Product Description
Western accounts of the Soviet-Finnish war have been reliant on Western sources. Using Russian archival and previously classified secondary sources to document the experience of the Red Army in conflict with Finland, Carl Van Dyke offers a reassessment of the conflict. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don't expect to get a first hand account of the Winter War in this book
Don't expect to get a first hand account of the Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40 in this book. It is actually a study of the failure of the Soviet Armed Forces in the attack on Finland and an analysis of how that failure resulted in major changes to Soviet military doctrine, equipment and tactics. It does included a day by day account of specific parts of the war from the Soviet point of view. Its well written but it is aimed at the academic rather than the casual reader (that is probably reflected in the price too..)

The author makes extensive use of former confidential Soviet sources, and that point alone it makes the book interesting. However, the author does use a lot of jargon involving the Soviet system, which, while probably understandable by the academic audience this book is intended for, makes the book a bit of a challenge for the casual reader. It does not detract from the book, just makes it a bit more work to get thru.

Content. Chapter 1 - covers the diplomatic and strategic background of the war. Chapter 2 - covers the initial stage of the war. Chapter 3 - the mid-war reforming of the Soviet Army's doctrine. A chapter on the final Soviet victory by Timoshenko is followed by an interesting chapter on "Lessons Learned," and finally an epilogue. The bibliography is extensive and the book is heavily footnoted.

Comments on the book itself. Parts I found really interesting - A number of reasons are given for the poor performance of the Soviet Forces -at the beginning, it is clear that the Red Army was in virtual chaos. The preface covers this well, with an outline of how the Red Army emerged from the revolution and subsequent civil war with a sophisticated military doctrine and decentralized command and organizational flexibility - however, this doctribe and structure, forged in the maelstrom of the Civil War and the Red Armys struggle against foreign invaders supporting the Whites, contradicted Stalin's "centralized political system." In the conflict between the professional military and Stalin, the military lost. The end result was Stalin's purges, and the dismissal, execution, or imprisonment of 40,000 army commanders and about 3,000 naval commanders. The troops were untrained, and as a result of the purges, unlead. Additionally, Stalin had attempted to integrate political commisars and political control into every aspect of military command and operations.

Other problems in the Red army involved the vertical command structure that limited horizontal communication between units. Combined actions using artillery, armor, and infantry often disintegrated into "mob tactics." According to Van Dyke, even the structure of the Soviet Army was known only to the NKVD. In addition to covering military tactics and doctrine, the book provides a fascinating study of what happens when the political aspects override military capability (Iraq anyone?). Some of these ideological concepts are hard to understand, and harder to describe. Others are just hard to believe. I wont go into them here, read the book and you will see what I mean.

The Lessons Learned section focuses on the military lessons learned by the Red Army. Its an interesting thought as to what the result might have been had the Red Army been forced to make such major changes in the middle of an attack by the Wehrmacht, rather than during an invasion of Finland. There is a lot more in the book - I have just touched on aspects I found interesting. The author covers problems with supplies, intelligence, and the continuing lack of competent leaders. These problems and numerous others were apparantly not really fixed until the middle of WW2.

The book itself - very few editorial errors and typos - I would have liked to have seen more maps abd pictures though. The footnotes and bibliography often contain references to documents in Russian - unless you read Russian, you will need a translator for these. I would recommend this book to those who want to understand the "other side" in the Winter War, and how that experience brought about changes in the Soviet military. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume adds Sweden and Finland to the growing list of countries included in Greenwood Press' Reference Guides to the World's Cinema series. Both well known and other important but less known persons and films are included in the reference work which spans the silent film era to the 1990s. The volume is divided into two sections, one devoted to the Swedish entries and the other to the Finnish entries. An introduction to each section overviews the developments and trends in that particular country's film industry. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Photo-Guide to Luftwaffe Ops in the Far North!
Part of the Greenhill Books 'Luftwaffe at War' series, LUFTWAFFE OVER FINLAND offers a comprehensive photo-guide to the German air war on the Northern Front. Though there's been a ton of books on the Luftwaffe in action over Europe and in the Med, few books have covered the German Air Force experience in the Scandinavian countries. Thus, LUFTWAFFE OVER FINLAND is a welcome addition to the field.

