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| | Marine Corps Gazette |
 | | Fadeyev was an ardent Communist, whom one student of Russian history and language that I know described as a sycophant and toady of Stalin. Despite this background, his book is a gritty, candid, and interesting read that contains valuable material for aspiring young leaders. |
 | | In the riveting final chapters Fadeyev describes the companys harrowing flight through a nearly impassable swamp after being mauled by White Cossack troops, vividly depicting the deleterious effect of extreme fatigue upon the judgment and decisionmaking faculties of leaders and led alike. |
 | | If there is anything overtly ideological in the book, it may be in the contrast between the weak, cowardly Metchik and his brave, sturdy partisan comradesa contrast that Fadeyev may have intended as symbolic of the difference between what he saw as the corrupt, venal, bourgeoisie intelligentsia and a noble, virtuous, proletarian peasant class. |
| www.mca-marines.org /gazette/2006/06chapmanBR.html (526 words) |
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