OPINIONS & VIEWSnThe Road with 111 IntentionsnNicholas Gage: Elent; Random House;nNew York.nby Daniel OTVeUnJH.OW numerous are the stories ofnunrecognized heroism. G^e’s Eleni isnsuch a story. A peasant woman risks hernlife to save her children from abductionnduring the Greek Civil War. As a resultnshe is tortured and murdered by the communistnrevolutionaries. Thirty yearsnlater her American-educated son returnsnto Greece to recreate her story and tonseek vengeance. He finds a Greece wherenthe left is in ascendency and the communistnbarbarities are being whitewashednand romanticized. Hence he tells thenstory of his mother and her travail.nGage’s book, in addition to its merit asna description of heroism, represents anvaluable addition to the literature of villagenlife. Most people still live in villages,nand this book c^tures the flavor of suchnan existence: the loyalties, hardships,nand joys. It should join the ranks of suchnvillage classics as Banfield’s The MoralnBasis of a Backward Society, Brody’s/nishldlUmce,nand Foster’s Tzintzuntzan.nBut the focus of this book is on the communistnattempt to revolutionize Greeknsociety, with Gage’s vill^e serving as anmicrocosm. It is another poignant tale ofnthe exploits, regimentations, and indoctrinationsnpromoted by those who wouldncreate the “new man” by torturing andneliminating the old maa The portrayal ofnG^e’s clan—his mother fighting to preserventhe integrity of her femily and interactingnwith friends and acquaintancesn—personalizes the story of man’s stru^enagainst the modem ideologues. It makesncommunism a demonic reality in muchnthe same way as Aime Frank’s Diary of anYoung Girl makes nazism a demonicnreality.nEleni invites a scrutiny of the ramifi-nDr. O’Neil is with the political sciencendepartment at the University of Arizonan6 wmmmmm^^i^nChronicles of Caltarencations of revolution. Modernity hasnproduced more than its share of revolutions;nhence, there is ample opportunitynto evaluate the cost-benefit ratio. Haventhe prerevolutionary promises come tonfinition? Has greater good than evil resulted?nHas it been worth the effort? Itnmight be persuasively argued that thenramifications of the great revolutionsnrepresent a debit. They seldom, if ever,nbrought the promised benefits, but insteadnintroduced new discord into thenbody politic. They tore apart societiesnonce characterized by some degree ofnsocietal unity. They entrusted power tondogmatists having little sympathy fornman or human nature. They creatednhordes of refugees. Usually their limited,nand highly advertised, gains would havenbeen achieved without the revolution.nJr robably the first great Western revolutionnthat affected our world was thenReformation. Although it sought to reformnthe Christian Church and to returnnto a romanticized pristine purity, its primarynaccomplishment was to fragmentnthe Christian West into over 300 warringnsects. Hence Christianity becamenless believable and less able to confrontnthe new p^ans of the Enlightenment.nHow many children of the Reform todayngive any credence to or feel any empathynfor the cardinal tenets of the Reformation:nnnjustification by faith alone, predestination,nand self-interpretation of Scripture? Unfortunately,nthe reforms that did eventuallynensue stemmed from the enthusiastsnand fanatics. How much more humanenand civil might the subsequentnhistory of Christendom have been hadnchange come from persons like St.nThomas More and Erasmus rather thannCalvin and Loyola.nOur own American Revolution, whichnowed a debt to the Reformation and Enlightenment,npermanentiy divided thenEnglish-speaking peoples. Without it,nCanada and the United States would probablynbe one country today. Americansnwould perhaps possess a more workablensystem of government than our 18thcenturynantiquated variety and be lessndependent upon the Lockean-Enlightenmentnorthodoxy that permeates our culture.nBut in truth, as revolutions go, thenAmerican one was mild and the resultsnnot unbalanced.nThe French Revolution promised liberty,nequality, and fraternity and deliverednon none. It carved France into two nationsnwith each often preferring externalnto internal alliance; “Better Hider thannBlum!” It brought civil war to the EuropeannCommonwealth, but a differentnkind of war—^”nations in arms.” The resultingnanarchy enthroned Napoleon,nwho became the model for numerousnlesser men. France, once the leader ofnEurope, probably recovered from thentrauma of the revolution only with thenFifth French Republic and its quasimonarchicalnpresidency.nSolzhenitsyn is perhaps the best interpreternof the Russian Revolution with itsndogmatism, intolerance, genocide, andnmass destruction. Despite the obstructionismnof the ancien regime, ^iio wouldndeny that virtually everything of worthnand beauty in contemporary Russia stemsnfrom the prerevolutionary period—^thenmusic, art, novels, ballet, and architecture?nWhat material compensations arenproduced to balance against the massn