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Dayne wrote, "I read John Merriman's new book on the commune, Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune of 1871. I don't recommend it to socialists who already know about the commune." The problem is, of course, that very few people who actually wants to know about the Commune ever seem to get to the point where they decide that they "already know about the commune"--or, at least, enough to forego reading something new on it . . . particularly if it takes a very different approach than they've read so far. And if you don't want a book that focuses on bloodshed, you probably shouldn't have picked up one with the title "Massacre." . Those of us who are still reading on the subject are surely aware that Robert Tombs has begun promoting a new understanding of the Commune, deemphasizing the bloodiness of its repression, going so far as to argue that the Left has historically exaggerated the numbers to portray capitalism as a particularly bloody and repressive system. In that context, Merriman's book is a real contribution. The Commune was anything but a simple affair. Like everything in the real world, it was terribly confused, contradictory, and worthy of more reading . . . . ML _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
