Ivan's bookshelf: to-read en-US Sat, 15 Oct 2022 13:46:31 -0700 60 Ivan's bookshelf: to-read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Buddha's Little Finger 925261 336 Victor Pelevin 0670891681 Ivan 0 to-read 3.63 1996 Buddha's Little Finger
author: Victor Pelevin
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/10/15
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]]> The Ramayana 322342 696 ī쾱 Ivan 0 to-read 4.07 1957 The Ramayana
author: ī쾱
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1957
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/03/14
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]]> The Mahābhārata 6367153 The Mahabharata is not a mere epic; it is a romance, telling the tale of heroic men and women, and of some who were divine; it is a whole literature in itself, containing a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical relations, and speculative thought on human problems that is hard to rival; but, above all, it has for its core the Gita,which is, as the world is beginning to find out, the noblest of scriptures and the grandest of sagas in which the climax is reached in the wondrous apocalypse in the Eleventh Canto.]]> 912 Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa 0140446818 Ivan 0 to-read 4.22 1951 The Mahābhārata
author: Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1951
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/11/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails]]> 36490332 In Talking to My Daughter About the Economy, activist Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s former finance minister and the author of the international bestseller Adults in the Room, pens a series of letters to his young daughter, educating her about the business, politics, and corruption of world economics.

Yanis Varoufakis has appeared before heads of nations, assemblies of experts, and countless students around the world. Now, he faces his most important—and difficult—audience yet. Using clear language and vivid examples, Varoufakis offers a series of letters to his young daughter about the economy: how it operates, where it came from, how it benefits some while impoverishing others. Taking bankers and politicians to task, he explains the historical origins of inequality among and within nations, questions the pervasive notion that everything has its price, and shows why economic instability is a chronic risk. Finally, he discusses the inability of market-driven policies to address the rapidly declining health of the planet his daughter’s generation stands to inherit.

Throughout, Varoufakis wears his expertise lightly. He writes as a parent whose aim is to instruct his daughter on the fundamental questions of our age—and through that knowledge, to equip her against the failures and obfuscations of our current system and point the way toward a more democratic alternative.]]> 224 Yanis Varoufakis 0374718431 Ivan 0 to-read 4.20 2013 Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails
author: Yanis Varoufakis
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/03
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]]> <![CDATA[The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World]]> 53054943 The hidden story of the wanton slaughter -- in Indonesia, Latin America, and around the world -- backed by the United States.

In 1965, the U.S. government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the twentieth century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIA's secret interventions were so successful.

In this bold and comprehensive new history, Vincent Bevins builds on his incisive reporting for the Washington Post, using recently declassified documents, archival research and eye-witness testimony collected across twelve countries to reveal a shocking legacy that spans the globe. For decades, it's been believed that parts of the developing world passed peacefully into the U.S.-led capitalist system. The Jakarta Method demonstrates that the brutal extermination of unarmed leftists was a fundamental part of Washington's final triumph in the Cold War.]]> 320 Vincent Bevins 1541742400 Ivan 0 to-read 4.62 2020 The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
author: Vincent Bevins
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha]]> 241899
Retold in Thich Nhat Hanh’s inimitably beautiful style, this book traces the Buddha’s life over the course of 80 years—partly through the eyes of Svasti, the buffalo boy, and partly through the eyes of the Buddha himself. Old Path White Clouds is a classic of religious literature.

“I have not avoided including the various difficulties the Buddha encountered, both from his own disciples and in relation to the wider society. If the Buddha appears in this book as a man close to us, it is partly due to recounting such difficulties.�
—Thich Nhah Hanh, from the Afterword]]> 600 Thich Nhat Hanh 0938077260 Ivan 0 to-read 4.35 1991 Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/03
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]]> <![CDATA[First Great Triumph: How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power]]> 1839771
Americans like to think they have no imperial past. In fact, the United States became an imperial nation within five short years a century ago (1898-1903), exploding onto the international scene with the conquest of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, and (indirectly) Panama. How did the nation become a player in world politics so suddenly—and what inspired the move toward imperialism in the first place?

