Graded Assignment

HST104B: Honors World History | Unit 9 | Lesson 1: World History Honors Project, Book Review

Name: Catie Evans

Date:

Graded Assignment
World History Honors Project, Book Review
(10 points)

1. Full citation of the book using either MLA or Turabian format: Orwell, George. Animal Farm;. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. Print.

Score

(25 points) 2. Range of the book: This book covers the topic of the Russian Revolution. It covers the period of time in the 1900s in Europe when there was a demand for change brought on by a growing number of revolutionarys influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx on communism. The book also goes on to cover the topic of the rising of the Bolshevik Party, lead by Vladimir Lenin, a close follower of Karl Marxs and believer in his idea of communism. It goes on to cover Lenins rise to power in the name of the Communist Party and the formation of the Soviet Union after the relinquish of the Russian thrown by Tsar Nicholas following a politically complicated civil war. The book also then goes into the struggle for power between Stalin and Leon Trotsky following Lenins death and their disputes over ideas for communism. Then covering how Stalin began to consolidate his power with brutal intensity, killing and imprisoning his perceived political enemies; lastly, discussing the failed attempt of communism in Russia.

(25 points) 3. Emphasis: In Animal Farm the author seems to consider the social affects of communism and dictatorship on society and its rulers the most important. He focuses on the way that absolute power can corrupt those with good intention and produce horrifying hypocrisy of those in power that base themselves on, and owe their initial power to, ideologies of liberation and equality. It also focuses on how this affects the social order and creates social tendency toward class stratification. The central theme throughout this book is All people are equal, but some people are more equal than others; this meaning that stemming from the idea of equality it is possible for different degrees of equality to form, much like in communism during the Russian Revolution, and corrupt the entire idea that was originally stood for by its supporters.

(25 points) 4. Point of view or bias: I believe the writer was some what biased. He seemed to sympathize with the lower social class as a victim of propaganda, while he depicted Stalin as a ruthless and hostile leader with no sympathy towards his deeper motives. The author does not sympathize with the ideas of tolitarinism, giving a feeling of biase throughout the book. The author does capitalize on the relationship between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin while excluding detail into their previous relationship through Vladimir Lenin.

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Graded Assignment

HST104B: Honors World History | Unit 9 | Lesson 1: World History Honors Project, Book Review

(25 points) 5. Material Used: George Orwell lived through the Russian revolution he was a British political novelist and essayist who criticized political oppression. Orwell received his education at a series of private schools. Orwell became a socialist, speaking openly against the excesses of governments east and west and fighting briefly for the socialist cause during the Spanish Civil War. Orwell did not agree with the Soviet Union and its policies, nor did he consider the Soviet Union a positive representation of the potential of socialist society. He recognized the cruelties and hypocrisies of Soviet Communist Party and believed they had overturned the semi feudal system of the tsars only to replace it with the dictatorial reign. Orwell became a sharp critic of both capitalism and communism and began to write about his anti-tolitarian views. He is qualified to write on this subject because he was involved during the time of which this issue was a prominent aspect of daily life.

(25 points) 6. Style: The book is very well organized, it flows in a way that is easy to read and understandable. It goes in order of chronological happening of events.

(25 points) 7. Evaluation and contribution: The book was written to express the failures of the Soviet Union as run by Stalin and its failed attempt at a communist society. I found the only short coming of the book to be that it should have expanded on the foundation that Lenin established before Stalins rule. I did not find any historical errors.

Your Score

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