Europe

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin  by Timothy Snyder, Basic Books, 2012.  Where  Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Western Russia.  When  1933-1945. Number of Civilian’s Killed by Soviets and Nazis: 14 million.  Holodomor  Holodomor: 3 million Ukrainian peasants killed by Stalin by sending in the Red Army to steal their grain harvests Stalin’s Great Terror  380,000 prosperous Ukrainian peasants (kulaks) executed by the NKVD, because of their eco

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland  by Patrick Radden Keefe, Vintage Books Trade Paperback, 2021.  Roman Catholics in Ulster The reason Catholics in Ulster rebelled against the UK was that the Protestant majority treated them like second-class citizens. From Terrorist to Politician The basic issue is whether, after a peace agreement, men who were previously terrorists, should be allowed to become politicians.

The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain  by Dario Fernandez-Morera, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2016.  Spain Under Muslim Rule This book describes the what life was like in Spain under Muslim rule. Christians and Jews were treated like second class citizens, and deported to Africa if they behaved too badly. The Muslims mistreated women, even their own women, much more badly than they mistreated Christian a

he Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism  by Tina Rosenberg, Vintage Books (Random House), 1996.  Poland The leader of Poland, during the time that Lech Wajensa and Solidarity were trying to free it, was Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski. Jaruzelski grew up as part of a Polish land-owning aristocracy. He was an ambiguous figure who made compromises with the Soviet Union to prevent it from invading Poland. Perhaps he was unnecessarily worried about invasion, because th

How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe  by Benjamin Abelow, Siland Press, 2022.

Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis  by Bat Ye’or, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005.  Europe the Victim of Arab Antisemitism During the years after World War II most Europeans were sympathetic to the Jews and Israel. This is still true. What has changed is that now the political leaders of Europe have turned against Israel. This change did not come from the European people, and it came only secondarily from European intellectuals and politicians.  It came mainly from pressu

Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City  by Russell Shorto, Random House Trade Paperbacks; Illustrated Edition, 2013.  Greco-Roman Culture Amsterdam was the first European city since the Greco-Roman era to promote liberalism: religious tolerance, private ownership of land, and freedom of the press. This book describes the history of how this happened.  Private Property When Dutch farmers reclaimed land from the sea, it belonged to the farmers, not the feudal lor

Warsaw 1920: Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe  by Adam Zamoyski, HarperPress, 2008. Russian Civil War During the Russian Civil War, just after World War I, when the Communist Red Army was fighting the White Army in the East and South, Lenin tried to spread his Bolshevik revolution westward into Poland. The Red Army greatly outnumbered the Polish Army. Nevertheless, Lenin was stopped by the Polish Army, lead by Jozef Pilsudski. This book makes it clear that Europe owes a grea

Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of Liberal Democracy  by Ibn Warraq, Encounter Books, 2011.  Apostate from Islam Embraces the West Pakistani apostate from Islam, Ibn Warraq, discusses several reasons why Western culture is superior to all others: Greek reason Roman law Separation of church and state Intellectual freedom Science Capitalism Industrial Revolution Universal values Abolition of slavery Opposition to racism Objectivity Ability to criticize and lau

Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall  by Anna Funder, Harper Perennial, 2011.  Informers This is a story about the East Germany (formally, the German Democratic Republic) a country which existed after the end of world War II until the end of the Cold War. Is is about how the Communist secret police of the country spied on their own citizens. The East German secret police, formally the Ministry for State Security, were called the Stasi. Besides the official employees

Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956  by Anne Applebaum, Doubleday, 2012.  Poland In 1943, the Red Army created a Polish Infantry Division, named after Tadeusz Kościuszko, a famous Polish military engineer. Selected soldiers from this division and from Polish Communist parties were sent to NKVD training schools in Smolensk, Gorky and Kuibyshev.  As the Red Army pushed the Nazis back, these people became the security police in Poland. Security Police Install

The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam  by Douglas Murray, Bloomsbury Continuum, 2017.  Pakistani Rape Gangs People were afraid to call out the Pakistani rape gangs in Oxfordshire for fear of being called a racist. Syriac Christians In 2008 Sylvain Guggenheim pointed out that it was the Syriac Christians  who saved Greek wisdom, not the Muslims. Lack of Assimilation European politicians have put little pressure on immigrants from the Third World to embrace

Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World by Daniel Hannan, Broadside Books Reprint, 2013.  Great Britain The author asserts that the British and the lands they colonized, most importantly America, are the main promoters of freedom. The author calls this the Anglosphere. Characteristics of the Anglosphere Culture The rule of law Equality before the law Sanctity of contract Private property rights Limited government Representative government Jur