The Complete Far Side

When I was a kid, newspaper comics were a highlight of the day.  It was even better on Sunday, when the comics got their own section and were printed in color, and most got more space than they were usually allocated.  I read most of the comics.  I skipped over the soap opera-like ones like Rex Morgan, M.D., and thought depressing ones that seemed to focus more on the thought processes of adults (or even worse, chronically depressed female adults, such as Cathy) were just wasting space.  Most of them had their moments, but three, Calvin and Hobbes, the Far Side, and Fox Trot, were consistently funny.  Calvin and Hobbes will forever be the king of comics thanks to its amazing story lines, strong writing that was both hilarious and a source of psychologically and emotionally rich stories, and brilliant artwork, but the Far Side consistently delivered a unique, quirky brand of humor where cows and dinosaurs were thrown into everyday situations that masterfully blended everyday life with the absurd.

The Complete Far Side by Gary Larson (ISBN: 978-1-4494-6004-4) contains every single panel from the comic, which ran from 1979 to 1995.  It is not really a book, but three books in a set.  The comics are presented more or less in chronological order, so the reader can see how Larson’s style evolved during the early years.  There is really not a whole lot to include in an overview of a collection of comics, and that is the case here.  There is an eclectic collection of dinosaurs, cows (especially cows), squid, doctors, scientists, space aliens, chickens, dogs, and mailmen, among others.  The jokes range from rather macabre stuff to funny plays on words or a surrealist or absurdist take on a famous saying or proverb.  Every so often, there are pop culture references that are sometimes hard to get (at least for someone like myself who has never been big on pop culture and always has to look names and titles up when crossword puzzles reference these in clues).  The drawing style is unique with the always obese-looking characters and simply drawn animals, scenery, and other settings, but it’s a classic, and having every panel in one place is nice.

As expected, the set was amazing.  I have two complaints about it, though.  First, unlike the complete Calvin and Hobbes collection, the Far Side collection does not seem to include cover artwork from the various compilations released, so I wouldn’t really call it the “complete” collection.  Second, the layout was not very well done.  There was a ton of whitespace on each page, and it seemed to be that the cartoons were printed too small.  Other than those things, it’s an amazing read that one cannot do while others are trying to sleep or while in public: it results in way too many laugh-out-loud moments.  It’s kind of an expensive collection, even when bought as paperback instead of hardcover, it was well worth it for the laughs and nostalgia every time one opens it, even if only for a page or two of reading.

   

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The Czech Black Book

I first heard about Czechoslovakia as a kid because it was part of the Eastern Bloc, countries allied with (in some cases, maybe better described as under the control of) the Soviet Union.  I cheered against the Czechs anytime they were in an international sports competition along with the U.S. like the Olympics.  Later, a great uncle and aunt of mine served a mission in the post-Soviet Czech Republic, but I didn’t know my grandma’s extended family well, and that was really just a footnote in my life.  When I married a Czech, I figured that, out of courtesy, if nothing else, I should learn a little more about the country.  It’s proven more interesting than just that cursory look.  One place I started learning about the history of the Czech Republic was with the Prague Spring.

The Czech Black Book, edited by Robert Littell, is a collection of original source documents from the first week of the invasion.  There are press releases, official announcements, and news stories that were curated in response to Russian propaganda that claimed Russia and other Warsaw Pact countries came to Czechoslovakia to help and at the request of the Czechoslovaks (the Russians called their collection the White Book, hence the Czech one being black).  The documents from the Czechs show a much different picture.  The news reports feature interviews of high-level Czechoslovaks as well as from men on the street, and the feeling is that they simply wanted to be left alone and chart their own course through history unhindered by the Russians, whom they had previously considered friends.  There was often a feeling expressed that the invasion had done unrepairable damage to that relationship.  The government press releases and communiqués showed a government united around the reformers in the Czechoslovak Communist Party and a total disdain for the few leaders who preferred the Russian socialist path.  The Czechoslovak leaders weren’t ready to throw communism or socialism away (it reminded me of Gorbachev a little), but they certainly wanted to be able to choose their own way, and the Russians weren’t ready for their satellites to have that level of independence.  Trade unions, clubs, and other organizations also called on the citizens of Czechoslovakia to resist the invaders, although not violently, but by the interesting peaceful means of ignoring them.  They were to refuse to help the Russians whenever possible, to continue their everyday lives as if nothing was happening around them since strikes and other resistance would simply give the Russians the excuse they needed  to escalate the action.  Even when a few Czechoslovak citizens lost their lives, were arrested, or otherwise assaulted, the general population kept its cool, and the Czechoslovak leaders attributed the end of the invasion, in large part, to this reaction (or non-reaction, as the case may be) by the people.  In the end, negotiations were carried out, and the invaders left, although not under the conditions that the Czechoslovaks would’ve desired.

