This detailed portrait of the Soviet leader lays bare the many contradictions of his political philosophy and career. Historically sandwiched between Stalin and Brezhnev, Khrushchev was nonetheless a pivotal figure in Soviet history. Born into a poor peasant family, he interpreted his personal history as proof of the validity of communism. Like most self-made men, he sincerely and strongly believed in the society that permitted his success, in contrast to some of his more cynical or bourgeois-born colleagues. As a witness to and a participant in the Soviet Union's extraordinary transformation from a backward regime to a space-age industrial and military giant, he never doubted the eventual triumph of communism. At the same time, as Tompson (Political Science/Univ. of Texas, San Antonio) makes clear, Khrushchev recognized the inherent problems faced by the Soviet Union in its attempt to fashion a truly communist society. Tompson has written a political biography that traces Khrushchev's career in a clear pattern of advances and occasional setbacks. In the story of how Khrushchev navigated the uncertain waters of Soviet politics, we see the intricate, labyrinthine workings of the Kremlin: the constant maneuvering for position, favors, and alliances; the secrecy, betrayal, and treachery. For Tompson, Khrushchev's most important act was his ``secret speech'' before the Twentieth Party Congress in February of 1956, in which he criticized the ``cult of personality'' that had enveloped Stalin, although the leader was not disinclined to allow a less demonic cult of his own. In foreign policy, Khrushchev was known more for his missteps, such as the 1956 invasion of Hungary, the Cuban missile crisis, the deterioration of relations with China, and banging his shoe at the UN. Yet in the wake of Gorbachev, readers must acknowledge the enormous burden Khrushchev placed on himself to reform the USSR after Stalin. A sympathetic biography that acknowledges Khrushchev's many flaws and ultimately renders a positive judgment of the peasant- ruler of the Soviet Union.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-12365-5
Page Count: 351
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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