Russia Books

Love this Novel series! I purchased this set for my mother's birthday, she is an avid reader and expects high quality writing. She loved them; her friends loved them and so do I! Full of historical informations, but not to the detriment of a great story!

I don't know how Judith Pella continues writing such excellent books one after another. This was another excellent book but I really missed Sergei. I know he died in the last one but I still couldn't get it through my head that he was gone!I was so attached to him throughout the series. This book focuses more on Sergei and Anna's sons, Andrei and Yuri. Andrei pursues his revolutionary ideals, while his older brother takes on the Federcenko name and becomes a respectable Russian doctor. Each of the characters face numerous obstacles in a country that is slowly crumbling to pieces beneath their feet. Another excellent read in the series. The story line never faulters and the characters never become dull or uninteresting. If you loved the first five in the series, then you will definitely love this one as well.

This novel is as well-written as the first and the storyline keeps the reader interested. Five stars for each book in the seven-part series.

"The Russians" series is by far the best historical fiction I have ever read. Judith Pella(and Micheal Phillips in the earlier books) weave a wonderful story of life during the Russian Revolution. These books don't portray an idealistic view of life during this time, but,rather, a very realistic view of what people went through in Russia during the revolution. I reccomend this series to anybody who loves Russian history, romance, intrigue, or just a good cry because this series has it all!

The Russian series has been one of the best I've read. These are the kind of books that make learning history exciting! As you read this series, you become so involved in the charcters lives and feelings, it as if you have known them personally. But the authors have done extensive research to make the true history so accurate as the characters walk through life and we view it from their eyes.The struggles and hardships, as well as the joy and happiness, we feel it all. I love the way belief and faith in God,or the search to find it, is protrayed in the lives of each individual.This book is nearing the revolution and you see how family and friends may have had differing opinions and how they dealt with it. The whole series is excellent and keeps you riveted to the end!

Yanna Andrevka goes undercover to try to save her sister, who was kidnapped by ruthless slave traffickers. And who comes to rescue her? None other than David Curtiss, the American Delta Force captain she's been secretly in love with since their college days together in Russia. But now they're both in trouble, because the kingpin of this human slavery ring, known as the Serpent, knows who they are and has an uncanny way of finding where they are--and trying to assassinate them.

Yanna and David are on the run and fighting their long-standing attraction to each other. But David must resist the urge to care about Yanna, because she's not a Christian and isn't even open to discussing it. And Yanna has been hurt so many times, she's not sure if even David--if he cared about her--would be enough to heal her brokenness.

And if you're a fan of Vicktor and Gracie like I am--I admit it, I was giddily excited when I saw that there was a story thread involving my two favorite characters from In Sheep's Clothing--then you will get a glimpse of their continuing saga, as they--hopefully--inch their way toward matrimony. Oh, how I wanted them to run off to Vegas! But I shouldn't give it away.

I highly recommend this deliciously satisfying book, the third in the Mission: Russia series. Can't wait for the next one!

Susan May Warren really knows how to write suspenseful tales about unrequited love. Wiser than Serpents contained such passion and spiritual depth that it took my breath away. I loved her Josey series because it's so funny, but I really loved Wiser than Serpents because of the depth of emotion between the main characters in the book. It amazed me how much serious brutality (as in blood and guts) was allowed in this Steeple Hill book. But it was necessary to make the storyline believable. I was impressed, to say the least.

Susan's tale of romance and intrigue not only had me turning the pages, but holding my breath each time Yanna and David were together. The sparks between them were electric. I'm serious. And the deep emotional connection they had was beautiful and sacrificial, especially on David's end. He was willing to lay his life on the line so many times because of his love for Yanna. It was exhilarating. And his internal conflict was so intense because he wanted her so badly, but had to deny himself to the point it rocked him to the core. What a heroic hero! Fabulous story and incredibly romantic. I'd give this story a ten out of ten if I had a rating system. Seriously. The ending left me glowing.

This book was a total thrill ride right from the beginning of the story. I felt like I was watching an episode of Alias or 24. Yanna is such a strong female character who does not need to depend on a man to save her. Compared to the other two female leads in this series, she's my favorite because she knows she can take care of herself. I like that she has a soft side as well but it's nice to read about a women who can kick butt and fall in love at the same time. It's appalling to think that the sex slave trade is still very much alive in this world especially in the US. It is scary to think that women can completely vanish off the face of this earth because they have been sold as slaves. I can't imagine how Elena must have felt when she was captured, thinking that there was no way anyone could ever find her. It's an eyeopener for sure. The way the story ends, I think this is the last book for the Mission: Russia series. I really hope there'll be at least one more. I love the characters and I love reading about Russian culture. Susan Warren really displays her knowledge of the country and culture through these books. VERY HIGHLY recommended.

