The Good Terrorist is a 1985 political novel by Doris Lessing (pictured), a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The story examines events in the life of Alice, a naïve and well-intentioned squatter, who moves in with a group of radicals in London, and is drawn into their terrorist activities. Lessing began writing The Good Terrorist after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombed the Harrods department store in London in 1983. She had been a member of the British Communist Party in the early 1950s, but later grew disillusioned with it. Some reviewers labelled The Good Terrorist as a satire; Lessing called it humorous. Some focused on Alice's ambivalent nature, as highlighted by the novel's oxymoronic title, describing her as neither a good person nor a good revolutionary. Some were impressed by the book's insight and characterization, while others complained about its style and the characters' lack of depth. The novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and won the Mondello Prize and the WH Smith Literary Award.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Terrorist
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed at Fotheringhay Castle for her involvement in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Queen_of_Scots
1855:
A series of mysterious hoof-like marks known as the Devil's Footprints appeared in the snow in Devon, England, and continued throughout the countryside for between 40 and 100 miles (64 and 161 km). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Footprints
1910:
Newspaper and magazine publisher William D. Boyce established the Boy Scouts of America, expanding the Scout Movement into the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_D._Boyce
1960:
The official groundbreaking for the Walk of Fame took place in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame
2010:
A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggered a series of at least 36 avalanches that buried over 3.5 km (2.2 mi) of road, killed at least 172 people and trapped over 2,000 travellers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Salang_avalanches
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
butterfat: The fatty components of milk and other dairy products. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/butterfat
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
The real struggle is not between East and West, or capitalism and communism, but between education and propaganda. --Martin Buber https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Buber