The Last Revolutionaries: German Communists and Their Century

Rating:
Summary: inflated claims
Review: Catherine Epstein is a Professor at Amherst College, the number one Liberal Arts College in the country, and this book shows how she rose to such a position. It is thoroughly researched, incisive, novel, and extraordinarily written. With this book, Epstein shows that she is an emerging leader in her field, soon to be both respected by her colleagues and known to the public, as well. I only wish that I could be a student in one of her classes; if she is half as brilliant in person as she is in this book, she must be one of the most beloved professors on campus.

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Work
Review: Catherine Epstein is a Professor at Amherst College, the number one Liberal Arts College in the country, and this book shows how she rose to such a position. It is thoroughly researched, incisive, novel, and extraordinarily written. With this book, Epstein shows that she is an emerging leader in her field, soon to be both respected by her colleagues and known to the public, as well. I only wish that I could be a student in one of her classes; if she is half as brilliant in person as she is in this book, she must be one of the most beloved professors on campus.

Rating:
Summary: A book of much wider relevance than its title implies.
Review: Professor Epstein's THE LAST REVOLUTIONARIES contains sage insights on the profound dedication Old Communists maintained to their secular religious cause - communism. As she rightly concludes (p. 266): "For longtime communists...it was all-knowing, all-consuming, and all giving. To harm, challenge, or leave that body was beyond the ken of the vast majority of veteran communists. Communism was their raison d'etre; to break with their faith would have dissolved the master narrative of their lives into countless meaningless episodes." The author, who was on the scene during the optimum time just after the dust had settled from the collapse of the GDR and the surviving veteran communists had come to realize what had happened, interviewed dozens of them and researched the lives of hundreds more. This is a book of much wider relevance than its title implies. For anyone interested in understanding an all-consuming dedication to a cause - whatever its political or religious basis - this is definitely a must-read book!

Rating:
Summary: inflated claims
Review: This work is not particularly interesting, really not much more than a sympathizer's tribute. And, as I can personally attest, she is not particularly effective as a lecturer.