LUFTWAFFE OVER FINLAND runs to 72 pages, almost all of which contain vintage b&w and color photographs of GAF aircraft and aircrews.After a four-page summary of Luftwaffe ops, units and Experten over Finland, Stenman and Keskin lead off with eight pages of color pix. The 56 pages of b&w photographs that follow the color section are grouped into fighter, bomber, recce, transport and misc. a/c sections. Photo quality is generally good.

LUFTWAFFE OVER ENGLANDhas two things going for it. First, its subject matter. Second, its excellent selection of photographs. Some of the 'Luftwaffe at War' books lean heavily on Bundesarchiv. Most of the Stenman/Keskinen pix are from individuals so the reader is treated to many previously unseen images.

In many ways, the Northern Front war was a forgotten war. LUFTWAFFE OVER FINLAND provides a useful, nicely-illustrated introduction to that air war. Recommended.

Excelente! Si te falta en tu colección, no dudes! I found this book excellent
Tengo la serie completa casi, me faltan los números 2, 10 y 11.
Este, el 18 tiene la misma calidad, tanto en imágenes como de texto que los demás.

Good collection of photographes of Luftwaffe aircraft operating from Finlamd
This book is an excellent collection of photographes of Luftwaffe aircraft operating from Finland in the Continuation War (WW2 outside of Finland, but merely a continuation of the 1939-40 attack on Finland by the Soviet Union for the Finns). 72 pages, of which 4 are text and the rest photos. The text gives you a very brief overview of Luftwaffe operations, units and key personnel. Nothing like a good study - just enough to give you an indication of what the Luftwaffe did. This is the main reason I give this book only 3 stars - unlike Kari Stenman and Kalevi Keskinens other books on the Finnish Airforce and Lentolaivue 24, this one is so light on the text that it detracts from the book.

The photos on the other hand are worth the price of the book. Outstanding collection of shots of pretty much every type the Luftwaffe flew from Finland as well as some of the pilots. Approx 130 photos, some color tinted. And thats it folks. Like I said, the photos are worth the price but I would have liked a lot more text to go with it. Incidentally, this is a layout common to the whole series of books of which this is a part - good photos and very limited text. Pretty much every reviewer says the same thing - great photos, poor job on the text. Shame, it could have been a fascinating book rather than just the photographic reference it is. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great introduction to a fascinating question
Containing Coexistence studies what has to be one of the most interesting and least addressed questions related to the early years of the Cold War: how Finland managed to remain neutral and unoccupied.Jussi Hanhimaki has written a detailed, cogent account of the interactions of Finland, the United States and the Soviet Union, with particular emphasis to the changing American assessment of Finland's position in the Cold War.

Probably the part of the book most relevant to students of the Cold War is the first section, which explains how Finland became the sole success story of Yalta.Soviet foreign policy toward Finland is assessed as having been primarily driven by security concerns.

I personally wonder if Hanhimaki gives Finland's leadership too much credit for avoiding absorption into the Soviet bloc.It would seem that the weakness of Finland's communists, the Soviet choice not to advance into Finland in 1944, and the consolidation of Cold War tensions in Central Europe probably did more to shape Moscow's policy than did President Paasikivi's prudent policy.Clearly Helsinki played its cards very carefully and with real success, but I wonder to what extent the outcome was already determined by external events.

In any case, this is an excellent book by a capable and eloquent scholar.It might have benefited from more evidence on the Soviet side, but this is understandly harder to secure. ... Read more

