Post by dustdevil28 on Dec 30, 2007 9:27:43 GMT -8
the Fall of Communism." By Paul Kengor.
Yeesh, third book review of this month. I have way too much time on my hands. Overall it was a good book that I can confindently say every member on this board would enjoy. The below is a c and p of my review on THC.
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Well, another book down the hatch and here's a review for those that may be interested.
The Crusader is a book that delves into the activities that Ronald Reagan took to subvert communism as well as to defeat the USSR. In this book Kengor establishes Reagan's consistant opposition to communism in his activities as President of SAG while he was an actor, as well as the causes he championed while hosting GE Theatre.
Later as President, Reagan sought to have the intel agencies examine Soviet weaknesses and how to exploit them. The most commonly known way he helped to exploit the Soviets was by engaging in a military buildup in which the Soviets could not keep up, and in trying to keep up, caused them to strain an economy that couldn't stand to be strained much further. The book goes into this, but it also goes into many not so well known areas because of recently declassified letters and NSDD's during Reagan's terms as President. Some of these include details of the White Houses partnership with the Vatican and John Paul II towards suppling the Solidarity movement in Poland with funds as well as printing press and radio transmitters so that they could continue to undermine the communist regime. It also details the partnership with Saudi Arabia in which the Saudi kingdom agreed to increase oil production to 9 million barrels a day in order to undercut oil prices, and hurt a main export of the USSR.
The book leaves no doubt that Reagan would accept nothing less than the USSR's destruction and sought to do it under all means short of war. For any Reagan enthusiast I'd recommend this book. For our friends on the left, I'd recommend it anyway just to get a personnal view of the man behind the presidency, but I'd caution that you'll be disappointed in the coverage the book gives to Iran/contra. It does go over it, but it maily just lists it as a imperfection on a otherwise successful Presidency.
Yeesh, third book review of this month. I have way too much time on my hands. Overall it was a good book that I can confindently say every member on this board would enjoy. The below is a c and p of my review on THC.
...............................
Well, another book down the hatch and here's a review for those that may be interested.
The Crusader is a book that delves into the activities that Ronald Reagan took to subvert communism as well as to defeat the USSR. In this book Kengor establishes Reagan's consistant opposition to communism in his activities as President of SAG while he was an actor, as well as the causes he championed while hosting GE Theatre.
Later as President, Reagan sought to have the intel agencies examine Soviet weaknesses and how to exploit them. The most commonly known way he helped to exploit the Soviets was by engaging in a military buildup in which the Soviets could not keep up, and in trying to keep up, caused them to strain an economy that couldn't stand to be strained much further. The book goes into this, but it also goes into many not so well known areas because of recently declassified letters and NSDD's during Reagan's terms as President. Some of these include details of the White Houses partnership with the Vatican and John Paul II towards suppling the Solidarity movement in Poland with funds as well as printing press and radio transmitters so that they could continue to undermine the communist regime. It also details the partnership with Saudi Arabia in which the Saudi kingdom agreed to increase oil production to 9 million barrels a day in order to undercut oil prices, and hurt a main export of the USSR.
The book leaves no doubt that Reagan would accept nothing less than the USSR's destruction and sought to do it under all means short of war. For any Reagan enthusiast I'd recommend this book. For our friends on the left, I'd recommend it anyway just to get a personnal view of the man behind the presidency, but I'd caution that you'll be disappointed in the coverage the book gives to Iran/contra. It does go over it, but it maily just lists it as a imperfection on a otherwise successful Presidency.
