[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Book - Russia in 1919

[Paul Rakow]

  Jerry, Gloria, 

      Arthur Ransome, who wrote "Russia in 1919" and "The Crisis in
 Russia", is very famous in Britain as a children's author - he wrote
 the popular "Swallows and Amazons" books about children who spend
 their holidays sailing on the lakes in northern England. I don't
 know whether these books are well known in the US and Canada, but
 in Britain they always come high up in votes for favourite books. 

     So it's a real surprise to find that before he became a children's
 author he was a left-wing journalist, and that he was married to
 Trotsky's secretary. 

   There's an entertaining article about Ransome's Russian connections at 
 http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1434209,00.html

        Paul Rakow
        rakow at ifh.de


 Jerry Frank <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca> wrote: 
> 
> Hi Gloria.  Thanks for the referral to this book.
> 
> I obviously haven't taken the time to read all of it.  Like you, I 
> read the intro and the first chapter, and then browsed the other 
> chapter headings.
> 
> The book appears to be an observation, news style, of the goings on 
> of the early Communist government in Russia, primarily in Moscow 
> where the writer is visiting.
> 
> With this cursory overview, I would suggest that it contains little 
> if any info directly relevant to the plight of the Germans living in 
> various parts of the then rural Soviet Republic.  It does appear to 
> contain a reasoned overview of the politics of the day and may 
> therefore be of interest to general history buffs.  Since I haven't 
> read it all, I cannot comment on the veracity of it but, as with any 
> period type history book, it should be read at least in part, with an 
> understanding of the political leanings of the author and how that 
> might colour his view of what he is witnessing.
> 
> 
> Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
> FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca
> 
> 
> At 01:01 PM 26/08/2006, gloriah4 at juno.com wrote:
> >Jerry,
> >
> >This website offers the reading of books on-line and you might find a
> >particular one of interest. Go into the "library" section and look under
> >the "history-Russian" category where you will find the book Russia in
> >1919, by Arthur Ransome. I have only read the first chapter. Am curious
> >as to how the book squares with SGGEE knowledge.
> >
> >Gloria Hoppe
> >Researching: HOPPE, TOBER(T), HOLPOPP and SAWATZKI in (primarily)
> >VOLHYNIA (and MEXICO)
> >
> >World Wide School
> >http://www.worldwideschool.org/
>