Tag Archives: Leo Tolstoy

Putin Quoting Tolstoy? Puleeze!

By Robin Bates | Published: June 21, 2021

Putin claimed to quote Tolstoy but didn’t in his meeting with Biden. What he says is reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor’s Misfit, however.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Flannery O'Connor, Good Man Is Hard to Find, Joe Biden, Soul, Vladimir Putin, War and Peace | Comments closed

Is GOP a Death Cult? Ask Tolstoy

By Robin Bates | Published: June 24, 2020

Has the GOP become a death cult. Tolstoy’s description of suicidal behavior from Napoleon’s soldiers suggests yes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged COVID19, GOP, War and Peace | Comments closed

Russian Lit and Moscow’s Gentleman

By Robin Bates | Published: June 7, 2020

Towles’s “Gentleman in Moscow” is filled with allusions to Russian poets and fiction writers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Amoer Towles, Anton Chekhov, Gentleman in Moscow, Maxjm Gorky, Mayakovsky, Russian literature | Comments closed

Tolstoy on Suicidal Cult Followers

By Robin Bates | Published: May 3, 2020

Why do so many Trump supporters deliberately court coronavirus? Why do Napoleon’s soldiers in “War and Peace” throw themselves into a river to impress him.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged coronavirus protests, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Gov. Whitmer, settle in place orders, War and Peace | Comments closed

Brown’s Populism Comes from Tolstoy

By Robin Bates | Published: February 8, 2019

Friday While I don’t yet know whom I will be supporting for the 2020 Democratic nominee for president—I very much like the women who have declared so far—I have a soft spot for Ohio’s Sherrod Brown. Brown, whose working class sympathies helped him comfortably win reelection in a red state, just made his case stronger […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 2020 election, Resurrection, Sherrod Brown, Working class | Comments closed

H. W. Bush’s “War and Peace” Lessons

By Robin Bates | Published: December 4, 2018

“War and Peace” was the late H. W. Bush’s favorite novel. Perhaps he imitated Gen. Kutuzov by withdrawing from Iraq after winning.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Iraq War, Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein, War and Peace | Comments closed

Read to Resist: An Introduction

By Robin Bates | Published: November 29, 2018

Thursday I share today the introduction to my upcoming book, which is still in draft form and whose title I keep changing. Latest title: Read to Resist: Classic Lit Provides Tools for Battling Trump and Trumpism. I’m still not entirely satisfied with that and so will keep tinkering. In any event, here’s my first attempt […]