I just discovered that Radical Reviewer believes the western account of the 1932 Ukranian famine, and I could not be more disappointed.

  • shitstorm [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Davies and Wheatcroft’s The Years of Hunger

    Wish I could, but most people can't afford a $200 book.

    • LeninsRage [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I got my paperback copy for like $20 but it seems the price has gone up since then

      • shitstorm [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Looks like that's only hardcover. I might scoop up a $40 used paperback.

        • volkvulture [none/use name]
          1·
          4 years ago

          Wheatcroft & Davies do get on the bandwagon of denouncing Stalin and blaming USSR "mismanagement", but it's more like standard issue Western Sovietology boiler plate stuff

          In fact, some of their revelations from the archives about Stalin sending direct aid immediately & chastising those on the ground for not moving fast enough belies the anti-USSR conclusions that Wheatcroft and Davies make. And I honestly think they know that

        • LeninsRage [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I mean I might straight-up post the whole part of the preface I highlighted at some point. The Years of Hunger is that expensive especially in hardcover because it's pretty much literally a 90s-era Oxford textbook. I'm not kidding when I say "the majority of the book is nerd shit" ie tons and tons of agricultural statistics. If you're not into that pass it up.

          • shitstorm [he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Reading a pdf now I found on libgen. Definitely post the preface some more, it gets right to the heart of the politicization.

            I'm going into a career in history, if I can force myself to read a book about diplomatic processions during the Congress of Vienna I can fuck with agricultural yields. Actually it's really rare to have that kind of hard data, very cool.