“deprivation and injustice in thenworld.” They clung to the pre-welfarenstate belief that whatever happens tonpeople is the latters’ own fault and thatnif suffering people had been more likenLake Wobegonians, “they would havenbeen all right.”nIn the end, the author of the 95nTheses lies awash in alienation andnself-hatred. He has grown to detestnneat-looking people like himself, peoplenwho appear industrious and respectable.nHe sneers at them asnmiddle-class. In elections, he votesnj Announcing . . . in1 A Major Work onn: Genocide & Terrorism inn Ukraine:nautomatically against Scandinaviannnames. Instead, he has become a “sensitivenperson” and has thrown his lot innwith the renovators of Victorian houses,nthe singer-songwriters, the runners,nthe connoisseurs of northern Bengalincuisine. Nonetheless, the result is misery:n”I don’t really see anybody.”nKeillor records: “Most of LakenWobegon’s children leave, as I did, tonrealize themselves as finer personsnthan they were allowed to be atnhome.” Haunting the teenage boy innLake Wobegon Days are the Flam-n• Jbwald Ammende’s Human Life in Russia is the Ion g unavailable history ;n• of the “Hidden Holocaust” and the cover-up which j prevented new s of the In: starvation of nearly 7,000,000 Ukrainians from being reported in tl le West *n• during 1931-1934. Ammende, a professional humanit arian whose c areer is jn• markedly similar to that of Raoul Wallenberg a decac le later, gathe •ed eye- InI witness testimony on the Famine as a means of expos ing the awful ruth of •n• the genocide and terrorism then occurring in Ukrair e.n• As such, his work is one of the earliest histories of tl le Gulag, whe rein the InI Archipelago consisted of an entire nation to be punis lied for its opj position In• to totalitarianism. Human Life in Russia has long b een unobtaina ble; we ;n• make it available with the hope that the lesson of the 1 Jkrainian Farr line will InI not be lost on our times. The book, 330 pages in a clot ii binding and striking In• jacket, is well illustrated and documented; it belongs in every colle L:tion of ;n• books on the U.S.S.R. and Ukraine.nI CLIP AND MAIL TO:n• John T. Zubal, Inc. — Publishersn• 2969 West 25th Street – Cleveland, OH 4^ H13nI Phone: 216-241-7640 – – Telex: 298256 ZUB AL URn• Please send copy/copies o fn• Human Life in Russia to:n! NAME:nI STREET AOnRF.SS:n• CITY/STATE/7IP:n• Mv check in the amonnr nf (HI V9S per mpvln• plus $1.85 postage per copy is enclosed.nI NOTE: Ohio residents must add .9! sales lax per copy.n’, ORDERS SHIPPED THROUGHOUT THE U.S. BY U.P.S.nI SAME DAY PAYMENT IS RECEIVEDn; ORDERS TO OTHER COUNTRIES SENT BY POSTn30 / CHRONICLESnHUMANnLIFE INnRUSSIAnDt Ew.ild Ammendennnbeaus, a fictional family of detectivesnwho lived in a Manhattan apartmentnand did what they felt like doing, whennthey felt like doing it. “There is nonnoon siren in Manhattan when everyonenhas to sit down immediately andneat a hot beef sandwich, no six o’clocknsiren when you dig into a tuna casserolenmade with cream of mushroomnsoup.” Instead, young Tony Flambeaunsipped wine with his parents and callednthem by their first names. Whyncouldn’t his family be more like thenFlambeaus? the barely disguisednKeillor asks.nAs moderns, the youth of LakenWobegon rebel against the closedncommunity, the Gemeinschaft, whichntried to govern their every public actnand prejudice. The security and sensesnof meaning and place which thenAmerican small town delivered demandedntoo great a price from them.nIn his private life, Keillor exemplifiesnthese legions of emigres. The autobiographicalnKeillor was in early conflictnwith the small-town ethos. “Twonyears a scout and I still hadn’t madenTenderfoot.” As the Scoutmaster lecturednhis disobedient charges on thendishonor they brought the uniform,nKeillor acknowledges that it “made nonsense to me. What honor?” From annearly age, he was “the writer” whonlived events deeply. As an adult, hisnhousehold could hardly have beennmodeled on the Lake Wobegon virtues.nLike the majority of his listeners,nKeillor evokes the small town for twonhours each week, yet himself lives as anderacinated urban man. Indeed, duringna show broadcast from San Francisconseveral years ago, he made anpoint of reassuring his auditorium audiencenthat the values of LakenWobegon were timeworn, often cruel,nobsolete.nPerhaps Lake Wobegon Days and AnPrairie Home Companion ought to benseen as religious exercises, a kind ofnFirst Church of Nostalgia. As one ofnhis characters puts it: “The whole townnis like … a cult.” The radio show,ntoo, has the structure and cadence of anLutheran church service: the first hourndevoted to a liturgy of music and shortnreadings; the second hour encompassingnKeillor’s monologue sermon, followednby a hymn or two and benediction.nEven the timing is instructive;nSaturday evenings, 5 to 7 p.m., so thatn