Il dio che è fallito

A book that has stuck with me over the years, in part because of its historicity and its personal touch. I especially loved Koestler's contribution, though every author's' contribution managed to capture the insanity of the age through the lens of their own experience. Above all else, it's a seminal Leggi tutto

The God That Failed consists of six essays by disillusioned Communists and fellow travelers. All six are small masterpieces, as is the editor's introduction. It is an anti-Communist book put together in 1949, at the beginning of the Cold War and just before the most paranoid period of the Red Scare. Leggi tutto

I’d read a lot about this book, in which six authors in the 1950s told of their disillusionment with Communism. But I’d never been able to track down an affordable copy of it. The one I got literally fell apart as I read it, and the essays were, in the end, disappointing. In general, I’d say they of Leggi tutto

Quickread of six essays from ex-communists about their disillusion with communism. Arthur Koestler's first essay is the most interesting. Seems like the Andrew Wright one is taken from his book "American Boy". It uses the same fictional name of Buddy Nealson for a CP recruiter. The Andre Gidé book i Leggi tutto

This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. Originally published in 1949, it consists of six essays from intellectuals who had been either members of the Communist Party or "fellow travelers." The essays are personal narratives of why they had initially supported Communism and then wh Leggi tutto

richard wright and louis fischer stand-out stories, the rest is too dry/hyper-specific to be engaging