Apparently, the amazon reviewer thinks those who have suffered under communism or some other tyranny don't deserve to praise the merits of democracy and freedom. To accuse Sharansky of a rant is to project, obviously, the reviewers emotional heat onto a true intellectual and man of courage. Sharansky risked a great deal as a dissident. He risked far more than most of us will ever risk.
Here's a more balanced review:
Exceptional read - I have a question though.......,
January 22, 2005
Reviewer:MovedbyMusic "lishaz3" - See all my reviews
I wanted to read this because the author has tremendous credibility as an eyewitness to and active participant of radical change in the Soviet Union. He took part in a rare metamorphosis of a country without international war.
I read the book; respected and agreed with the author but he left out a very critical aspect I wish he had explored further. The severity of potential costs.
The cost can vary from Russia's case where there was virtually no bloodshed with success of democracy to astronomical loss of life without success (North Korea, Vietnam). So the only question I would like to ask is "at what price do we enforce global democracy"?
I think his premise is accurate because he notes how over and over in history we have seen the benefits of people who live free under the umbrella of democracy and benefit from innovative progresses with the momentum of capitalism.
He makes empahtic and well-written arguments for how global democracy results in a better protection for people of all nations. I however missed him addressing the huge discrepancies in how each democratic battle has been fought and sometimes with complete failure.
The Soviet Union's demise was internal collpase. However, it doesn't always work out that way. It's one thing for a country to decide itself to turn around the structure of it's own nation (Poland). What happens when things don't work out as planned and there is unnecessary bloodshed? Hindsight is 20/20 vision.
I recognize the importance of standing up to tyranny. I know bullies have to be stared down and not appeased; I honestly do but I can't fathom the potential catastrophic death and destruction it can and does take to get there.
I intellectually understand the points made by this extraordinarily brave author, but I still can't be emotionally concomitant to the bloodshed it so often takes to get there.
To the reviewer who stated we are not a democracy - you are misinformed. We are both a democracy and republic.
The United States, and Member Countries of the Commonwealth for example are in fact representative democracies. There are two different types of democracy. Direct (where people directly affect the decisions of government and locally we do have direct democratic status)and representative where people elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.