The renowned diplomat and writer Warren Zimmermann seeks answers in the lives and relationships of five remarkable the hyper-energetic Theodore Roosevelt, the ascetic naval strategist Alfred T. Mahan, the bigoted and wily Henry Cabot Lodge, the self-doubting moderate Secretary of State John Hay, and the hard-edged corporate lawyer turned colonial administrator Elihu Root. Faced with difficult choices, these extraordinary men, all close friends, instituted new political and diplomatic policies with intermittent audacity, arrogance, generosity, paternalism, and vision.

Zimmermann's discerning account of these five men also examines the ways they exploited the readiness of the American people to support a surge of expansion overseas. He makes it clear why no discussion of America's international responsibilities today can be complete without understanding how the United States claimed its global powers a century ago.]]> 576 Warren Zimmermann 0374179395 Ivan 0 to-read 3.94 2002 First Great Triumph: How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power
author: Warren Zimmermann
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/05/26
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]]> The Name of the Rose 119073 552 Umberto Eco 0156001314 Ivan 0 to-read 4.13 1980 The Name of the Rose
author: Umberto Eco
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1980
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> The Tempest 12985
Each edition includes:
� Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

� Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

� Scene-by-scene plot summaries

� A key to famous lines and phrases

� An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language

� An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

� Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books]]> 218 William Shakespeare Ivan 0 to-read 3.78 1611 The Tempest
author: William Shakespeare
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1611
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business]]> 386364 184 Neil Postman 0140094385 Ivan 0 to-read 4.14 1985 Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
author: Neil Postman
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story]]> 248092 Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Andy Kaufman -- add Bill Hicks to that list of brilliant, fearless comics. Just emerging from underground cult status when he died at age thirty-two, Bill Hicks spent most of his life making audiences roar -- and censors cringe -- with biting social satire about everything from former president George Bush to rock stars who hawk diet Coke. His nervy talent redefined the boundaries of comedy in the '80s and won him a list of admirers that includes John Cleese, George Carlin, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead.

This posthumous biography reveals for the first time what made Bill Hicks tick -- what made him laugh, what pissed him off, and what he saw as his ultimate mission: to release people from their prison of ignorance. From his first comedy gig at Bible camp to his infamous cancellation on The Late Show with David Letterman, Cynthia True portrays an artist whose outrage, drive, and compassion fueled a controversial body of work that still resonates today.

]]> 304 Cynthia True 0380803771 Ivan 0 to-read 3.96 2002 American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story
author: Cynthia True
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> The Anti-Christ 2486492 120 Friedrich Nietzsche 1599866315 Ivan 0 to-read 3.92 1895 The Anti-Christ
author: Friedrich Nietzsche
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1895
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Teaching as a Subversive Activity]]> 79681
Praise for Teaching As a Subversive Activity

“A healthy dose of Postman and Weingartner is a good if they make even a dent in the pious . . . American classroom, the book will be worthwhile.� � New York Times Book Review

“Teaching and knowledge are subversive in that they necessarily substitute awareness for guesswork, and knowledge for experience. Experience is no use in the world of Apollo 8. It is simply necessary to know. However, it is also necessary to know the effect of Apollo 8 in creating a new Global Theatre in which student and teacher alike are looking for roles. Postman and Weingartner make excellent theatrical producers in the new Global Theatre.� —Marshall McLuhan

“It will take courage to read this book . . . but those who are asking honest questions—what’s wrong with the worlds in which we live, how do we build communication bridges cross the Generation Gap, what do they want from us?—these people will squirm in the discovery that the answers are really within themselves.� � Saturday Review

“Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner go beyond the now-familiar indictments of American education to propose basic ways of liberating both teachers and students from becoming personnel rather than people . . . the authors have created what may become a primer of ‘the new education� Their book is intended for anyone, teacher or not, who is concerned with sanity and survival in a world of precipitously rapid change, and it’s worth your reading.� � Playboy

