When I read 19th Century novels, I am frequently struck and embarassed by the blatant racism of the writers. Trollope, Thackeray and Dickens were fine writers and good men, but there is racism in their books. I wonder how long it is before readers will look askance at the Marxist slant of so many good writers in the 20th Century. With the notable exception of Hitler, the great butchers of the 20th Century were all Communists. It is amazing that so many well read and well intentioned people gave them such a good press for so long. Just recently in a review of Mao’s biography in the Times Book Review, Nicholas Kristof corrected the author. He said that Mao did not kill 70 million but only 20 million. Kristof also pointed out that the writer did not mention that women’s rights were increased in post revolutionary China as opposed to Japan.
