Pres's Reviews > The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957

Isn't this how one feels when reading about any period of cruel history anywhere in time and place?

And isn't this what happens again and again--be it in the Soviet Union under Stalin, be it in Germany under Hitler, be it in China.

While it happened on a very large scale in the Soviet Union, in Germany, and in China, it happened on relatively smaller scales in numerous other countries throughout history.

It is always the same: Some cruel and ruthless individual with a strong personality and some special talents (such as deceiving and manipulating people) starts it (promising "heaven on earth"), equally cruel and ruthless, opportunistic individuals follow and strengthen the movement, then join some blinded idealists (who believe in "heaven on earth"), who give the whole thing a decent-looking coating, and finally, the stupid masses make the whole thing possible. And you know what comes next. Next comes suppression and disaster with millions of dead and even more millions of destroyed lives.

Mankind never seems to learn. Just look at the outcome of the last American (of all countries, American!) presidential elections. Hope this won't lead to suppression and disaster.