Product Description
In this groundbreaking study of the art of Touko Laaksonen (1920-1991), better known as Tom of Finland, Micha Ramakers explores the incredible and defining impact Tom's work has had upon the culture at large. It is work whose erotic and emotional power remains unabated to this day.Lavishly illustrated with drawings and photographs, Dirty Pictures is a lively and entertaining book encompassing the rise of the gay movement, the world of fine art, and the function (and the functioning) of pornography.For the millions of fans of Tom's work throughout the world, as well as readers unfamiliar with his work, this study brings uncommon insight into Tom of Finland's decidedly uncommon work.
Amazon.com Review
In a gay heaven, the choir robes would be designed by Gautier afterdrawings by Tom of Finland. Even on Earth, utopia must be approaching whenthe musclebound torsos and bulging baskets of Tom's manly men attract afull-length critical study. Art historian Micha Ramakers, who previouslyedited a monograph of Tom of Finland's drawings, argues persuasively for theinfluence of these hyper-masculine figures on gay culture since themid-1950s, when the artist's renderings of fantasy men first began to appearin American beefcake magazines. Although the consistency of Tom ofFinland's technique and themes over the four decades of his working lifedoesn't leave Ramakers much room to discuss the development of his subject'stalents, he makes ample use of his few opportunities (like the introductionof more black figures in the mid-1980s, after the artist spent six months inthe U.S.). More rewardingly, he uses the pornographer's work as a lens forexamining the evolution of gay masculinity since the 1950s. --ReginaMarler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Tom & his beefy men
All gay men should know who Tom of Finland is.You're bound to see a picture or two in gay bookstores, bars and galleries.If you're not familiar with Tom, then you need to get out more often!

I found *Dirty Pictures* not just fascinating with these wonderful and eye-catching pictures but educational with Tom of Finland's background and his intentions/purposes behind each pictures.

It's amazing how having a network with friends can lead one to be legendary, if you could call it that.Prior to meeting Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorne, Tom of Finland's works were just considered pornographic.Over time, that gradually changed.

I wished this book contained all of Tom's pictures, along with a background for each of them.However, with what knowledge that I've learned here, I cannot wait to see the other works of Tom's and do my own analyses.That's the fun part.

tom vs.
tom of finland is a demonstration and if youre intrested in gay-art you must have this book as soon as you can ....so this masculity is supportedby heavenly drawings

A Must for Your Coffee Table
"The art of Touko Laaksonen (1920 ­ 1991), famous throughout the world as Tom of Finland, has had an incredible and defining impact upon the culture at large ­ an impact that arguably exceeds that of any other artistworking in the latter half of the 20th century. It is perhaps even moreremarkable that Tom of Finland was not a traditional fine artist ­ his workwas most commonly regarded as gay pornography, and rightly so. Yet it isart that not only had a tremendous impact upon the emerging gay cultureworldwide but whose erotic and emotional power remains unabated to thisday. For millions of fans throughout the world, as well as those unfamiliarwith Tom of Finland¹s art, this book brings uncommon insight into adecidedly uncommon body of work." - text excerpt from Stonewall Inn

Tom Tom Tom
If you love Tom of Finland, you will absolutely love this book.Seemingly hundreds of his prints, even such rarities from his early work, grace this book and give it a flavor that seems to be lacking from other pictorials.This book is utterly delightful and insightful as to the man himself.Itwas wonderful and I'd recommend it to anyone.Five stars all the way! ... Read more

Product Description
The Hungarians and the Finns have had very few direct contacts in the historical past. These people have, however, shared a similar position in that they have both belonged to a group of small and medium-sized nations lying in a zone between East and West, which has sometimes been called "Europe Between". Despite the considerable differences between the two societies, it may be instructive to compare them. This was the basis for a dialogue between Hungarian and Finnish historians which began in the early 1980s, and it has provided the starting point for a number of conferences held in both countries. The present work is based on papers given at a conference arranged in Helsinki in 1998. The articles, written by Hungarian and Finnish historians, offer fresh perspectives both on the political history of the inter-war period especially with regard to parties and ideologies, which are examined from a comparitive standpoint, and on the position of the two countries during the Cold War. ... Read more

Product Description
From the ideas of the early nineteenth-century socialists to the thoughts of Marx and Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, Edmund Wilson traces the development of the political and intellectual movements that culminated in the Russian Revolution. TO THE FINLAND STATION is a work of history on a grand scale, at once sweeping and detailed, closely reasoned and passionately argued, that succeeds in painting an unforgettable picture - alive with conspirators and philosophers, utopians and nihilists - of the making of the modern world. 'The first thing that strikes us about To the Finland Station is the vastness of its scope...It is easily, equally at home in the philosopher's study, in the prisoner's cell, on the steppes, in the streets, melancholy in great country houses, choking in fetid industrial slums...It can remind us that our history is alive and open and rich with excitement and promise' New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Paul Shapshak, PhDreviews To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson.
Review written for and requested by Amazon.com "To the Finland Station"

