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"John Reed's account of Russia from February to October 1917 is captivating. Bourgeois history often disconnects events from the masses, focusing on figures like Lenin or Trotsky. Rarely does it paint a true picture of the masses. This is the Great Man Theory, a common perspective in historical analysis. However, I argue that this perspective can lead to misleading and distorted conclusions about history. Great book." — May 06, 2024 07:09AM
"John Reed's account of Russia from February to October 1917 is captivating. Bourgeois history often disconnects events from the masses, focusing on figures like Lenin or Trotsky. Rarely does it paint a true picture of the masses. This is the Great Man Theory, a common perspective in historical analysis. However, I argue that this perspective can lead to misleading and distorted conclusions about history. Great book." — May 06, 2024 07:09AM


“A society that devours its own young deserves no automatic or unquestioning allegiance.”
― Regeneration
― Regeneration

“Reader — supposing this book has readers some day — I am not clever and I don't possess the vivid style, the living power, that is needed to describe this immense feeling of self-respect — no, of rehabilitation, or even a new life. This figurative baptism, this bath of cleanliness, this raising of me above filth I had sunk in, this way of bringing me overnight face to face with true responsibility, quite simply changed my whole being. I had been a convict, a man who could hear his chains even when he was free and who always felt that someone was watching over him; I had been all the things that had urged me to become a marked, evil man, dangerous at all times, superficially docile yet terribly dangerous when he broke out: but all this had vanished — disappeared as though by magic. Thank you Mr. Bowen, barrister in His Majesty's courts of law, thank you for having made another man of me in so short a time!”
― Papillon
― Papillon

“Furthermore, unlike many other great predators of history, from Genghis Khan to the Spanish conquistadors, King Leopold II never saw a drop of blood spilled in anger. He never set foot in the Congo. There is something very modern about that, too, as there is about the bomber pilot in the stratosphere, above the clouds, who never hears screams or sees shattered homes or torn flesh.”
― King Leopold's Ghost
― King Leopold's Ghost

“Sometimes, in the trenches, you get the sense of something, ancient. One trench we held, it had skulls in the side, embedded, like mushrooms. It was actually easier to believe they were men from Marlborough's army, than to think they'd been alive a year ago. It was as if all the other wars had distilled themselves into this war, and that made it something you almost can't challenge. It's like a very deep voice, saying; 'Run along, little man, be glad you've survived”
― Regeneration
― Regeneration
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