Midwestern Book Review
James A. Cox, Editor-in chief

 

The Biography Shelf:
From Ike to Mao and Beyond By Bob Avakian

From Ike To Mao and Beyond is the memoir of a long distance runner whose disillusionment with imperialism, racism, and capitalism led him from his mainstream American background to embrace the ideals of revolutionary communism. In the mid-1980's he dared to write a book with the provocative title, "Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?" Now, well after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he critically analyzes the flaws of modern democracy - flaws that divide society into classes and allow the upper classes to wield disproportionate power - and questions the blind refutation of a more egalitarian socialist system. A window into transparent injustice and one person's true-life determination to search for a better path, despite the scorn of the society around him.