There's Not a Bathing Suit in Russia: & Other Bare Facts by Will RogersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rogers was a comedian, known as the "Cowboy Philosopher," and this is a mixture of comic observation delivered in a down-home manner with actually insightful reflections on Russia. His introduction says that everyone has been writing about Russia lately, and the difference with this book is that he doesn't claim to know anything about the topic, but he's being too modest; he actually went there (unlike some of the contemporary pundits he pokes fun at), and has some thoughts that still resonate today.
The Russian revolution was still relatively recent at the time, and he first discusses the Russian refugees he encountered in Paris. All of them claimed to be dukes or higher, and his reflection is that they obviously hadn't had those positions based on any merit, since they're doing menial jobs and not even doing them very well. No wonder Russia was in a mess if they were in charge.
On the other hand, he skewers socialists for being much better at giving speeches and publishing newspapers than they are at running anything. Nobody could run a country the size of Russia very well, and they aren't doing so. This isn't entirely their fault, but if someone isn't good at something, they should admit it and leave off, is his opinion. Not to mention: "We all know a lot of things that would be good for our Country, but we wouldent want to go so far as propose that everybody start shooting each other till we got them. A fellow shouldent have to kill anybody just to prove they are right." Something that more and more people in today's America should probably be reminded of.
The first section, where he's clowning around and being satirical and describing his journey before he gets to Russia, is less interesting than his observations after he gets there, but it is fun in its own way. The whole thing is short, and well worth reading.
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