Vita...Roma...and now Yenna! Agent Andrevka, and David Curtiss a.k.a. "Preach" are en route to adventure. When Yenna's sister disappears into thin air Agent Andrevka starts investigating. Finding that her sister has been swallowed whole into the human trafficking ring the Twin Serpents. Her big rescue plan...get caught by the same thugs that have her sister and pull a 007. Only problem is, Agent Andrevka is rusty in the field operation area. Soooooooo instead of rescuing her sister, she gets caught in the ring, as planned, but can't get out, I won't give away the whole story but suffice it to say, David very cool We get to see Gracie and Vita and Roma again too. Ms. Warren, PLEASE write another book in this series. I want to know Mae's story too!!!

I've covered the next two tags: novel and own with Susan May Warren's Wiser Than Serpents. This book is part of the Mission Russia series and kicks off with FSB (the made over KGB) agent Yanna Andrevka going deep undercover (with no back up) to rescue her sister Elena who has been kidnapped in a white slavery operation. Yanna is quickly captured as well, as was her plan, but when she's meeting the head of the slavery ring, she also encounters her long time love David Curtiss who she hasn't heard from in months because HE was deep undercover. Although their agendas are different, they end up working together, sabotaging and rescuing each other from the Twin Serpents, a crime ring involved in arms, drugs, and prostitution. Warren has a terrific grasp of Russian culture, and I always enjoy reading her books. David and Yanna's relationship is unusual in that while they both deeply love each other, David is a Christian, and Yanna isn't, so he won't allow them to pursue their feelings until she comes to trust God. An intriguing plot twist that Warren works to maximum gratification. There is lots of suspense, and Yanna's ingenuity in her escapes are terrific. More frustrating is her regular insistence in running off alone and endangering not only herself but everyone else as well. It felt a little cliched at times to me, but Warren is using this book to help shine a light on white slavery in hopes that readers will become more aware of this issue and do something to help end it. And for that, I give the book 4 stars.

Mr. Butler just had one of his articles translated into Russian and published in our aviation newspaper which is circulated throughout Eastern Europe and Russia. His adventure certainly is both timely in terms of Russian history and unique in terms of aviation history. Such times of optimism are very rare in Russian history, plus with the cultural exchange aspects, and the fact they were guests of then VP Rutskoi, this group of international adventurers snuck through a window in time not likely to come around any time soon.

I commend their spirit and Mr. Butler's efforts in creating such a wonderful book about the trip.

Vladmir

As this is being written, two adventurers have just become the first to circumnavigate the world nonstop in a balloon. Almost seven years earlier, a group of private pilots flew around the world with much the same enthusiasm in their small General Aviation aircraft. But it is the very subject of their stops that makes A World Flight Over Russia entertaining.

Written by Brad Butler, the group's historian and photographer, it is the true story of 12 small planes flying 17,500 miles around the world in 20 days while traversing Russia. This was supposed to be the inaugural event of what was to be repeated every summer with a different group flying a different route across that vast country. Unfortunately, as the political landscape changed, so did the opportunity to make this an annual aviation happening.

Though they created several aviation "firsts," the book distills down to a story about people. Despite years of deprivation and political problems, the Russian people were found to be consistently warm-hearted and giving. And though it may be only a footnote in a long line of aviation achievements, it is nonetheless a truly unique tale about a group of determined pilots. It makes from some fascinating reading.

It is a truly unique story at one of the most interesting turning points in history, a time when the world was changing right before everyone's eyes. A great read for pilot and non-pilot alike, truly a story for the ages.

The World Flight Over Russia kept me captivated from beginning to end. I felt as if I was seated next to the author taking photogprahs along side him and feeling the fear of some of the close calls. I would not have known the historical signficance of such an adventurous feat if I had not read this book.

The son of a Fergus Falls native has published a book that documents an around-the-world flight of 12 small planes. The trip placed Brad Butler in peril of dying several times as the group crossed Russia in 1992, during the breakup of the Soviet Empire.

Butler, son of Ted H. Butler, who graduated from high school here in 1950, is a photographer, not an aviator, by trade. He was doing photography and film work at a Fortune 100 company when he was tapped as a last-minute replacement to document the rally.

Years following the 20 day event, using several pilots' journals, 25 hours of videotape, thousands of photographs and his memory, Butler wrote, A World Flight Over Russia.