“This challenging, liberating book can unlock not only teachers but anyone for whom language and learning are not dead.� —Nat Hentoff]]> 219 Neil Postman 0385290098 Ivan 0 to-read 4.20 1969 Teaching as a Subversive Activity
author: Neil Postman
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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]]> The Gay Science 7115987 288 Friedrich Nietzsche 1411428579 Ivan 0 to-read 4.40 1882 The Gay Science
author: Friedrich Nietzsche
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1882
rating: 0
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]]> De profundis 9695754 152 Oscar Wilde 8807820161 Ivan 0 to-read 4.13 1897 De profundis
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1897
rating: 0
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]]> Silently and Very Fast 12887497
Neva is dreaming. But she is not alone. A mysterious machine entity called Elefsis haunts her and the members of her family, back through the generations to her great-great-grandmother—a gifted computer programmer who changed the world. Together Neva and Elefsis navigate their history and their future, an uneasy, unwilling symbiote.

But what they discover in their dreamworld might change them forever . . .]]> 127 Catherynne M. Valente 1936896001 Ivan 0 to-read 4.07 2011 Silently and Very Fast
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> A Cynic Looks at Life 2740179 108 Ambrose Bierce 1603120459 Ivan 0 to-read 3.08 2007 A Cynic Looks at Life
author: Ambrose Bierce
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.08
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies]]> 6112035 272 Michael Signer 0230606245 Ivan 0 to-read 3.58 2009 Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies
author: Michael Signer
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945]]> 29658 Postwar is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep readers through thirty-four nations and sixty years of political and cultural change-all in one integrated, enthralling narrative. Both intellectually ambitious and compelling to read, thrilling in its scope and delightful in its small details, Postwar is a rare joy.

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award
One of theNew York Times'Ten Best Books of the Year.

Table of contents

About the author
Copyright page
Dedication
Preface & acknowledgement
Introduction

PART ONE - Post-War: 1945-1953
1. The legacy of war
2. Retribution
3. The rehabilitation of Europe
4. The impossible settlement
5. The coming of the Cold War
6. Into the whirlwind
7. Culture wars
CODA The end of old Europe

PART TWO - Prosperity and its discontents: 1953-1971
8. The politics of stability
9. Lost illusions
10. The age of affluence
POSTSCRIPT: A Tale of two economies
11. The Social Democrat moment
12. The spectre of revolution
13. The end of the affair

PART THREE - Recessional: 1971-1989
14. Diminished expectations
15. Politics in a new key
16. A time of transition
17. The new realism
18. The power of the powerless
19. The end of the old order

PART FOUR - After the Fall: 1989-2005
20. A fissile continent
21. The reckoning
22. The old Europe -and the new
23. The varieties of Europe
24. Europe as a way of life

Photo crdits
Suggestions for further readings]]> 933 Tony Judt 0143037757 Ivan 0 to-read 4.36 2005 Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
author: Tony Judt
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Decentralization and Democracy in Latin America (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)]]> 4295187 320 Alfred P. Montero 0268025592 Ivan 0 to-read 3.00 2004 Decentralization and Democracy in Latin America (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)
author: Alfred P. Montero
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Swords and Ploughshares: Building Peace in the 21st Century]]> 5951131 352 Paddy Ashdown 0753823314 Ivan 0 to-read 3.29 2007 Swords and Ploughshares: Building Peace in the 21st Century
author: Paddy Ashdown
name: Ivan
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits]]> 451565 428 Friedrich Nietzsche 0521567041 Ivan 0 to-read 4.23 1878 Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
author: Friedrich Nietzsche
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1878
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors]]> 61662
World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a thrilling saga that starts with the origin of the Earth. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits—self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics—are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals.

