Sean Patterson (1) (1982–)

Going into the monograph, I wasn't sure what I was really going to get. It turns out that Patterson's objective is spelled out on the cover, as he aims to subject the surviving sources relating to a controversial and enigmatic person, who is known for his problematic acts in a violent time, to close analysis. This I have to conclude Patterson does very well, as one has the small matter of Makhno's split image as a principled warlord on one hand, and a sociopathic mass killer on the other; show more depending on whether you're an anarchist sympathizer or a descendant of his victims.

What much of this is wrapped up with is the fate of the German Mennonite colonists in Tsarist Russia, protected subjects of the Tsar who suddenly found themselves less than desired, as nationalist conflict ramped up in the late 19th-century. These are far from unsympathetic people, but there is a certain cluelessness about their collective behavior, as in seeking protection from the rising storm of civil war in Russia they made alliance with the Austro-German occupation in Ukraine, thus proving their untrustworthiness to their neighbors, and making them all the more attractive as targets of retribution.

This was a bad deal all around, and maybe all it really says is that when the dam burst in Russia in 1917, there were no sanctuaries. Well-worth reading, but it probably isn't the first book you should read in relation to post-1917 Russia. show less