Pushkin was a master of the Russian language, and these short works (which have been translated by Paul Debreczeny) are living proof. Each of these stories are works of art. "The Blackamoor of Peter the Great" is brilliant beyond belief, while "A Novel in Letters" and "The Captain's Daughter" are definitely worth reading. "A History of Pugachev" takes about 1/4 of the entire book, and it drags sometimes. But I hope I'll admire it once I read it a second time. The other stories ("Roslavlev", "A Tale of Roman Life", The Queen of Spades", etc.) will not disappoint. I give this an A.

This is a very good collection of stories. The Queen of Spades and the Captain's Daughter stand out.

What makes this book so beautiful is that word "Complete". In one handy reference you can enjoy all of Pushkin's prose. Mr. Debreczeny's translation of Pushkin's work is hearty. I believe it's nearly as close as we can come to feeling the work outside of really knowing Russian.

That would be amazing for me: to know Russian and read Pushkin in the language that he raised high in the face of the patrician encroachment of French that had relegated Russian to servant status. Each language must have a unique and valuable propriety in it's innermost meanings, and in reading this work (plus knowing something of Russian culture), I believe you can feel that unique Russian "thing" even through this translation.

You have about fifteen pieces plus Pushkin's own pre-work/research and some fragments. Mr. Debreczeny has arranged them such that you walk through the development of Pushkin as a prose writer. Early on, he did have quite a disdain for prose in comparison to poetry. To paraphrase Debreczeny, Pushkin's first serious writing treated prose as a necessary evil, writing with technical correctness but approaching parody of itself with strict adherence to the concept of prose as a sterile, low medium for expression.

I the later works, you will see the layering of complex themes and characters into prose that for me felt like driving a standard shift with power-assisted steering -- You get just enough resistance to feel the road and keep you engaged and thinking. Also, you just plain enjoy the ride.

Mr. Debreczeny is an excellent guide in his commentary and in his translation.

Pushkin is to Russian speakers what Shakespeare is to English speakers. His influence on the prose and poetry of the language is second to no one and writing influences Russian literature to this day. Amazingly Pushkin only lived until the age of 38. Even now you can visit his gravesite (as I did) and still see teenage girls weeping and putting flowers on his grave.

This edition of the complete prose of Pushkin is truly excellent. The Queen of Spades and the Captain's Daughter are included are and are worth the price alone.

The translators, Arndt and Debreczeny, do a fine job in translating Pushkin's prose, while the stories are set up in chronological order so the reader can see Pushkin's growth as a prose writer. In fact this was the volume of Pushkin writings in English I took with me while living in Russia for a short while.

Very readable and a worthwhile introduction to the greatest of Russian writers.

In his first novel, Larry Hubbell, paints a brutally honest picture of Russia, a nation in transition. This novel is both exciting and fun to read. A great first book that is well worth the [money].

Professor Hubbell's book was worthwhile on three levels. First, through his words he gives us a snapshot of Russia, Italy and Wyoming. Second, he describes the workings of a Russian university and juxtaposes it on a typical American university experience. On top of it all, he tells the very entertaining story.

While maintaining an underlying satirical tone, the author manages an engaging story about the challenges of intellectual and physical burnout. The international flavor lends a modern day touch and a unique way to view the tales of family and romance that weave into the mystery and suspense. By combining harshly real descriptions of the environmental settings with refreshingly accurate portrayals of real human reactions to those environments, the author invites the reader to empathize with the characters and get completely involved in the story.

Larry Hubbell shows an extraordinary insight into all of the characters in "Almost Dysfunctional".Their feelings,their expressions, and their actions. Suspenseful to the end. A remarkable first book.

I love this book. Benjamin Nathans really captures the thoughts of an average russian man. I know this because im his close friend.
thankyou and good night

You should know that having been selected a Slavic Studies award it was not going to be all plot and laughs. Though if you read it with the right mindset, some of it looks like it was made-up by Myron Cohen. Probably the most interesting part of the scholarship brought up by Nathans was that once Russian Jews were allowed into law schools, they turned out to be recognized as the most expert in the law.

Anyone who has studied under a talmudic system will know that you must learn not only the law itself, but learn to read between the lines as to it's intent. Even the non-Jewish lawyers admitted that the Jewish lawyers were much more committed to their clients and their clients welfare. Many non-Jews hired Jews as apprentice lawyers because of their attention to detail.


From the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) awards committee:

Benjamin Nathans' masterful study provides a fresh look at an age old problem, the entry and integration of Jews into larger territorial, cultural and political communities. The book takes us, literally and figuratively, "beyond the pale" of Jewish life in late imperial Russia to the encounter of Jewish professionals and intellectuals with Russian civil institutions.

