Patrick Seale (1930–2014)

The first question, is whether this WAS an attempted revolution, or just an out pouring of dissatisfaction with 'business as normal'.

If it were a revolution, the demands seem to be unfocussed. Different groups all wanting something different and, as so often with the left, no one willing to compromise. The right aligned behind de Gaulle whilst the superior numbers fought for a bigger piece of the pie.

This book was written hot upon the heels of the revolt and asks the question as to whether show more it was a one off, or the beginning of Capitalism's demise. We now know the answer to that and, it sometimes feels, as if there will never be another great change in politics. Certainly, British politics is sewn up by blue and red Tories.

If change doesn't come - and quickly - Capitalism will have the pride of being civilisation's last ruling system. We will die out on an over heated planet... but, hey, some people will have very healthy bank accounts, so it's not all bad news! show less

Patrick Seale and Maureen McConville have written a thorough and well-balanced account of the life and times of Kim Philby, arguably the KGB's most successful penetration agent. Their book, written several years after Page, Leitch and Knightley's "Philby: the Spy Who Betrayed a Generation," has the advantage of a keen perspective, perhaps gained by the passage of time. The book is especially enlightening about the political climate in the 'thirties and the ferment that made Cambridge show more University such a potent recruiting ground for the Communist movement. The authors, in fact, highlight an essential tragic irony, since Kim Philby apparently had a choice whether to attend Christ Church College, Oxford, or Trinity College, Cambridge. As they observe: "Had Kim gone up to Oxford he might never have become a Russian spy." (p.19) As the authors inform us in their forward (p. xiii), their aim is objectivity, to demythologize rather than demonize Philby, divorcing him from the usual caricature of the insidious "viper . . . in the trusting bosom of his country," who betrayed his class as well as his nation. By considering the "ordinary man" in the "extraordinary situation" of his historical moment, they enable the reader to understand why Kim Philby made the irrevocable ideological choice to travel the long and increasingly lonely road to Moscow. show less

A fine biography; Seale has been accused of being insufficiently hard on Assad, but he could hardly have had such informative conversations if he'd been a firm critic, and I can get my condemnation elsewhere.

Excellent, detailed history of Syrian politics between WWII and the union with Egypt; Seale knew many of the main actors, and the footnotes are peppered with references to conversations.