The book was interesting to read, but not at all the narrative that modern history books are.  This was simply a collection of documents.  It was dry in places.  Overall, though, I thought that there was a story being told.  The story was one of resistance and one of man’s yearning for freedom.  The Czechoslovaks had tried to break away in a slight way from the Soviet version of Communism because they felt it would work better for their country.  The Soviets rightly perceived that such a taste of freedom would only lead to Czechoslovakia moving further away from the Soviet sphere of influence.  It was interesting to read of the Czechoslovak resistance and the relative united front presented by the people and government.  At the end of the book, it was sad to see that despite this united front for freedom, the desire for liberty was crushed by the Soviets, and what the leaders and people had fought for did not come to fruition for another twenty years.  It was also a warning to us because it shows what not having freedom is like and what not letting an individual country chart its own path is like.  Signing away sovereignty is not something that leads to the best outcome.

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Русская Прага

I often think that my interest in many things Russian started with my time as a missionary there for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I sometimes think that the interest started earlier (or, to take a more Eastern approach, I was fated to be interested), when I chose to learn about Russia for a fifth-grade country report.  My mission introduced me not only to Russia, but to a wider world (in part thanks to coming in contact with missionaries from Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Mongolia), and I learned that there was so much more to learn.  Meeting my wife, who was from the Czech Republic, I was introduced to another fascinating people, culture, and country.  Unsurprisingly, since both the Czech Republic and Russia are in Europe, there are commonalities and overlaps in their respective histories.  Learning about some of those seemed like an interesting thing to do.

Русская Прага (Russian Prague, my translation) by Natalya Ivanovna Komandorova (ISBN: 978-5-9533-3746-5) presents an overview of some of the common history between Russia and the Czech Republic.  It starts in tsarist times and ends with a small section about post-Communist interaction between the two countries.  The medieval links between the two countries were focused largely on trade with a little religion thrown in, typical for a time when church and state were intimately intertwined.  The many interfamilial marriages and constantly changing alliances during the 1700s and 1800s resulted in some interaction between the two nations, and academic and intellectual interests were added to the subjects of correspondence.  These reasons for a Russian presence in what was then Czechoslovakia exploded in the early 1900s as Russia experienced what is nowadays referred to as brain drain when the Bolsheviks came to power.  Czechoslovakia, and Prague in particular, proved to be a welcoming place for Russian academics, politicians, and intellectuals who wanted to escape persecution and restrictions on their freedoms in Soviet Russia.  There were links between the two countries in the post-World War II era, too, but they tended to be less positive.  The Soviets worked to keep tabs on and even control the Russian diaspora.  Russian-Czechoslovak relations took a hit they would never really recover from when the Soviets invaded in 1968.  Modern relations between the two countries have returned to the medieval focus on trade with a significant level of distrust toward the Russians on the part of many Czechs.

The book, written in Russian, was not really what I expected, and disappointing for a couple different reasons.  The biggest fault I had with the book was its focus on pre-Soviet history.  I thought a chapter or two would have sufficed.  Instead, there were only a couple chapters that discussed ties between the two countries during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.  The post-Soviet era really only got a few pages.  For a book that was published in 2009, there should’ve been a lot more on this timeframe (20 years!).  I also found the section on the imperial times to be rather boring since it just seemed like short biographical sketches of various Russians that were either expatriates in or frequent travelers to the Czech lands.  Finally, the book was presented from a fully Russian viewpoint.  That isn’t necessarily a surprise given that the author is Russian, but a more nuanced approach would’ve served the book well.  The last section, which told of the author’s travel to Czechoslovakia as a university student, was particularly disappointing.  She seemed to discount the experiences of the one Czech in their group who was willing to say aloud what many of his countrymen thought about Russia post-1968.  It also seemed that the result, according to the author, of the interaction between the two countries was a benefit for the Czechs, while there was almost no discussion at any time of what the Russians gained from the two countries’ relations (other than that those who went to Czechoslovakia to avoid the Soviets were benefitted).  It was interesting to learn more about the ambassadors and emissaries pushing national interests in the medieval times and to see how much of a friend to liberty the pre-World War II Czechoslovak country was, but, overall, the book was relatively dry.
 

