Galina

Galina Vishnevskaya was a Russian singer caged behind the Iron Curtain during the time that Russia was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. She sang soprano at the Bolshoi and was the Russian version of Maria Callas. She wrote an autobiography entitled, "Galina: A Russian Story." Within the story of her musical career was the story of the Soviet Union, its bureaucracy, and unbelievable policies which Galina referred to as, "our insane ideology." Galina's American Story in this book is her extended leave from that country in 1974. She lived in the United States and Paris, and could readily compare her country with the United States. This book is not about Galina in America, but the socialist ideology so prevalent in this decade in the United States. The US Congress has much of that same irrational ideology as had the Soviet Politburo during those years. Herrin details Galina's experiences with the Soviet Central Committee and bureaucrats and compared them to our own insane progressive ideology. Socialism is in vogue in America at the present time, especially in the eyes of the millennial generation who were never near the horrors of any versions of socialism. Galina's experiences as a young and talented person should be a valuable story for the youth of today. She lived Leninism and Stalinism, and experienced socialism as practiced - the communal type that the West fears as evil "communism."