Through exhaustive and innovative research, from newly available archives to private family memoirs, Nathans brings to life key personalities and social interactions that redefine the Jewish presence in St. Petersburg, and in turn reshape ties to the other subjects of the empire and to Russian Jewry. Through these vibrant portraits of the Jewish-Russian encounter, the author paints a much larger canvas tracing a cultural world of understandings and misconceptions, a social existence beset by advances and setbacks, and a political discourse of emancipation and reaction.

This is a fascinating study of the Jews in Russia. The book description is accurate... it is a highly detailed and first rate work of scholarship. The only concern is that it is not casual reading-- it is an in-depth and comprehensive study that rewards the devoted reader.

Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia won the 2003 Wayne S. Vucinich book prize awarded annually by the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) for the most outstanding monograph in Russian, Eurasian, or East European studies in any discipline of the humanities.

The book prize selection committee wrote the following about this volume:

Benjamin Nathans' masterful study provides a fresh look at an age old problem, the entry and integration of Jews into larger territorial, cultural and political communities. The book takes us, literally and figuratively, "beyond the pale" of Jewish life in late imperial Russia to the encounter of Jewish professionals and intellectuals with Russian civil institutions.

Through exhaustive and innovative research, from newly available archives to private family memoirs, Nathans brings to life key personalities and social interactions that redefine the Jewish presence in St. Petersburg, and in turn reshape ties to the other subjects of the empire and to Russian Jewry. Through these vibrant portraits of the Jewish-Russian encounter, the author paints a much larger canvas tracing a cultural world of understandings and misconceptions, a social existence beset by advances and setbacks, and a political discourse of emancipation and reaction.

This exemplary, insightful book, argued with balance and nuance and written with flair, provides an original interpretation of a central problem in Russian history and politics. More, the intellectual journey goes well beyond Russia to recast our understanding of broader, ever-present issues of identity, integration, and conflict.

Lenin, after Marx, is the great figure in the pantheon of Communism, and distilled Marx's discoveries about the nature of capitalism and class struggle into concrete revolutionary practice.

This sweeping, authoritative volume gives deep insight into the construction of the Bolshevik party over the two decades leading up to the first World War. Lenin's crucial contributions to the struggle in terms of organization, theory, strategy, and tactics are presented in an accessible and illuminating style. Lenin's insight that a highly organized 'vanguard party' of dedicated professional revolutionaries would be necessary to focus the struggles of the workers sufficiently to overthrow the rulers is presented with great clarity, and the narrative of his tireless efforts to put these insights into practice in struggle is fascinating and instructive.

Highly recommended for those interested in the history of revolution.

This work is a politcal biography, in the sense that the major focus is on Lenin's revolutionary activities - specifically in building and organizing the Bolsheivik party - in the years before the first World War. The beauty of this book is that it exposes the "sacred capitalist myth" that ascribes the Marx-Lenin-Stalin progression as one that arises naturally. In 'Building the Party' we see Lenin not as a rutheless bloodthirsty dictator but rather as a brilliant tactical organizer and one of the foremost intellectual-revolutionaries of the Twentieth Century

This is a great biography on Vladimir Lenin, focusing on his early years. It chronicles Lenin's youth and the history of the early Marxist movement in tsarist Russia. Later chapters focus on his efforts to craft an effective revolutionary party.

This book is chock full of information, but is still very engaging. It is pretty down to earth and doesn't make use of high-falutin language wherever possible. Compare reading this book to the official Stalinist biography of Lenin, or those put forward by right-wing cranks.

Overall, this is a must-read for all activists, especially socialists. I highly recommend this book to people with an interest in politics.

I think this is an amazing book which displays the application of Marxist theory to the real world. In reading, I found it extremely helpful in clearing up the contradictions ahout Lenin I'd held onto for so long. Tony Cliff's analysis, true to Marxist principles, shows how the revolutionary movement was shaped by the struggle. It shows that Lenin's ideas weren't just bright ideas that popped into his head, but the result of a process including open debate and active participation in the struggle. Overall, Tony Cliff gives a positive view of the kind of open, democratic principles which served as the framework for the Russian Revolution and provides a sharp contrast to the distorted picture of an authoritarian and elitist Lenin we're usually shown.

This book is absolutely ESSENTIAL reading for anyone interested in building a revolutionary organization and it provides plenty of hope for those who wish to see a world in which decisions are made based on human need instead of profit.

I received it as a gift and was pleased to see that it is a very good book. Well written, good pictures and well researched. It makes an excellent reference.

