For some strange reason I haven’t been able to log into the site for the past few days, but now just before it class it has started to finally work. After reading both Stokes and Kenney’s books I have to say that my favorite by far is Kenney’s Carnival of Revolution. Last semester I took professors Barnes’ class History of the Soviet Union: Post World War II and have heard all the reasons of revolution that Stokes goes through in his book. Although it all makes sense and I’m sure is completely true for the upper echelons of the political world it all seemed a bit drab and boring. Kenney’s book gives me a better impression of the way the revolutions themselves took place. It wasn’t just another politician droning on about parastroika it was in a sense a party that the police just could not break up. In Stokes book it seems almost like it was a miracle that the Soviet Union didn’t break apart violently without a nuclear incident. Kenney’s book; however, takes away some of the mystery about how a situation like the Cold War could have ended without the missiles being fired. Although Stokes gives his readers the usual findings by experts about the political situation and world that resulted in the end of Communism it seems as if he has left out a key part to how it all came crashing down. Kenney fills in that blank by telling the ways in which the people, whether politically motivated or simply frustrated by some small part or for some people just wanting to join in on the fun, brought down Communism in their countries.