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Utopias Elsewhere: Journeys in a Vanishing World Hardcover – August 27, 1991
- Print length202 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCrown
- Publication dateAugust 27, 1991
- ISBN-100517585480
- ISBN-13978-0517585481
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From Library Journal
- Paula M. Zieselman, Library Consul tant, New York
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Product details
- Publisher : Crown; First Edition (August 27, 1991)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 202 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0517585480
- ISBN-13 : 978-0517585481
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,973,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,937 in Communism & Socialism (Books)
- #68,425 in Travel (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF THE NIGHTMARE THAT WAS TO COME,
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK SET IN 1989 AND 1990 WHEN THE IRON COURTAIN WAS
FALLING DOWN BUT STILL THERE WERE FIVE REMANENTS OF THIS EVIL IDEOLOGY,
THIS IS A GOOD COMPANION WITH ANIMAL FARM AND 1984, THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT
THIS IS THE ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE IN REAL, THE FIVE COUNTRIES ARE; ALBANIA,NORTH KOREA,
ROMANIA, VIETNAM, AND CUBA. ALTHOUGH THESE FIVE COUNTRIES ARE DIFFERENT IN CULTURE,GEOGRAPHY,HISTORY AND RELIGION THEY SHARE THE SAME CHARACTERISTICS : TYRANNY,REPRESSION,MURDER,UGLINESS, SCARCITY,DISTORTION OF HISTORY,LIES, VERY LOW STANDARTS OF LIVING ,LONG QUEUES, HATRED AND AMORALITY. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT ONLY CONDEMNS THESE REGIMES BUT ALSO THE WESTERN LIBERAL-LEFTIST WHO SUPPORT THEM, NOT GUIDED BY ANY SENSE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE BUT BY SOCIAL RESENTMENT AND
HATRED, FOR INSTANCE WHEN A COMPANION OF THE AUTHOR MAKES THE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE
HARRODS SHOPS IN LONDON WITH THE POTEMKIN SHOPPING CENTER IN PYONGANG,NORTH KOREA IT SOUNDS
REALLY NAUSEATING.
IN ROMANIA (SIX WEEKS BEFORE CEAUSESCU OVERTROWN),THE EVIL COUPLE NICOLAE AND ELENA CEASESCU,
WERE DOING A MAD SOCIAL ENGINEERING EXPERIMENTS BY LEVELLING ALL THE ANCIENTS TOWNS AND VILLAGES,
THE BACKBONE OF THE ROMANIAN NATION AND CULTURE, AND CREATED ELEPHANTINE CONCRETE BUILDINGS IN
ORDER TO HAVE A TOTAL CONTROL OF THE POPULATION ALL THIS AIDED BY THE SINESTER SECURITATE.
CUBA WAS THE LAST COUNTRY THAT THE AUTHOR VISITED, HE WAS UNSIMPATHETIC WITH THE CASTROS
(OTHERWISE I WOULD NOT PURCHASE THE BOOK), HE POINTED OUT ALL THE REPRESSION, MURDER, CENSORSHIP,
LONG QUEUES,THE DECAYING OF THE CITIES,THE IDEOLOGICAL RIGIDITY, AND THE LONG AND SENSELESS SPECHES
OF THE OLD MAD MAN.
STILL I DISAGREE WITH HIM IN MANY POINTS,HE REPEATED THE OLD CLICHES OF EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE,
I LIVE IN MIAMI AND I CAN SEE THAT THE CUBAN NEWCOMERS WHO WERE RAISED IN CUBA ARE ANYTHING
BUT EDUCATED OR CULT, THE HEALTH CARE IS A REAL DISASTER LACKING EVEN THE BASICS MOST OF THE
MEDICINES ARE BROUGHT BY THE EXILE COMMUNITY,HE SAID THAT THE CHILD ARE WELL FED, ACTUALLY FED ON WHAT?
WHEN THE SHELVES OF THE STORES ARE EMPTY ALSO AFTER THE CHILD REACH THE SIX YEARS OLD THERE IS NO
MORE MILK, THAT THE PEASANTS ARE BETTER OFF THAT IN THE REST OF THE CONTINENT, I WOULD RATHER BE A
PEASANT IN THE MOST UNDERDEVELOPED NON- COMMUNIST COUNTRY THAN IN COMMUNIST CUBA.
BUT WHAT REALLY IRATED ME WAS WHEN HE WENT TO THE PLAYA GIRON MUSEUM, THE AUTHOR MADE A
STATEMENT THAT THE REVOLUTIONARIES WERE GOOD AND IDEALIST AND THAT THE CAUSE OF THE COUNTER-
REVOLUTION WAS BAD, NOT ONLY THIS IS FALSE BUT THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE, THE REVOLUTIONARIES
FOUGHT FOR THE MOST IGNOBLE CAUSE, TO SUPPORT A MAD COMMUNIST TYRANNY, ON THE OTHER
HAND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES, BY THE WAY I LOVE THIS LABEL, FOUGHT FOR THE FREEDOM
NOT ONLY OF CUBA BUT OF ALL LATIN AMERICA.