The first Russian state emerged in the late 9th century as a federation of Slavic kingdoms and tribes around Kiev, under the leadership of Rurik, who almost certainly was of Scandinavian origin. Later rulers included such major figures as Alexander Nevsky (who defeated the Teutonic Knights) and Vasily II (who made the Orthodox Church independent), but the author begins his survey with Ivan III "the Great" in 1462. Each tsar or tsarina gets a boxed summary of personal data, an historical survey of the reign, a variety of illustrations and relevant maps, and often a basic genealogical drop-chart. Warnes is a well-known scholar of Russian history and culture and his interpretations of five centuries of Russian history are astute and well-written. Specialists in Western Europe often know very little about Russian history and the several dynasties that made it. This volume makes a good ready-reference resource.

I thoroughly enjoyed this balanced account of the czars. I wish there could have been more treatment of those that preceded the Romanovs--I guess you'd call them the "Dukes of Muscovy"--but it's probably for obvious reasons (viz., the availability of 15th-century vs. 19th-century sources) that they're slighted. Watch out for editorial problems all over the place. In one diagram, somebody's wife is also indicated as that same somebody's daughter. This is just plain laziness: someone neglected to sufficiently carefully review the diagram and delete the offending 5 mm. line segment. Also, in a factoid box summarizing Nikolai II, his father is listed as Aleksandr II when, in fact, his father was quite obviously Aleksandr III. Also, the book steered uncomfortably clear of some of the unsolved mysteries of the throne, e.g., by reducing the eighteen-day rule of Czar Konstantin (27 Nov.-14 Dec. 1825) to but a single, unstressed sentence. In overall quality, this book compares favorably to the other members of the series: indeed, it is often superior. But, in its striving for balance, it omits some important coverage. More deserves to be said about Ivann IV Vasiliyevich ("The Terrible"--in actuality, "The Awesome" is the proper translation of his title, "Groznij") and Pyotr I Alekseyevich ("The Great") because these czars made outstanding contributions that shaped the character of Russia, not just because they were on the throne for 30+ years. The czars' role in Russian history cannot be compared to the role of any other succession of leaders in the history of any other nations: the czars were the heart and soul of the empire they so tenderly loved with such religious conviction (not to mention "the divine right of kings"); without exaggeration, the czars WERE Russia.

I love this book it has so much info about the Czar.Ilove the maps time lines and charts one of the best Czar books I ever read.

Archeologist Mark Cohen is investigating an ancient shipwreck off the Turkish coast when he runs into two beautiful women on a bus. One of these, the powerful Anika Alkibiades, takes an instant liking to Mark, teasing him with her sensual body--and with archeological treasures she claims have been in her family for generations but which he suspects may have been illegally looted from Turkish digs. The second woman, whose identity he does not learn for some time, is the daughter of the Turkish Interior Minister Burhan Bey.

Mark soon finds himself caught up in Anika's plans to restore Greek rule to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) and to recreate the ancient Byzantine Empire--the Megali Idea. Yet as Mark gets to know Leyla Kayhanoglu, Burhan's half-American daughter, he realizes that Anika's dangerous plan may be the worst thing that can happen to Turkey--and to the anti-Communist alliance. A continuing investigation into past lives and a look into the political turmoil in the Middle East and between Turkey and Greece adds interest to an exciting story.

Author Kristina O'Donnelly continues her LANDS OF THE MORNING series with an action-packed look into a Turkey torn between communists and right-wing Islamists, with a few leaders attempting to hold onto Ataturk's idea of a modern, democratic, and westward-leaning Turkey. Anika's plan is doubly appealing because another empire, the Turkish Ottoman Empire, once ruled virtually the same territory as the Byzantine Empire and, as Burhan points out, Turks, not Greeks, form the heart of what Anika would claim.

In CLARION OF MIDNIGHT, O'Donnelly combines romance with action in a page-turning thriller. You don't need to read THE HORSEMAN, the first novel in this series, but those who have will enjoy seeing Burham continue to deal with his energetic but high-maintenance wife and daughter, as well as the sweet romance between Mark and Leyla.

A thriller and romance all in one.
Kristina O'Donnelly gives you it all.
You will love it.

I found Clarion of Midnight: Megali Idea to be very power-packed. It offered a dab of everything, from romance to action to history. O'Donnelly is a very talented writer.