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Gangs of Russia

The 1990s are known as wild times in post-Communist Russia.  I was lucky enough to be a missionary in Russia at the end of the 1990s (starting in 1999).  I missed some of the craziest times, including a financial crash in 1998 that decimated the meager finances of most every-day Russians, but still got to experience some of the hallmarks of the wild 1990s.  The preferred clothes of the Russian street gang member, track suit pants, a leather jacket, and a black knit hat, were still very ubiquitous, especially in the markets, where the low-level racketeering probably made many of the bootleg CD sales that young people enjoyed possible.  Missionaries sometimes had run-ins with street thugs, although it’s hard to say if they were part of organized groups or not.  Some missionaries who served in Pskov before I did told of having their apartment besieged by a group of young Russian thugs, and one of the missionaries hung a couple sheets tied into an impromptu rope ladder off the balcony and shimmied down in order to get down on the street and warn the sister missionaries from going to the apartment, where a missionary meeting was scheduled.  Later, in the same city, a missionary companion and I had a run-in with thugs who beat us up in our own apartment building’s elevator, taking the small bit of money we had on us as their prize.  Such stories were common in 1990s Russia.

Gangs of Russia: From the Streets to the Corridors of Power by Svetlana Stephenson (ISBN: 978-1-5017-0024-8) delves into street gangs in the post-Soviet Russia.  Published in 2015, it relies on data gathered mostly during the first decade of the 2000s, but also talks about the 1990s.  The books focuses on traditional Russian street gangs, and doesn’t worry much about independent criminals or the famed thieves in law (vory v zakone).  The street gangs, the author reports, are like the thieves in law in that their roots go back to pre-revolutionary Russia, where the social fabric of the village commoners was often knit in part by groups of young men who spent their free time roaming the village streets, often picking fights with neighboring villages.  Much like soccer hooligans, these fights weren’t always territorial in nature, but sometimes just as an outlet for steam and the kind of dangerous, on-the-edge entertainment that young men often look for.  Soviet urbanization quashed much of this behavior, but glorification of anti-Soviet criminals in the 1970s and 1980s led to a comeback.  Once the Soveit Union fell, there were plenty of opportunities for street gangs to make money, not just fight each other, and they rapidly moved into sectors where the state was often unable to provide security or other services that government is usually expected to provide.  Markets, kiosks, street parking, prostitution, and extortion were prime territory for street gangs.  As these opportunities proved lucrative, the fights returned, but now for territory and power.  A few of these new criminals moved up the chain and became career criminals, commanding the guys on the streets below them, which were the types we missionaries ran into.  As the 1990s have faded into the past, street gangs have had to adapt to the state becoming more powerful and things like private security firms (usually started by former gang leaders) edging into the gangs’ territories.  Traditions have also changed or are threatened by the ever-increasing drug trade.  Finally, a major thesis in the book is that Russian  street gang members, unlike those in some other places, are able to combine the street life with regular life, including college, careers, and families.  Russia has a unique culture that allows for one pursuing both angles in life as needed, which has, in a few ways, allowed for the preservation of the street gang.  There was a passing of an era described, though, since the gang wars of the 1990s are done and upward mobility in gangs largely a thing of the past, so the future of Russia street gangs is one of waning and increased reliance on the drug trade, something they have traditionally eschewed.

Given my personal experience with this, I found it interesting to read about.  If it wasn’t for my fascination with Russia, though, I think I would’ve found this a little too dry, even if the underworld and crime were a topic of one’s interest.  The book tried to draw on both statistics for Russia as a whole and some more concentrated studies in Kazan and Moscow (especially Kazan), and I thought that the Kazan focus was overwhelming.  I think it could’ve left out some aspects of the organized crime situation in Russia because of Kazan’s large non-ethnic Russian population and proximity to Daghestan, where the crime situation and corruption are an entire level up from a lot of the rest of Russia.  Some of the personal stories the author gathered in discussions with criminals were interesting, and I liked learning about the ability of many street gang members to live what most would call a double life, but that seemed entirely normal to them, involved in low-level crime with their friends from the street, but going to college, getting married, even holding down jobs at the same time.

