This is a fine introduction to the thinking of one of the few people in the world who really influenced the tide of history. Along with Leon Trotsky and the Bolshevik Party, Lenin helped establish the first state that was ruled by and for the working class. What went wrong with the revolution is best dealt with by reading Trotsky.

This book really captures the essence of Lenin's thoughts and philosophy. His most famous piece : "What Is To Be Done?" captures the turmoil that was swirling around socialism during that time and esp in Russia. His theory on the development of the class conscious and importance of professional revolutionaries were amazing and showed the vision that this genius held. It's really sad that someone such as Stalin had to destroy something as pure and just as the work of Lenin, Marx, and true socialism!!

I made an earlier jokingly one-liner that does not justice to the book- or to Lenin. What I think should looked for in this book is exactly the following: that Lenin was the first marxist ever not to consider the development of class consciousness a kind of spontaneous outgrowth of the concrete existence of a working class. Therefore the necessity for politics - specially party politics - to take precedence in marxist analysis over pure economic analysis. This jump in esentials was made by Lenin very early in life, as his _Development of Capitalism in Russia_, written in his late twenties, is still a prime piece of economicistic marxism; _What is to be done?_ is already a prime owrk of a new, politics-first, approach. One may think whatever one wants of the solutions found by Lenin - abaove all the party of professional revolutionists, disciplined and centralized, but one may not deny him the fact that it was him who first made a new kind of marxist approach to issues that is still very much with us.

When I came across this book, I was extremely surprised. Among a well-known anthology of stories known the world over, there are "gay" tales! These tales are like the other tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights, with the invoking of Allah at the beginning of each story, and the dreamlike quality of the other Tales. Also included within the book are poems and verses, all gay-themed, of course. This book is highly recommended. Find it if you can.

I was a bit disappointed at the selection of stories... but I can't blame the publishers. Blame the original medieval author, Saikaku, for writing tales that are somewhat predictable and... repetitive? Samurai falls in love with a beautiful boy. Samurai pledges undying love to the beautiful boy in a prose-filled letter or Samurai follows the beautiful boy to the ends of the earth. Beautiful boy eventually notices samurai. They either die for honor or live happily ever after.

The books is 110 pages long, with size 12 font and 1-1/2 inch margins. o_o In other words, painfully short. The book is separated into three sections: samurai love failed, stalemated, and victorious. All of them pretty much follow the guideline above.

However, there were a few gems in all the mediocre (and sometimes exceedingly corny) stories. The first in the book tells the tale of two lovers, fated to die. One of the later stories is a monk's letter to his friend about the beautiful youth he saw one day, filled with lovely prose. One of them cracked me up with the tale of two aged men who are the "greatest women-haters on the earth."

However, other than those few, many other stories are corny and others, others pathetically funny (when they're not intended to be). If I'm going to pay ten dollars for this book, there could be at LEAST some more substance, or more selections from Saikaku's works.