I am a Kristina O'Donnelly fan; have read all her other novels. Clarion of Midnight - Megali Idea is the second novel in ber series, Lands of the Morning. For whatever reason, The Horseman, which is the lead novel, and The Scorpion Child, which is the third, were published long before this one. In other words I ended up reading The Scorpion Child two years before I got a chance to read Clarion/Megali Idea. However the good news is that CLARION OF MIDNIGHT - MEGALI IDEA does have its own story line spinning around 3 new characters, Anika, Leyla, and Mark, that makes this novel enjoyable all on its own.
Also, there is another difference. Both The Horseman and The Scorpion Child contain undertows of mysticism, and reincarnation, ESP, etc. CLARION/MEGALI IDEA is a thriller, earthy and gritty. Turkish politics and their relevance to the United States' interest in that region or the world, are delved into in a no-holds barred manner, and the conflicted, controversial romance between Leyla, the young, beautiful Turkish girl with an American mother, and Mark, the American Jew, is both tender and believable. In fact, I find that Kristina O'Donnelly writes very well and honestly, about the psyche of a man in love and in lust. Or better said, that a man can lust after one woman while still thoroughly in love with another. Mark loves Leyla, fully and sincerely, but has to continuously battle the sexual spell cast upon him by Anika. Wow, what an enchantress is that Anika! Yes her ambitions and brilliance reminds you of Catherine the Great of Russia, and so will her libido.

There is more I'd like to write about this novel but have to return another time. Meanwhile, enjoy arm-chair travel into exotic lands, at its best.

Cassandra was the Trojan woman whom Apollo gave the gift of prophesy-and the curse of never being believed. Yegor Gaidar sees that Russia's future depends crucially on coming to grips with its past, but present events make it clear that his prophesies, like Cassandra's, fall on deaf ears.

In his new book, Collapse of an Empire, Gaidar has a pressing purpose: to alert Russians-and the world-to the dangers denying the real reasons behind the collapse of the USSR. Gaidar has a strong historical sense (which is often absent among economists, alas), and from his understanding of history (most notably, of Weimar Germany and post-Hapsburg Austria-Hungary), he knows that imperial collapse can be disorienting and dispiriting to the empire's subjects, even if the empire brutally repressed them. He also knows that demagogues and revanchists can exploit this disorientation and depression to achieve power. Those suffering from post-empire depression are very susceptible to demagogic myths that imperial glory was destroyed by "stabs in the back" from enemies foreign and domestic, and that restoration of this glory requires the people to unite behind an authoritarian leader who will ruthlessly pursue traitors at home and take revenge on foreign foes.

But he foresees that this is ultimately the road to disaster:

The legend of a flourishing and mighty country destroyed by foreign enemies is a myth dangerous to the country's future. . . . This is the picture that dominates Russian public opinion: (1) twenty years ago there existed a stable, developing and powerful country, the Soviet Union; (2) strange people (perhaps agents of foreign intelligence services) started political and economic reforms within it; (3) the results of these reforms were catastrophic; (4) in 1999-2000 people came to power who were concerned with the country's state interests; (5) life became better after that. This myth is as far from the truth as the one of an unconquerable and loyal Germany that was popular among the Germany that was popular among the Germans in the late 1920s and 1930s.

The goal of this book is to show that picture does not correspond to reality. Believing that myth is dangerous for the country and the world.

As an aside, I can speak to the ubiquity and power of this myth. I have had a couple of Russian students in the United States. Both were intelligent and worldly. One had lived in the United States for 10 years. Both were going to business schools. And each believed that Gorbachev and Yeltsin were American agents, and that the collapse of the USSR was a CIA plot. The first time I heard this I was surprised, but thought it was an aberration. The second time I heard it I was stunned.

But back to Collapse of an Empire. Gaidar's basic thesis is that the economic-and hence political-collapse of the USSR was inevitable:

[The collapse of the USSR] was preordained by the fundamental characteristics of the Soviet economy and political system: the institutions formed in the late 1920s and early 1930s were too rigid and did not permit the country to adapt to the challenges of world development in the late 20th century. The legacy of socialist industrialization, the anomalous defense load, the extreme crisis in agriculture, and the noncompetitive manufacturing sector made the fall of the regime inevitable. In the 1970s and early 1980s these problems could have been managed if oil prices had been high. But that was not a dependable foundation for preserving the last empire.

Gaidar recounts the chronology of collapse in excruciating detail; too much detail at times for my taste, but a choice that Gaidar defends as necessary to overcome the power of the myth.

Gaidar shows that agriculture was the Achilles heel of the Soviet system. Stalin ruthlessly exploited agriculture to fund industrial development. This worked for awhile, but only served to demonstrate that supply curves are much more elastic in the long run than the short run. In the short run, peasants could be forced to turn over the bulk of their harvest in exchange for a pittance. In the long run, however, the attempt to extract surplus from the countryside and the necessity of attracting labor to manufacturing and megaprojects led to a flow of the best and most productive labor out of agriculture and into industry. Soviet agriculture became progressively less efficient as a result. Combine this with assorted insanities, like the virgin lands program, and what was once the world's breadbasket became a farming basketcase.