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Iron Curtain

My whole life, Eastern Europe has been of interest to me.  The Soviet Union and the countries of what was called the “Eastern bloc” were the enemies of America when I was a kid.  After the fall of the Soviet Union, I got to watch those formerly oppressed peoples give democracy a try.  Thanks to serving a mission in Russia and marrying a Czech woman, the interest in Eastern Europe has never really disappeared.  Considering the state of Russia’s government today, not to mention the regressions made in Western societies toward authoritarianism, it seems the subject of oppressive regimes is still very germane to modern life.  One thing that was always pretty clear to me, even as a kid, when I imagined people across the Soviet Union being told what their jobs were being something along the lines of graduating from high school and instead of getting a diploma, you got directed to your job, the worst one in my mind was someone whose job it was to endlessly go around an office building emptying the trash cans under everyone’s desks, was that, in most cases, it was those in power who were at fault for the lack of liberty, and not the everyday people.

Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956 by Anne Applebaum (ISBN: 978-1-4000-9593-3) discusses just how Communist regimes came to power in Europe following World War II.  The book chronicles how the Communists came to power in Eastern Europe, focusing on Hungary, Poland, and East Germany, with a fair number of examples from Czechoslovakia and occasionally Romania.  The Communists rose to power quickly in post-war Europe through a comprehensive strategy that thoroughly encompassed the lives of the people.  This included the police, youth organizations, the media, political organizations, the arts, and the economies of the countries where the Soviet Union was victorious over Germany.  In many cases, a combination of factors worked together to make the Communist takeover work.  First, it was the Soviet Union that was in control in these areas.  Even in places where there was arguable Allied control, it was the Soviets doing the day-to-day administration, so they worked to install people and organizations that were compatible with their ideas of how things should work.  Second, there had already been strong support for Communist, socialist, and other Left-leaning ideologies before and during the war.  This only continued after the war.  Third, the activists were the ones most involved.  They were also the ones who were willing to use violence to reach their goals.  While most regular people were concerned about getting a job, rebuilding their homes and businesses, and helping their friends and families, activists were getting involved in politics, unions, youth and religious organizations, and the media.  This helped them make sure that things were done they way they wanted.  In the rare cases when there was some push-back, the activists, often with help from the police or the newly formed secret police organizations, violently quashed any dissent.  Applebaum does discuss resistance a little, but this is a short section, which seems to accurately represent the proportions of active and passive support or acquiescence to the regime and resistance.

I thought the book was interesting, but not quite as impressive as Gulag: A History, Applebaum’s impressive earlier work.  I thought the book was comprehensive, and it was nice to read about the many different areas in which the Communists operated in order to come to power.  One area I thought it might have been nice to explore further was how such a small number of people could so quickly overtake these countries.  Of the three abovementioned factors, the author focused on the third, the activists and Communist party members, but I was often left pondering how such a small fraction of the total populations got so much power so quickly.  On the other hand, that factor is probably the most relevant to today’s political climate, especially in the West.  The book should serve as a warning to those who fall to the right of socialists on the political spectrum.  If they are too slow to step up their involvement and are too willing to be cowed by the Left’s willingness to resort to violence, it won’t be too long before books about “the crushing of Western Europe” or “the crushing of North America” will be possible to publish.

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Red Scarf Girl

Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about China.  It has certainly become much more important in the later half of my lifetime than it was in the first half.  I have always wanted to visit China, especially to see the famous Great Wall, which has captivated me since I first heard about it as a little kid.  Seeing some of the major sights would also be cool.  Such a trip once almost happened, but real life ended up getting in the way, and I’ve had to file that away in the “Some Day” folder.  I have also always known China as a Communist country even though it was Russia and Eastern Europe that seemed to grab all the Communist headlines during the first part of my life.  Tiananmen Square is something I remember quite well since it was broadcast into our living room, like it was for millions around the world.  China’s recent economic ascendancy has, unfortunately, been accompanied by continued restrictions on liberty that came with the introduction of Communism in that vast country.

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang (ISBN: 978-0-06-446208-2) details one of the worst parts of China’s Communist history, the Cultural Revolution.  The book, a memoir, is told from the viewpoint of the author as the events unfolded.  Her family history included a well-to-do grandfather, a Muslim grandmother, and a father who had joined the Communist Party in its infancy when it was still illegal and then had a falling out with its leaders.  This put her at a disadvantage when Mao began the Cultural Revolution to retain his power (power struggles seem to be a fixture of Communist regimes) since her family was not considered “red” enough.  Ji-li was a true believer in Mao and the Revolution at the beginning of the book, but as things went along and friends and neighbors were denounced, goals and dreams shattered, lives ruined (or lost), and her own family affected, she came to understand that devotion to a cause or a leader should not trump one’s devotion to the truth and to one’s family.  Like many Chinese, she was later disappointed when she found out that the Cultural Revolution and all the damage it had done was not really to advance Communism, but to allow Chairman Mao to hang on to power.  Ji-li paints a descriptive picture of what life was like before the chaos, and it actually didn’t seem too bad.  When the Cultural Revolution starts, though, things change quickly and they change drastically, as all things old are thrown out.  Kids can no longer read comics, neighbors stop talking to each other and some look for ways to harm neighbors and former friends.  School is changed, favoring class status instead of merit.  Houses are ransacked, people imprisoned, beat, sometimes killed.  Hope is lost for many.  Some, like Ji-li’s father, resist heroically, never admitting to the accusations leveled falsely against him.  Life eventually settles down, but it’s never the same again, and even to a young girl, it’s obvious that there were freedoms and opportunities lost.

