519 books
—
125 voters
“Some believed that Satan had come to earth in human form as a party activist, his collective farm register a book of hell, promising torment and damnation.”
― Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
― Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
“The dominance of former communists and the insufficient discussion of the past in the post-communist world is not coincidental. To put it bluntly, former communists have a clear interest in concealing the past: it tarnishes them, undermines them, hurts their claims to be carrying out 'reforms,' even when they personally had nothing to do with the past crimes.”
― Gulag: A History
― Gulag: A History
“It is indeed the duty of historians to stress the contrast between
the standards of the past and the standards of the present. Some
fulfil that duty on purpose, others by accident.”
― Europe: A History
the standards of the past and the standards of the present. Some
fulfil that duty on purpose, others by accident.”
― Europe: A History
“Totalitarian regimes, they declared, all had at least five things in common: a dominant ideology, a single ruling party, a secret police force prepared to use terror, a monopoly on information, and a planned economy. By those criteria, the Soviet and Nazi regimes were not the only totalitarian states. Others—Mao’s China, for example—qualified too.”
― Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
― Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
“Although the definition of an 'enemy of the state' changed over time, the mechanisms to deal with these enemies were put in place right at the very beginning.”
― Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956
― Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956
Esperanto
— 84 members
— last activity May 22, 2024 06:27AM
Esperanto is an international language invented by Zamenhof a polish doctor to faciliate relations between peoples with different languages.
The History Book Club
— 26099 members
— last activity 3 hours, 1 min ago
"Interested in history - then you have found the right group". The History Book Club is the largest history and nonfiction group on Goodread ...more
Olga’s 2025 Year in Books
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