Forced to import larger and larger quantities of food, but non-competitive in the production of machinery or other manufactured goods, the USSR relied on the export of oil to pay for it. With increasing oil output from rich western Siberian fields, and spiraling prices (courtesy of OPEC and declining US production), for a time the USSR was able to overcome the creeping weakness of its agriculture sector, and even go on an aggressive military and political offensive that spanned the globe. But soon declining oil production (attributable to extremely inefficient Soviet practices) and plummeting prices (courtesy of growing non-OPEC output, burgeoning Saudi production, and more efficient consumption of energy in the West) conspired to create an acute fiscal crisis in the USSR.

Gaidar chronicles the results of this crisis, and the government's (and Party's) incompetence in dealing with it. The rigidity of a centrally planned system, the rudimentary nature of the financial system, the acute political constraints facing the country's leadership, and the geronocratic nature of that leadership, made it impossible to respond. Things spiraled out of control. Price controls prevented smooth adjustment to external shocks. Fear of political unrest prevented the leadership from lifting the controls. Faced with incredible strains on the budget, the government ran the printing press overtime. Partial "reform" measures, and improvident policy choices (such as the anti-alcohol campaign that deprived the government of a large share of its domestic revenues), only made things worse. In the end, everything came tumbling down.

Gaidar's narrative is compelling. To a Chicago-trained economist, it is almost axiomatic that socialist system that suppresses and distorts almost every market signal; deprives individuals of the ability to make coherent economic choices; and resorts to force in an attempt to make its irrational system work; will fail in the end.

To the Russians who grew up in the system, or who grew up in the aftermath of its collapse, alas, it is not so obvious. As Gaidar notes, the fall of an empire seems anything but common sense to those that lived it. Putin and the siloviki are exploiting this to the hilt, and are perpetrating the myth that the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the economic and social chaos that followed this collapse was not due to the inherent defects of the Soviet economic system, but instead resulted from malign external forces. The recent "elections" indicate that large swaths of the Russian populace have fallen for this myth hook, line, and sinker.

So for the present, anyways, Gaidar is doomed to play the role of Cassandra, prophesying that disaster will follow Putin's Plan, but cursed to be disbelieved and ignored. Putin and the siloviki, like the Bourbons, have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. They have not learned from what destroyed the Soviet Union, but have not forgotten that the Soviet Union was once a colossus before which the world trembled. They want to restore this colossus (admittedly, and happily, without all the totalitarian baggage), and are pursuing this goal relentlessly.

I believe that Gaidar is right that down this path lies ruin. I fear, however, that Russia will have to find this out the hard way. So Yegor Gaidar is a prophet without honor in his own country, among his own kin, and in his own house. But I believe he is a prophet nonetheless. And I heartily recommend that you read his excellent book.

Yegor Gaidar's Collapse of an Empire is an insider's view of the causes and events that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The author is has a fascinating and improbable background. He served as acting Prime Minister, First Deputy Prime Minister, and Economics Minister of Russia under Boris Yeltsin in the early 1990s but is an academic economist rather than a politician or bureaucrat. He received his PhD in economics under the Soviet educational system but, somehow, developed a solid understanding of economics of free markets. In Collapse of an Empire, Gaidar offers his historical and economic perspective on the Soviet collapse as a lesson and caution for today's Russia. It is as close to a definitive work on the Soviet collapse as I have yet read.

Gaidar starts with two general observations, one on empires and one on oil, and then proceeds to describe the Soviet Collapse.

Empires

Empires come in two flavors: Overseas empires (British, French, Dutch) and territorially contiguous empires (Austria-Hungary, Tsarist Russia, Ottoman Turkey, Soviet Union, and, on a smaller scale, Yugoslavia). Of these two types, the overseas empires are the easier to dismantle: The imperial power can simply declare the former colonies free and, possibly, repatriate a limited number of colonists with a claim to citizenship in the mother country. In territorial empires, diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious groups usually reside in close proximity to each other and often have longstanding conflicts over rights to land and under the law. Abolishing a territorial empire leaves all these conflicts in place, ready to boil over as soon as imperial control has been lifted. Members of the formerly dominant ethnic group may even find themselves a minority in one of the successor states and subject to the rule of one of their formerly subject people. Many of the troubled areas of the world today (Balkans, Middle East) are parts of former territorial empires where population segments have not succeeded in making peace with their neighbors.

