind of book i came to expect from lindqvist: using literature and personal anecdotes to paint a picture & teach the reader some history, rather posing questions than answering them. it's the kind of book that is designed to make you think for yourself, so i wouldn't recommend going into it expecting to simply go out on the other end with fully-formed views. the idea of using a sort of "choose your own adventure" type of narrative was interesting, letting one physically feel how all the events are intertwined: the fragments are put together in chronological order, but you're reading them according to the author's instructions.
numerous times he uses isntreali thinkers & authors to showcase a point, which i absolutely wasn't a fan of. especially when it's describing a very specific point of view on warfare without a mention how it clearly stems from the zionist idea of violence....more
this book will quite literally change the way you see the world. this is not an exaggeration.
it's a history lesson about the us' rampant anti-communithis book will quite literally change the way you see the world. this is not an exaggeration.
it's a history lesson about the us' rampant anti-communism world tour of the 20th century (both run directly by the us gov and backed/inspired by it) intertwined with personal stories of survivors of those massacres. the main focus is on indonesia (since the bloodshed there really did work as an inspiration for other regimes) but it also talks in detail about dozens of other third world countries.
fair warning, you absolutely will feel like you have a tinfoil hat on when you'll try to explain to someone what this book is about. you can thank the cia and the us gov in general for that.
it will also make you try to imagine the kind of world we could have had, and it's not exactly a fun exercise.
anyway, on the subject of the writing itself: the style is great, but because the book covers so many topics, the author often jumps from one to another & at times it's hard to follow. extremely worthy to keep trying tho....more
i just wanted a quick little audiobook while i was finishing my craft project and i could not have chosen worse. i wasn't expecting a lot, and yet!
firi just wanted a quick little audiobook while i was finishing my craft project and i could not have chosen worse. i wasn't expecting a lot, and yet!
first of all, marx's actual philosophy is like five minutes of the title's hour. the rest is spent on criticising said philosophy and spewing pro-capitalist nonsense; sketching marx's biography with a heavy focus on his bourgeoisie family and a weirdly high amount of anecdotes clearly aimed to discredit & ridicule marx. overall, just a load of anti-communist garbage. literally more informative would be to read marx's wiki page....more
okay, i get it now. i get why kapuściński has been so popular for so long. this is a beautiful, haunting reportage. his eye for detail is incredible, okay, i get it now. i get why kapuściński has been so popular for so long. this is a beautiful, haunting reportage. his eye for detail is incredible, the way he describes everyday life almost like a story from another world is uncanny. he whole thing is bloody, honest, and somehow still hopeful....more
a comprehensive story of the terror & genocidal murder of millions of congolese, unfortunately lacking - as the author himself points out more than ona comprehensive story of the terror & genocidal murder of millions of congolese, unfortunately lacking - as the author himself points out more than once - the voices of survivors, for obvious reasons. still, it looks at when and why and how king leopold II created his colony, his reign there and its ultimate fall. in the later part, a fascinating story of the world-wide liberation movement (not exactly anti-colonialism though, from most of its players.)
definitely recommend reading "exterminate all the brutes" by sven lindqvist, too.
the book isn't free of faults. not only because it never manages to be balanced with voices used, but due to author's own views. he's loudly anti-communist, which shapes a fair bit of the "aftermath" portion of the book. he also talks about colonialism and fascism, and never really manages to draw a correlation between the two, which is to say a straight line from the first to the second. ...more
it’s a funny book because he’s like, here’s all i personally did for the peace in isntreal and the middle east, some of my closest life-long friends ait’s a funny book because he’s like, here’s all i personally did for the peace in isntreal and the middle east, some of my closest life-long friends are isntreali officials, and here’s a cute anecdote abt the time i held a daughter of an arab official. the most radical thing he said was that isntreal must adhere to international law, which was right after he said - for the hundredth time - that most importantly all arab nations must respect isntreal as a reality.
when you read about palestine, you learn that carter was basically the friendliest to palestine among the us presidents. and then you read this book which, yes, lists a very few among isntreali war crimes & crimes against humanity, but they’re always preceded by the words “palestinians claim that”. be fucking for real. ...more
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