Sagan and Druyan conduct a breathtaking journey through space and time, zeroing in on critical turning points in evolutionary history, and tracing the origins of sex, altruism, violence, rape, and dominance. Their book culminates in a stunningly original examination of the connection between primate and human traits. Astonishing in its scope, brilliant in its insights, and an absolutely compelling read, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science.]]> 528 Carl Sagan 0345384725 Ivan 0 to-read 4.26 1992 Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
author: Carl Sagan
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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]]> Derviš i smrt 8487092 Death & the Dervish follows the 1st-person perspective of Nuruddin, with little dialog & much introspective soul-searching. It isn't difficult to read. Tho superficially sparse, it maintains continuous suspense. There's a fascinating array of other characters, seen thru Nuruddin's sometimes insightful, sometimes naive eyes: his fellow dervishes; his friend Hassan, the unsettled black sheep of his family, in love with a Dalmatian Christian; Hassan's father & sister; townspeople; & religious & secular officials. Nuruddin also looks back at his experiences as a soldier.
Nuruddin's angst is often philosophical, his thinking foreign, convincingly that of a Muslim religious recluse, in many ways narrow & parochial. But his quandries are universal. Death & the Dervish is an evocation of Ottoman Bosnia, of a world now past, but above all the story of an individual struggling to find himself & maintain his integrity & dignity in a hostile political landscape. (Parts were inspired by events in Selimovic's life & in modern Yugoslavian history.) Nuruddin isn't an antihero. He's a man profoundly troubled, a thinker rather than a doer, ill-equipped for the challenges he faces.
Death & the Dervish is a masterfully compelling psychological study & a spell-binding novel which approaches poetry in the intensity of its language. It's hard to believe it took 30 years for an English translation to appear.--Danny Yee (edited)]]> 423 Meša Selimović 866107018X Ivan 0 to-read 4.54 1966 Derviš i smrt
author: Meša Selimović
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1966
rating: 0
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]]> Nine Stories 3354809
The stories are:

"A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos"
"The Laughing Man"
"Down at the Dinghy"
"For Esmé � with Love and Squalor"
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes"
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period"
"Teddy"]]> 198 J.D. Salinger 0613707494 Ivan 0 to-read 4.06 1953 Nine Stories
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1953
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/12/05
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]]> <![CDATA[A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain: Discussion with a hermit on Jesus prayer]]> 4628724 204 Hierotheos Vlachos 9607070313 Ivan 0 to-read 4.52 1978 A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain: Discussion with a hermit on Jesus prayer
author: Hierotheos Vlachos
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1978
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/11/11
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]]> Meaning of the City 1362669 The Meaning of the City he presents what he finds in the Bible � a sophisticated, coherent theology of the city fully applicable to today's urbanized society.

Ellul believes that the city symbolizes the supreme work of man � and, as such, represents man's ultimate rejection of God. Therefore it is the city, where lies man's rebellious heart, that must be reformed. The author stresses the fact that the Bible does not find man's fulfillment in a return to an idyllic Eden, but points rather to a life of communion with the Savior in the city transfigured.

The Meaning of the City, says John Wilkinson in his introductory essay to the book, is the "theological counterpoint" to Ellul's Technological Society, a work that analyzed the phenomenon of the autonomous and totally manipulative post-industrial world. Ellul takes issue with those who idealistically plan new urban environments for man, as though man alone can negate the inherent diabolism of the city. For Ellul, the history of the city from the times of Cain and Nimrod through to Babylon and Jerusalem reveals a tendency to destroy the human being for the sake of human works. Nevertheless, continuing the theme of the tension between two realities that characterizes all his works, Ellul sees God as electing the city as itself an instrument of grace for the believer.]]> 232 Jacques Ellul 0802815553 Ivan 0 to-read 4.14 1970 Meaning of the City
author: Jacques Ellul
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/11/11
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]]> <![CDATA[The Communist Postscript (Pocket Communism)]]> 7500116 160 Boris Groys 1844674304 Ivan 0 to-read 4.03 2005 The Communist Postscript (Pocket Communism)
author: Boris Groys
name: Ivan
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/11/11
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]]>