I found the book to be quite interesting and informative even though it is written as juvenile literature.  For those who know more about the history of China, the experience might not be the same.  I found it interesting to see so many similarities between other authoritarian regimes (I couldn’t help but remember the Taliban blowing up ancient statues in Afghanistan as I read about Chinese Red Guards destroying anything they felt like labeled “Four Olds”) and Leftist ideologies (anti-religious views and class and racial tension, for example).  It was sometimes a little jarring to read simply because the author narrated from her point of the view as the events unfolded.  This meant there is a lot of pro-Communist, even pro-Cultural Revolution sentiment expressed.  As noted, this wanes as the story progresses, but it sometimes makes one have to stop and think as one reads.  I see having to think things through and a need for analysis and evaluation as a good thing, though.  Here, the analysis of the author’s experiences leads to a greater appreciation for freedom and liberty, as well as, hopefully, a greater commitment to protect those values and to be kind to those around us.

   

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Red-handed

Corruption has been around as long as politics have been around, which seems to be pretty much since the beginning since the Old Testament is full of politics, often of the lying, sneaking, and back-stabbing variety.  As a missionary in Russia and then in a couple classes in college, though, was when I was introduced to corruption.  It didn’t seem to play a large role in the American politics that I knew from the 1980s and 1990s.  Russians, though, constantly complained about corruption, and textbooks and articles in college expanded my understanding of the scope of corruption all around the world.  Sadly, as time has gone on, corruption has continued to expand and not retract like most hope it would.

Red-handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win by Peter Schweizer (ISBN: 978-0-06-306114-9) chronicles corruption among American elites as it pertains to China.  The book shows how many facets of American society are compromised because of their deep, corrupt financial ties to China.  Both major political parties (already for decades) have been selling out to China along with big business, the green lobby, the American entertainment industry, and even America’s sports leagues.  While the Clintons and the Bidens headline the political corruption, the Bushes and Mitch McConnell are also exposed.  Politicians and diplomats consistently use their time in office to make connections with high-ranking Chinese, then cash in on public service, brokering Chinese access to American halls of power.  Some, like the Clintons, Bidens, and McConnells, don’t even bother waiting until they’re out of office.  The worst part about it from an American security standpoint is that many of the deals involve dual-use technologies, defense industry, and hi-tech products that, when protected, protect America’s edge and advantage in the world.  The NBA has sold out to China for the billions of dollars it can make there.  In turn, players, coaches, executives, and even fans are prevented from expressing certain views.  The same holds true for Hollywood, where anti-American messages are de jour, but the studios must walk on eggshells when it comes to China, Taiwan, and Tibet.  A short section at the end talks about what can be done and passes out a little praise to the few to whom it is due.  Ultimately, American political discourse is constrained, and American national interests are subjugated to a country that does not, according to the statements of its own leaders, believe in a positive-sum game, but a zero-sum game, and it’s willing to do what it takes to be the one on top.

The book was very interesting and worth one’s time.  Schweizer is a long-time crusader against corruption in government and has written a number of tomes on the subject, including Clinton Cash.  Schweizer is not political in his writing or research: all sides are fair game, and this was particularly evident in this book.  I also appreciated the look beyond politics and into the culture and business worlds, which play a major role in American life and in American politics.  Politics in America would not be what they are if it wasn’t for the way those on top in the cultural and business worlds acted.  The book is well researched (the scores of pages of endnotes point to this), although all the names and figures can seem a little convoluted at times.  If one reads for the overarching points, this does not inhibit the reading experience.  The facts and figures are there for those who want the minutiae, though.  The other strong point of the book was that it explained what some of the risks are from this corruption, which helps us understand the immediacy of the concern.  The prescriptions at the end seemed realistic, although maybe too little, too late.

 

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