I REALLY FEEL APPALED BY THE PREJUDICE AND BIAS OF MANY AMERICANS AND EUROPEANS , EVEN
CONSERVATIVES LIKE THE BRITISH AUTHOR, AGAINST WHITE MIDDLE CLASS LATIN AMERICA; TO MAKE
A CASE IN POINT IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER RELATED TO VIETNAM THE AUTHOR POINTS THE CONTRAST
BETWEEN THE IDEALISM, FRUGALITY, AND HONESTY OF HO CHI MINH AND THE BANALITY, CORRUPTION,
AND OPORTUNISM OF THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE LEADERS, INMEDIATELY HOWEVER THE AUTHOR MADE
THE OBSERVATION THAT THE VIETNAMESE VOTED WITH THEIR FEET AND BOATS ( THE FEET AFTER 1954
WHEN THE RED VIETMINH OVERRAN THE FRENCH IN DIEM BIEN PHU, ALMOST A MILLION OF VIETNAMESE
HEADED SOUTH OF THE 17TH PARALELL, AND THE BOATS AFTER 1975 WHEN THE COMMUNIST ARMY OF
NORTH VIETNAM TOOK OVER SAIGON, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VIETNAMESE ESCAPED IN
BOATS RISKING THEIR LIVES).IN THE END THE AUTHOR PREFERS WITH ALL THEIR SHORTCOMINGS PRE-1975
SOUTH VIETNAM.
ALSO THE AUTHOR POINTED OUT THE MISERY AND SQUALOR OF THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEE CAMPS IN
HONG KONG AND THAILAND AND THE FACT THAT THE VIETNAMESE PREFERED THEM THAN TO RETURN
BACK TO COMMUNIST VIETNAM.
BY CONTRAST THE AUTHOR FAILS TO POINT OUT THAT AFTER PLAYA GIRON (APRIL,17,1961) THERE WAS
AND EXODUS OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CUBANS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE(MYSELF AND MY PARENTS
INCLUDED); PLEASE COME TO CALLE OCHO TO HAVE A CUBAN CAFECITO AND FIND OUT THE REAL TRUE
THAT THE ANTI- CASTRO BRIGADISTAS WERE TRULY PATRIOTS AND THAT LATER MANY OF THEM WENT
TO DIFFERENTS PARTS OF THE WORLD ; CONGO,VIETNAM, ANGOLA, AND CENTRAL AMERICA TO FIGHT
AGAINST TOTALITARIAN COMMUNISM.
I STRONGLY AGREE WITH THE CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK ABOUT THE EVIL NATURE OF COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIPS
AND THAT ALL THE TRAGEDIES AND DISASTERS WERE NOT THE PRODUCT OF A TYRANNY BY ITSELF BUT OF AN EVIL
IDEOLOGY DEDICATED TO THE ENSLAVEMENT OF HUMANKIND, SOME OF ITS ASPECTS LIKE THE LONG QUEUES
FOR FOOD AND OTHER BASICS GOODS WERE NOT BECAUSE OF THE INEFFICIENCES OF THE GOVERNMENTS BUT
SOMETHING COLD PLANNED IN ORDER TO HAVE A TIGHT CONTROL OF THE POPULATION, TO DISUADE THEM FOR
REBELLION, AND TO PUT ONES AGAINST THE OTHERS.
IN SPITE OF THE ABYSMAL FAILURE OF COMMUNISM , IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD THERE WILL BE MESSIANIC
LEADERS, SUPPORTED BY INTELLECTUALS FULL OF SOCIAL RESENMENT AND HATRED AND BY THE MASS OF
THE IGNORANT LOW CLASSES, WHO WILL TRY TO SEIZE POWER AND INSTALL A RED TYRANNY. THE AUTHOR FINISHES
IN PERU WITH THE SHINING PATH A SORT OF ANDEAN KHMER ROUGE,FORTUNATELLY TWO YEARS LATER
THEY WERE DEFEATED BY ALBERTO FUJIMORI (WHICH I STRONGLY SYMPATIZE WITH).
SEVEN YEARS LATER HUGO CHAVEZ ( A CASTROITE DISCIPLE) WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA, AS A
RESULT THE ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK CAME TO THIS UNFORTUNATE COUNTRY OF MINE.
The bottom-feeders will get one soap and one toothpaste and one everything. The contents will be a uniform fecal brown and leak from the container.
If you require healthcare a clerk will dispense 2 aspirin and add your name to the list of people waiting to see an MD. Check back occasionally.



