LENIN
A New Biography
by Dmitri Antonovich Volkogonov
Hardcover
Subject Lacks Objectivity
There is no doubt that Lenin achieved a level of recognition that will continue for as long as humans maintain a sentient capacity. The fact remains, however, that he gained this recognition largely through his association with others. Dmitri Volkogonov's biography does not acknowledge this aspect and is therefore singularly shallow. In fact, those central to Lenin's rise are not even mentioned.
I said all this in the piece I submitted to Pravda in 1996. Not surprisingly, the Politburo censors took umbrage and the review was rejected. Fortunately, America imposes no systemic silence on its citizens, so I will repeat the brief conclusion articulated in the Pravda review. Volkogonov's biography of this unique figure is flawed not by its inclusions but by its myopic exclusions. It is impossible to present a balanced account of Lenin without reference to the other three Beatles.
Gore Vidal
Ravello, Italy
July 2001
Lost and Profound: The Rejected Book Reviews of Famous People Description:
‘LOST and PROFOUND: The Rejected Book Reviews by Famous People’ is a unique and hilarious collection of unpublished book reviews seemingly written by household names who have reached the top in film, television, journalism, science, music, sport, art, business, politics and literature. Included among the ‘reviewers’ are George W. Bush, David Letterman, Madonna, Gore Vidal, Shirley MacLaine, Arnold Palmer, Elton John, Gloria Steinem, David Suzuki, Walter Cronkite, Salvatore ‘Sammy the Bull’ Gravano, Jimmy Swaggart and Monica Lewinsky.
All the books reviewed are real, and the astonishing diversity of interests of the celebrities demonstrates that shallow understanding can never be disguised as deep thought, no matter how cleverly expressed.
As revealed in the book’s ‘Introduction’, Mark McKirdy acquired this collection when he successfully bid for a small, dusty box at a Sotheby’s auction in 2013. Upon his return to Oxford University, where he was the anthropologist-in-residence, he opened the box and, like Howard Carter marveling at the treasures he’d just unearthed from Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the author was holding a golden collection of hilarious book reviews by many of the world’s most significant people.
Each review had apparently been commissioned by the prestigious literary journal, ‘The London Review of Books’ and each, for reasons never revealed, received a soul-crushing rebuff by way of a large, red ‘Rejected’ stamp.
As with all well written satire, ‘LOST and PROFOUND’ will give readers pause for thought, seconds for chuckling, minutes of laughing out loud and hours of fun, and if the celebrities mentioned in the book didn’t actually write the reviews cited, they probably wish they had.
