Book Review: The Aryan Myth by Leon Poliakov

 

The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist & Nationalistic Ideas in Europe by Leon; Howard Poliakov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The death of six million Jews between 1941 to 1945 was the result of an evolution in the enquiry into the origins of peoples and nations that began during the Middle Ages passing from theological viewpoints to scientific ones and finally—unfortunately—to political viewpoints. The Aryan Myth: The History of Racist and Nationalist Ideas in Europe by Leon Poliakov traces how this myth originated and progressed until it became so accepted as to warrant the attempted destruction of an entire people.

Poliakov’s extensive research covers the whole of the Europe from the Spain’s “tainted blood” mindset after the Reconquista, to England’s belief of their connection to ancient Israel, to France’s back and forth between their Gallic/Celtic inhabitants and Frankish/German namesakes, Russia’s multiple origin tales, and finally Germany’s use of a fourth son of Noah to create a basis for the Germanic peoples. Yet while all these origins were in someway connected with the Bible, once the Enlightenment brought criticism and skepticism into the fore these any Biblical origins were dismissed and something new had to take their place which meant 18th-century social scientists and philosophers and others had to come up answers which resulted in the beginnings of the racial hierarchies and stereotypes that became into vague and still permeate society today. Throughout the 19th century, the division of Europe into being inhabited by two races—the Aryan and Semitic—steadily evolved towards the point that led to the eventual murder of two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. Through 310 pages the reader is bombarded with a lot of information in rapid succession as well as Poliakov’s give context to quotes and brief information on the authors, while it is very informative there is a sense that Poliakov wanted to say more but either through original publisher or self-imposed page limit.

The Aryan Myth by Leon Poliakov reveals how through the centuries the search for national origins within different cultural prisms slowly lead towards myths of race and superiority.

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Book Review: The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For the educated elite and free thinkers, deism was philosophical position brought to the fore through reason but was not supposed to be disseminated to the masses for the good of society. Then came Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason, which brought deistic arguments long available to the elites to the general populace in an engaging and irreverent style, thus making them appealing to his targeted readers.

Paine’s argument comes in three parts, the first of which was against revelation of scriptures as proof of God’s existence as it is hearsay—especially of that in the Christian era because it was bent to political circumstances—while God’s existence is testified to in the natural world. The second is that organized religion is corrupted by civil authorities as well as corrupting civil authorities to gain or increase its power. The third is an analysis of selected Biblical texts in the Bible (Old Testament) and New Testament to show it is not the revelation of God. While the structure of the book is somewhat haphazard due to the history of its publication, Paine begins it with his personal creed which includes the belief in one God and what he believes the religious duties of man are then declares what he is personally opposed to institutionalized religion while supporting the rights of others to believe in whatever creed they want to profess. When one reads this book, Paine’s beginning statement on his personal views of religion should be kept in mind so as not get a knee-jerk reaction to call the author an atheist like some—Theodore Roosevelt to name one—have done since this was first published. As for my view on Paine’s arguments, some are easy to agree with like the history of cooperation of civil and religious authorities to prop up one another, my personal belief in the separation of church and state so to keep each from being tainted by the other. While I agree that God’s existence is revealed in nature, it’s Paine’s arguments that revelation as seen in scripture and his proofs that I critique the hardest. Mainly as he went through several texts, out of context in many cases, I could come up with texts in other locations that completely contradict his supposition of what the highlighted text said. And given that it was most of Paine’s argument, it was no doubt better debated at the time of publication and due to space and time I do not have time to write a pamphlet in response to Paine’s mistakes. Beyond the contents of the book itself, this is a concise though thorough argument for 18th-century British deistic thought as well as the anti-clericalism inspired by the French Revolution that began to influence political thought from then to now.

The Age of Reason is Thomas Paine’s argument to general public against organized religion in favor of the deistic beliefs that had long been developed and accepted among the elites who Paine believed propped up corrupt religious organizations to keep the common man from obtaining his full rights as a free man.

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Book Review: The Master and Margarita by Mikhael Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What happens when the Devil and his fiendish retinue arrive in an atheistic worker’s paradise and anyone who gets in their way? The Master and Margarita by Mikhael Bulgakov is a magical realism novel that takes mid-1930s Soviet culture to task along with his commentary in his own experience as a writer during that era.

The fact that Bulgakov never technically finished the book to his satisfaction before his death and yet it’s a fantastic read is incredible. The fact that the Devil goes to Moscow, challenges the religious beliefs of the populace or lack thereof, and judges their behavior is a perfect satire by the Soviet author against the official atheistic stance that supposedly prevailed in the nation at that time is pure satire. The Devil’s actions, under the pseudonym of Dr. Woland, and that of his retinue cause various levels of mischief that sometimes reaches malevolence from sudden trips to Crimean resort towns, finding yourself possessing illegal foreign currency, getting decapitated then having your head reattached, and finally dying in over the top ways. The fact that the titular characters are only in essentially half the novel and it being the second half is a great bait-and-switch as I didn’t mind falling the misadventures of the retinue, especially Behemoth. While I call this magical realism, it could also be a satirical dark comedy with supernatural elements, or an out-of-left field meditation of Christian philosophy, or anything else one can think of, regardless of the genre it’s a good read.

The Master and Margarita is one of the greatest works from the Soviet era and given how Mikhael Bulgakov was treated throughout his life during the Stalinist era, it just shows the sometimes surreal whims of Soviet authorities.

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