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A review by walruz
Lenin the Dictator by Victor Sebestyen
4.0
While I know this was generated as an "intimate" portrait of Lenin -- and on that account, it succeeded very well -- I think Sebestyan could have infused just a bit more of Lenin's political philosophy, especially in his deeper thinking of how to accommodate (or some would say bypass) Marxist theory to the Russian situation.
I am always surprised by the so-called tenderness of ruthless people, and this biography moves Lenin well up the list; while he allowed and even ordered the deaths of so many people (mere abstractions on paper), Lenin clearly had a soft spot for individuals when he encountered them personally, and he allegedly came face to face with only three dead people in his life -- not of whom were his victims.
I am always surprised by the so-called tenderness of ruthless people, and this biography moves Lenin well up the list; while he allowed and even ordered the deaths of so many people (mere abstractions on paper), Lenin clearly had a soft spot for individuals when he encountered them personally, and he allegedly came face to face with only three dead people in his life -- not of whom were his victims.