Growing up in Pomona, in the 70's, & 80's, my peculiar Sense of Humor was influenced by many sources, often courtesy of the Dr. Demento Show, but writers also were influential.
One such author was a local legend, in Pomona, and Claremont, Ca.
Prolific, outspoken humorist, poet, author (More than 65 books!), and Porfessor of English, Richard Armour. :-D
I devoured any of his books I could rescue from local Thrift Stores for pennies.
Yesterday, at a local library, I discovered a book I missed. :-D
It was written in 1958, and is described this way:
"A brief and objective history of Russian Communism, the objective being to leave not one stone, but many, unturned, to state the theories of Marx so clearly that they can almost be understood, and to show how these theories and many old friends were carried out by Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Malenkov, Krushchev, and others."
IT ALL STARTED WITH MARX. :-D
The copy I picked up, for a $1, was the British Hardcover, published in 1959.
From the Forward:
"Once upon a time there was no such thing as Communism. People ignorantly toiled and saved, hoping to Get Ahead like the heroes in Horation Alger's books, which they forgot were fiction...
Lacking vision, many were unable to see anything shameful about accepting the rewards of industry and thrift...
There were also those who believed in some sort of Deity, or at least had an uneasy feeling that there was something bigger than the Head Man. They did not know, until it was pointed out by Marx, that religion is the opium of the people and should be sold only on prescription...
Conditions were dreadful, with so much freedom and family life and churchgoing and money in the bank. Something had to be done, and quickly, or the Decline of the West would be followed by the Debacle of the East, and the North, and South would come tumbling after...
This book, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created, tells how a new philosophy arose to fill the void and how it swept men's minds like wildfire, burning them to a crisp..."
Armour went through many original & unoriginal sources, and claimed to have interviewed many people who have never been to Russia. :-D
His scholarship is, as he brags, "not only beyond question, but beyond belief!"
Anyone seeking a trustworthy account of the History of Communism, and Socialism, and some idea of what we quite possibly might be in for in America, and the West, if Barrack Obama is re-elected, and Europe continues its leadlong dash down the Rat Hole of their own Socialist making, need go no farther than this book. :-D
NOTE: The Font used for Obama saying "Yes we Can!" is Vladimir Script...as in Vladimir Lenin. :-D
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