Oil

Countries with significant natural resources, especially oil, have generally not been on the forefront of democracy or economic liberalism. Gaidar attributes this phenomenon to the steady stream of revenues the sale of oil provides the ruling party. Secured by this source of income, the government has no need to reach an accommodation with its people that gives them a voice in how they are governed. In exchange, the tax burden on the population often remains very light. The western democracies grew out of accommodations that essentially gave the people a voice in how their countries were governed in exchange for their acceptance of the government's imposition of taxes.

Soviet Collapse

Prior to WWI, Russia was one of the largest grain exporters in the world. In the West, industrialization followed the production of an agricultural surplus which released excess farm labor for industrial employment. Russia followed a different path after the Bolshevik revolution. Rather than building an agricultural surplus, Lenin and Stalin seized the grain and other agricultural products of the countryside to feed the urban and industrial populations. Simultaneously, they reallocated labor from agriculture to industry to support their goal of rapid industrialization. The result was an economic and human disaster. Soviet agriculture never recovered, never produced a sustained surplus, and the country became dependent on imported grain. (See Robert Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow for details). By the 1970s, the Soviet Union was the world's largest grain importer.

At that time (the 1970s), the Soviets were able to pay for their grain imports by exporting oil. This was the time of high oil prices and the Arab embargo on oil exports to the US. Grain prices were low, so Soviet trade balanced nicely: Expensive exports, inexpensive imports.

In 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran. These events led the Saudis to become concerned about a Soviet drive to the Persian Gulf and a threat to their kingdom. To counter this perceived threat, in the mid 1980s the Saudis greatly expanded their production and export of oil causing the world price to drop from the $30-40/bbl range to about $10/bbl. Obviously, this price change damaged the Soviet balance of trade.

At about the same time (mid 1980s), the world price of grain shot up significantly. This further damaged the Soviet trade balance.

If this wasn't enough, the volume of Soviet oil production declined in the late 1980s for two reasons. First, to generate foreign exchange, oil production had been focused on the most productive fields which were exploited at a rate that was harmful to the long-term productivity of the fields. Second, the reduced availability of foreign exchange and the continuing requirement to import grain led the Soviet government to reduce imports of industrial materials from the West, including equipment for oil drilling, production, and transport.

By 1989, food subsidies constituted a third of the Soviet national budget. Retail prices were fixed at artificially low levels, which was one form of subsidy. At the same time, the Soviet government was subsidizing the import and domestic production of food. The costs of producing or importing food were as much as 70% higher than the retail prices. With a net outflow of hard currency and a grossly imbalanced domestic budget, the only way to "pay" the government's bills was to print more rubles. With prices fixed by the state, the resulting inflation could only result in shortages at the retail level and a huge increase in individual "savings" since there was nothing for the population to buy with its rubles. By 1991, of 1200 officially recognized consumer goods, 1150 were not readily available.

Declining credit-worthiness drove most western commercial banks to refuse to make further loans to the Soviet government, leaving Gorbachev with only the option of begging for foreign aid from the capitalist governments. Gaidar even suggests that he made the following deal with George H. W. Bush at their Malta conference in 1989: In exchange for US financial assistance, the Soviet government will refrain from using force to maintain its control of its Eastern European satellites.

Throughout its 70+ years of existence, the mantra of the Soviet government and the Communist Party had been that The Party had a special role in the Soviet system because of its unique "wisdom", its understanding of communist economics and the Soviet man. By the late 1980s, the Russian people and even the Soviet bureaucracy knew that this was a lie. However, the inertia of the system did not allow The Party to admit it's "wisdom" had been wrong and that a major economic reform based on free markets was desperately needed.

By revealing the true history of the Soviet Union (e.g., the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact), Glasnost destroyed any lingering myth of the legitimacy of the Soviet Empire. In the end, the Empire could only be maintained by force, but the use of that force would have ended any hope for financial aid from the West.

The August 1991 coup was only the farce that followed the tragedy that constituted the history of the Soviet Union.

Professor Gaidar has done it again! He has given us another thoughtful work on Russia, yet not purely from an economic perspective- although there is lots of that in the book- but in terms of the context of history. Readers new to Gaidar would do well to get hold of his work 'State and Evolution'. This work also brilliantly examines recent of events in Russia in the context of the development of nations.

I look forward to more from this man's pen. And my sincere appreciation to the Brooking Institute for making this work available in English. Possibly, with the level of interest in such a work, its sales may not be high and Broooking may be making a financial loss. But to readers like myself, I feel a great gratitude of debt to both the author and publisher.

Buy this book and enjoy an intellectual feast! It is simply fantastic!