Vanguard Elite (Cold War, Hot Passions, #1) in ROBUST

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By Andre Jute · 6 posts · 16 views

last updated Mar 21, 2013 04:08PM

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By Andre Jute · 105 posts · 51 views

last updated Apr 25, 2013 12:24PM

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Nov 16, 2014 Matt Posner rated it it was amazing

Vanguard Elite is the first in Andre Jute's eight-volume series of novels about both sides of the Cold War. As a regular reader and reviewer of Andre's work, a fan of the writer and the human being, it's my pleasure to recommend this colorful, character-driven short novel about the Bolshevik takeover of the Russian government in 1917.

The background:

In 1917, after many years of unsuccessful attempts, the Russian people finally unseated and executed their Romanov ruler Czar Nicholas II, and as usu Vanguard Elite is the first in Andre Jute's eight-volume series of novels about both sides of the Cold War. As a regular reader and reviewer of Andre's work, a fan of the writer and the human being, it's my pleasure to recommend this colorful, character-driven short novel about the Bolshevik takeover of the Russian government in 1917.

The background:

In 1917, after many years of unsuccessful attempts, the Russian people finally unseated and executed their Romanov ruler Czar Nicholas II, and as usual after a revolution, went into a period of turmoil and struggle trying to form an effective new government. As a primarily agricultural nation, economically backward and still struggling to adapt to the high-intensity industrial growth found in Western Europe, Russia was not the nation Karl Marx would have anticipated, or recommended, for a communist revolution, but years of oppression and the Czar's disastrous entanglement in a war against Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II finally fueled Nicholas II's removal. A bureaucratic mess of a government, led by Alexander Kerensky, took vague shape in St. Petersburg, but when the Bolshevik leaders, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and others, perceived its weakness and incompetence, they moved to remove Kerensky and establish a Marxist-Leninist nation instead.

The question:

We always read about these men as tough historical figures who represent a specific set of ideas and foibles, who move around the political arena of history like pieces on a chess board. But weren't they human? What was it like to be around them in the midst of the revolutionary ferment? Do we really understand them as men rather than as figureheads in a perilous game of high-stakes brinksmanship?

The answer:

The answer is, of course, Vanguard Elite (with other books in the series to follow).

Andre's book shows Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and their cohorts as they might have been seen close up, through the eyes of their confederates and subordinates. The novel starts with Sergei, a young soldier who has deserted the front against Germany in order to come to the capital and be a Bolshevik. He proves a very effective vehicle for humanizing the leaders as he meets and serves them, since his impressions as a naïf correspond to what we ourselves might feel in the presence of such complex and commanding figures. The point of the view of the common man mixed among the mighty, exposing alternately their greatness and their humanity, has been around for a long time -- perhaps the gravedigger scene from Hamlet is a particularly potent example of this technique's capacity to provoke both humor and complexity of perspective. Andre uses it well here. To Sergei's earnestness and youthful energy are added a wry and brave couple, Anatoly and Anna; a self-sacrificing Zhivago-like upper-class doctor and his family; a number of shrewd and tough aides-de-camp; and a hot romance in the upper echelon.

The book was full of surprises for me. The first appearance of Stalin -- which I was not expecting -- made me fascinated but queasy. This man, who by the 1930s was second only to Hitler in his ferocious evil, is shown here as he was before he came to power, blunt and tough, but capable of laughter. Andre has left room for him to grow into the villain we now know him to be. The other leaders are equally fascinating in their brief appearances. Also, it is surprising to learn the extent to which yet more historical individuals, whose names did not become famous, had pivotal roles to play in the communist takeover.

Andre has created here the authentic feel of a dialogue-driven, ideologically-motivated Russian novel, but he has also provided his customary racing-speed mix of action and danger. Almost every book I review is a struggle for me at once point or another, given my restless disposition and the ease with which I fall asleep when reading in bed. Not this book, though. I was never bored for a moment, and I didn't want to turn the light out.

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Dec 19, 2012 Andre Jute added it · (Review from the author)

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