I wanted to read this book primarily because of my interest in the author, Louis R. Patmont. In 1884, he was born in Europe and claimed to be a descendant of Jan Sobieski, who was elected King John III of Poland in 1674. He arrived in America in 1906 and spent most of his life in some form of Christian ministry. He was associated with the Christian Church/Church of Christ. Patmont was multilingual, highly educated, and the first Dean of International Christian Bible College in Minneapolis (now Crossroads College in Rochester, Minnesota), serving but one academic year, 1915-16. He apparently left the college on unfriendly terms. [None of the above in the book, but is the result of my own research.]

The book was written in the early 1930s and is based, in part, on travels the author made to Russia. Stalin was the leader of Russia where evangelical Christianity was under severe attack. Patmont intended to expose the horrors of international communism. The theme of the book can pretty much be summarized by quoting a brief passage from the book:

"Communism has become a faith, although this faith is not a contributing factor to salvation, but is, rather, a sinister power which destroys civilization, bringing about the destruction of the social economic structure, as well as the ideals of the true faith, and imposing upon its victims the godless mark of the 'mystery of iniquity'." (p. 76).

Patmont included the testimony of numerous evangelical Christians, politicians, quotations from a variety of writers who espoused the correctness of communism. The book also included many photos, and replicas of communist's banners, posters, and cartoons to help him "expose the spirit and nature of international communism" -- the book's subtitle.

The book reflects the spirit of the time, when the United States faced much uncertainty about its own future and its role in international affairs. It's hard to imagine that at the time the book was written, the United State had (according to the author) the seventeenth largest army in the world (pp. 79-80).

I appreciated reading the book as it filled-in some holes in my knowledge, but primarily because it helped me understand better the author, Louis Richard Patmont. ( )