BTW if you are a history buff I can highly recommend 2 books that I just finished up, Peter The Great: His Life and Worldby Robert K. Massie and Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow.
If you want to get a long overview of Russian history, its people & its dreams and the reality of its current existence, this biography will give you a better understanding. Once you realize how Peter the Great literally dragged the Russian people kicking & screaming into the modern western world, you start to understand how there will always be a hesitancy and reluctance, on the part of the Russian people to do so, unless they are forced to. Given a choice, I suspect most would stay in hibernation, like the proverbial Russian bear. While they are fascinated, like Peter himself, with our advanced scientific discoveries, they are also repulsed by our day to day mores. It’s a tug on their consciousness that still hasn’t been resolved to this day and may never be. Most of my reading on Russian history has been centered on the rise of Lenin/Stalin at the turn of the last century, WWII and its disastrous results for the Russian people. But after reading this book you start to understand the past is very much affecting its present predicament and their inability to break the cycle of needing a “strong” man to lead them forward.
George Washington. What’s the first thing you think of, besides the dollar bill? The myth and legend of the man, and not just here but worldwide, is so set in our collective consciousness that he might as well be Santa Claus. Luckily someone has finally has put some flesh & blood to the man with this recently released biography. You see the ambition & craving for recognition to become more than just a footnote to history and have a say in the upcoming changes to our country. Some see a reluctant leader thrust into the maelstrom of revolutionary times or that’s what the civics books and previous biographies would lead you to believe. But Chernow digs deeper into the man by mining the existing historical papers on George nationwide, from Richmond to NYC. You read, in his letters to friends & fellow politicians, the abhorrence but tolerance of slavery and the prescient views that it would tear the country apart if not addressed. His infinite patience with the conflicting views of Hamilton & Jefferson and not to take sides. And most importantly his wise choice to step down after 2 terms and the impact it had on American history; a lesson a lot of worldwide leaders of emerging nations would be wise to emulate.
Both are long reads but worth it.
