T's Reviews > Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism

Surprisingly disappointing, and I say this as someone who agrees with virtually everything Parenti says in this book. The most frustrating aspect of his writing is how infrequently he uses citations. He makes a number of great points about both Communism and Capitalism (though the latter are mostly truisms any Marxist knows), but he rarely gives one access to further reading. A good polemic, but a bit outdated and definitely too schematic. I would recommend individual chapters (his early ones on the fall of Communism are the best), but not the book as a whole. Maybe though my critique has to do with the fact that much of what he states is obvious to me, so maybe that's my problem, but his writing definitely suffers from a number of oversimplifications which would make it easy for any Liberal to dismiss his arguments in a second.