The Russian Revolution – Alan Moorehead, 1958 ★★½

Ooh, Those Russians

Every country gets its own kind of revolution. For the French, it was bloody and romantic. For the Americans, it was lucky and idealistic. For the Russians, well, it was very Russian.

That’s the take in this popular history that both tells a good tale and showcases a then-prevailing Western mindset regarding its Soviet rival.

Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak, 1958 ★★

Forbidden Fruit Is Not Always Sweet

Does declaring a novel forbidden also somehow make it great? It’s a question I am left with after reading Doctor Zhivago, the novel that won its author a Nobel Prize which he couldn’t collect because he was under house arrest for writing Doctor Zhivago.

I can’t think of a better recommendation for a book than that; alas, making the right kind of enemy may be by far the best thing Doctor Zhivago has going for it.