4-1-2010. To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) [NY Review of Books, NYC, 2003, originally published 1940] is sub-titled "A study in the writing and acting of history". This great book is much more than that. It is more than the erudite succinct summary of European and later American history, more than an accurately cross-referenced interleaved review of the historiography of Western Civilization from Feudalism to the Fuhrer, IL Duce, and the Boss. The thread that runs through the book, in a sense, is the involvement of the `force or will' of Hegel and the `dialectic' of Hegel and Marx. The book definitively demonstrates several threads of the slow inexorable demise and dismemberment of Feudalism leading unexpectedly to the Leninist state. Central are the many philosophers, economists, and sociologists reviewed during the course of the centuries dealt with, certainly the flow of Western Civilization. "To the Finland Station" is an exciting narrative and discussion with surprise twists and turns that bring together the complex issues, priniciples, evolution, devolution, and revolutions that occurred over the centuries. It is one of Western civilization's great works in addition to our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence.
---Paul Shapshak, PhD

A love story of writers and revolutionaries
'To the Finland Station' is Edmund Wilson's novel-like narrative of the personalities who pioneered the ideas of social equality in the 150 years leading up to the Russian Revolution. This is not a history of the political events but rather the personalities of the activists and their life stories. Included are heartbreaking episodes such as the tale of Babeuf who saw the abolition of property as the prerequisite for human equality, and who was guillotined in France along with his followers for passionately declaring his ideas. Also here are early Utopians such as Owen, a successful Welsh industrialist who established actual working communities on early communist principles, including the Owenite commune in New Harmony, Indiana. It was Owen who argued that marriage was also a form of property, and promoted the sexual freedom of women with its echoes a hundred years later. The second half of the book tracks the entry of revolutionary ideas into Germany, England, Austria, Prussia through Lassalle, Marx, Engels - and their image of class struggle as the main dynamic of history. Included are the petty rivalries among the principals, and plain old gossip, such as that Marx - the uncompromising absolutist of world economics - was clueless in his own personal financial life, and dependent on his friend Engels to pay his bills.

The book can be read as another kind of history as well, not only regarding the early Communist theorists as such but also about the writers who were their cheerleaders during the 1920's and 30's. Wilson and other true believers were so wrapped up with the utopian goal that they were slow to come to terms with the dark side of the actuality as it was practiced in Stalinist Russia. So, read Wilson not only as an historic journey of ideas, but also as a record of the sometimes foolish love story between liberal intellectuals and revolutionaries.

For those interested in writing, Wilson's style is unique. There are dense, half-page, complex sentences but nevertheless he manages to convey subtle meanings with elegance.

Slow going
This book reads like it was written in Russian, then translated (awkwardly). Frequently, the run-on sentences made little sense, until read two or three times, then the point reluctantly emerges. Not exactly a page-turner.

Magnificent in its Uselessness
Wilson succeeds in writing some of the worst "history" ever.Tearfully boring (as is usually the case with literature experts who write history), Wilson's obviously enamored with Communism and Lenin, and so neglects to consult available historical references that would have given a better-rounded and accurate picture of the events of the time.This book is an incredible example of how not to write history.In over thirty years of avid reading, I have never been lulled to sleep so many times by a single book as this one.

Excellent Insights Hidden Under Atrocious Syntax
It was Vladimir Nabokov who brought me to this book.The Russian immigre author of the delightfully written novel PNIN and of the sometime-banned LOLITA praised TO THE FINLAND STATION in his letters to its author, Edmund Wilson.Although I had already read Wilson's fictional MEMOIRS OF HECATE COUNTYand found it wanting in several respects, I hoped that his non-fiction work on the development of Marxist and Socialist thought would be far superior to his attempt at fiction.So how did I find the book?

First, let me emphasize that my reaction may be a reflection more of my own comprehension skills or lack thereof than of Wilson's skill as a writer.By all means, bear this in mind.I do find Wilson's skills as an historian most satisfactory.Thanks to his book, I have introduced to several philosophers and writers who presaged Marx and perhaps influenced him, as well as some who followed him, men of whom I had never heard before: Giovanni Vico, Jules Michelet, Ernest Renan, Hippolyte-Adolphe Taine, Gracchus Babeuf, and Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin, for example.

