Swedish banks and Bolsheviks

If you want a new look at a critical period in 20th century history, here's a review of what sounds like a fascinating book: Sean McKeekin's History's Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks. McKeekin charts the fate of all the artistic masterpieces and other articles of value sold by the Bolsheviks to the West from 1917-1922. Since the Bolsheviks had destroyed the Russian economy, these sales were a vital source of income for them.

My title to the contrary, it wasn't just Swedish banks that helped fence these treasures. Most Western governments took part. According to reviewer Adam Kirsch, "...the real value of this book is that it shows just how well the West lived up to Lenin's cynical prophecy: 'The capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them.'"