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Title: If you liked Stalin, you'll LOVE "History of Eastern Europe"
Review: While the book was helpful in learning basic geography of eastern Europe and had many humorous comments, I had a hard time getting past the blatant sympathy for communism. The section on the Soviet Union, for example, described the "widespread discontent" brought about by Stalin's collectivization of agriculture. A cartoon showed a sad farmer wearing a barrel with little straps. There was no mention of the tens of millions who died as a result of the intentional destruction of their seed grain, nor any mention of the purges or slave labor camps. The authors implied that while communism was "unpopular", capitalism produces "unemployment, homelessness and destitution".America was described as an empire exactly analagous to the Soviet Union and it's puppet states.The authors did concede that Joe Stalin had corrupted the idealistic dream of Marx and Lenin.
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