Tag Archives: Leo Tolstoy

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.

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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 […]

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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.

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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 […]

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“Anna Karenina” Saves a Prisoner’s Life

By Robin Bates | Published: November 13, 2018

In an inspiring podcast, “Rough Translation” recounts how “Anna Karenina,” tapped out in morse code, saved a Somali political prisoner from madness.

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Tolstoy: For Happiness, Love & Sacrifice

By Robin Bates | Published: July 22, 2018

In “The Cossacks,” a dissipated young man finds spiritual meaning when he journeys to the Caucasus.

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Tolstoy’s Love Affair with Mosquitoes

By Robin Bates | Published: July 18, 2018

Abhorrent though mosquitoes are to me, Tolstoy finds a way to live with them and even arrive at existential insights.

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How Tolstoy Would Judge Jeff Sessions

By Robin Bates | Published: September 22, 2017

Leo Tolstoy, who calls out public officials who abuse the public trust, would have choice words for the American attorney general.

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What Tennis Meant to Tolstoy

By Robin Bates | Published: September 5, 2017

Leo Tolstoy picked up tennis late in life, even though at one point seeing it as symbolic of bourgeois decadence. A look at the novel “Resurrection” explains why he changed.

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