Other men I already knew by name and by some superficial history:Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin, and Stalin.Thanks to Wilson, I now understand somewhat more about them, and a few bits and pieces, such as how Lev Davidovich Bronstein became Trotsky, and the descriptions of Lenin's boyhood, are fascinating.In a similar vein, I now understand the meaning of Bolshevik and Menshevik as well as their essential differences. In short, TO THE FINLAND STATION has somewhat improved my understanding of the movements that led to the overthrow of the last czar and the formation of Soviet Russia.On a lighter note, I'll also likely interpret the motion picture "Doctor Zhivago" more accurately now for having read Wilson's book!

My major frustration with TO THE FINLAND STATION lies in the fact that I have not come away with the knowledge that I should have, not because the answers are missing but because they are frequently difficult to pick out of Wilson's plodding, obfuscated rhetoric.His message, excellent and well-researched as it is, is weighed down by the incredible weight of his morphemes and his syntax, which too often combine to render his sentences all but unintelligible.I offer two examples from the book:

"It was probably the Jew in the half-Jewish Proust that saved him from being the Anatole France of an even more deliquescent phase of the French belletristic tradition." (301)I do not mind an author's sending me to the dictionary; on the contrary, I appreciate having my recognition vocabulary challenged and broadened now and then.What I do mind is, even after consulting a dictionary and returning to the book armed with definitions and synonyms, still not having a clue as to what the author is talking about!Now for the second example:

"Not only must Das Kapital, like Michelet's history, eventually break down as a Kunstwerk, because events will not accommodate themselves to its symmetry--since Marx himself became diverted while he was writing it into pursuing new researches into phenomena which were not allowed for by his original plan, but it leads inevitably to further thought and further writing--beginning with Engel's addenda to the later volumes, to the whole growth of Marxist thought since Marx's time--failing which, one may actually say, as one can say of few other books, that the original work would not continue to be valid." (322)Got that?Didn't think so.Perhaps Wilson could have communicated more clearly had he not written a sentence of precisely 100 words!

I suppose that I feel cheated because I labored from cover to cover in this book, re-reading many passages numerous times in a struggle to liberate their significance, only to be defeated by Wilson's elaborate and convoluted writing style.Part of the annoyance derives from the fact that, at times, Wilson can write clearly and forcefully.The passages on Lenin's childhood, which I have already mentioned, are a case in point, as is Appendix E, which essentially encapsulates several major points of the book in a summary of sorts.Had the entire book been written in such a forthright style, I could have derived far more pleasure and knowledge from it.As it is, however, I shall likely never attempt a second reading, considering the initial struggle required to persevere through all 492 pages.

If, good reader, you wish to know more about the historical evolution of Marxist and Socialist thought AND if you were able to breeze through the examples I quoted above with perfect comprehension, then I highly recommend TO THE FINLAND STATION to you.On the other hand, if those quotations were as much of a challenge to you as they were to me, then I suggest seeking historical knowledge elsewhere.
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Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Detailed study of Finland's Defence Forces from 1918 to 1988
Very detailed study of the Finnish Armed Forces by a leading Finnish Defence Analyst. It's an interesting read, well-written but intended more for the serious Analyst and student rather than as an entertaining read. 5 stars for the depth of content and the serious contemplation of the subject. But don't expect something you can skim through of an evening - there's some pretty thorough analysis and serious thinking in here. A bit dated in places now as it's 20 years old, but good historical material.

Part I goes from the birth of Finland's Armed Forces in the 1918 War of Independence through to the Winter and Continuation Wars against the Soviet Union in 1939-40 and 1941-44.

Part II covers the post WW2 period up to 1988, providing a detailed analysis of the role and strength of the Finnish Defence Forces.

The author, Dr. Tomas Ries is currently Director of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (since 1 January 2005). His main interest is the globalising security environment. Between 1997-2004 he was Senior Researcher at the National Defence College in Finland, focusing on globalisation and security, Finland's security policy and EU and NATO affairs. Between 1992-1997 he was Director of the International Training Course in Geneva, Switzerland and Deputy Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Between 1986-1992 he worked as Researcher and then Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the Institute for Defence Studies in Oslo, Norway. His focus then was Soviet military interests in the north and nordic security and defence policies. Dr. Ries has written two books and over one-hundred articles and research studies. He holds a B.Sc. (Econ) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva University. Ries is a citizen of both Finland and the USA.
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