Elliott Books

I found Mr. Lewis's approach to exploring multiracial issues down-to-earth and mindful of historical context, and this sets his book apart from some of the other works addressing the same subject matter. I used an entire pack of Post-Its marking pages containing uncommon insights and/or useful information. Thanks for a great read! -Louie Gong, MAVIN Foundation

This book covers the shared experiences, both historical and psychological, of multiracial individuals.

This book is about what every multiracial person knows. This book is also teaches the reader the things every teacher, parent and partner of a multiracial person needs to know.

This was a wonderful and lively work touching on a very timely topic in the ever shifting demographic make up of our country. Elliott provides fresh views in a personable way that helped me with discussions with my own children in accepting those that may come from bi-racial families. Wonderfully eye opening and very touching. It's a great read!

I found this to be a very illuminating read. Elliott Lewis looks at multiple facets of the lives of mixed-race persons in America, and the book will be an eye-opener especially for readers who have little exposure to the subject. This is no dry sociology text: the style is lively and loaded with anecdotes and interviews that bring the topic to life. Lewis' observations on the formation of racial identities in children - and the unique challenges for multiracial kids who find themselves forced to "choose" - are of particular interest. This is a timely subject and Lewis is an engaging writer - definitely give this one a try!

Elliott Lewis travels the country, but mostly the West Coast, and talks to biracial people about their experiences and activism. He gets the point across that mixed-race people are seen by different people differently in different settings. He also does a great job in showing how they want to be recognized in their wholeness.
Mr. Lewis has a unique positionality. Like Lisa Bonet's and Lenny Kravitz's daughter, he is mixed on both sides. His status as a second-generation biracial person is fascinating and fresh.
The late legal scholar Trina Grillo, who was also biracial and wrote on biracial persons, once stated, "It used to be that biracial issues never came up, now you can't turn on the TV without hearing about it." I was worried that this book would just rehash what other books have already stated. I was pleased to be proven incorrect. This had interesting topical chapters. I think both experts and novices can enjoy this book.
Near the end of the book, the author admits the text's most serious flaw: it almost entirely covers black-white mixed people like himself. He gives all this focus on black-white individuals, yet lists numbers that prove there are more white-Latino, white-Asian, and white-Native people than there are white-blacks. I think people from these groups will be gravely disappointed. This book shamelessly falls into "the black-white paradigm" that Latino and Asian-American scholars have lamented.
When he does mention others besides Eurafricans, he focuses on Eurasians. However, the most common interracial couple in the United States is made up of one Latino spouse and one white spouse. The children of couples like Ricky and Lucy make up the majority of mixed folks, yet they are virtually ignored. Lewis never mentions Bill Richardson, Christina Aguilera, Raquel Welch, Benjamin Bratt and numerous other Anglo-Latins. Latinos are now the most numerous group of color in the US, yet they get no attention here. Further, those mixed-race people who are fully of color, like Tiger Woods, get ignored just like they did in Rachel Moran's interracial text. The black and white colors on the front of the book signify the black-white focus here. "Fade" does not just refer to diminishing colors, but also a hairstyle popular among African-American men in the late 1980s.
While the author quotes many male biracial writers, most of his interviewees are female. My Spidey sense tells me that biracial issues may be more salient to women than men. This book seems to hint at that during its discussion on exoticization.
Mr. Lewis mentions that there are more biracials on the West Coast than in the East. Again, I think this can be explained by the heavy white-brown and white-yellow mixing over there compared to the rare black-white mixing east of the Mississippi River.
In a similar fashion that Spike Lee often creates characters in the arts like himself, Mr. Lewis paid especial attention to biracial people working in the media and from Washington State.
I think the author may have fudged a fact in the book. He says that the late NAACP head Walter White was only 1/64th Black. However, Wikipedia says Walter White had 5 great-grandparents and 17 white ones; that's about a quarter Black.
The author has a photo of himself on the back cover. This is similar to the photos in Maria Root's multiracial books. I guess visuality is important in this area. Whatever the cause, one gets to see that Mr. Lewis is incredibly cute.
This book would be good for people of all ages. It has good quotes for students writing papers in college or high school.

Once you understand and assimilate the discoveries about human capability that Jaques & Cason presents in this book a whole new world of understanding people will open up. And from that, there is no return. Your understanding of behaviour, past, present and future, hasn't been added to as adding just one more piece. You will instead have the foundation without which no people-puzzles may be completed.

The Fundation for understand Mental Processing Capability and Handling Complexity. Very simple and powerfull application in everyday situations. Like 'THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE' [Peter M. Senge] this is a great book about HUMAN PRESENT AND FUTURE possibilities ... JUST READ THIS!

Dr. Jaques is re-writing our understanding of the human mind and how to use it best. Forget IQ, Meyers-Briggs, and the other flim-flam out there. This book offers us the hope that we can work to our potential without overload, balance our task output and spiritual needs at work, and organize our companies as effectively as possible, without sacrificing our humanity. So far every criticism I've seen leveled at Jaques has proven baseless. High level writing may put off some, but this is great research work.

Elliott Jaques devised a system for analyzing executive ability based upon an individual's time horizon--the maximum period of time in the future toward which his/her work activities were aimed in their performance. He reached this conclusion during extensive, longitudinal, empirical studies in England. His series of books reflect his elaboration and extension of this finding. He worked, for a time, with Dr. Owen Jacobs of the U.S. Army (and then the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, ICAF). Jaques prior, groundbreaking book, "Requisite Organization" is more pictorial than "Executive Leadership" or this volume. While the present work may be oriented more towards human resource personnel, it is also useful to practicing executives. After reading it, I bought a copy (and of "Executive Leadership" too) and loaned it to my boss! I wish more bosses would read Jaques' works--and carefully at that. The charts provided are engaging and thought-provoking. The more extensive, "Executive Leadership" preceded this book in sequence. Jaques wrote "Human Capability" with is wife and publisher: Kathryn Cason. It is a fine sequel to "Executive Leadership", adding some additional perspectives on the ways people perceive and think and it completes the time-horizon charts that Jaques developed over time and published in this fine series. These books are most strongly recommended for serious students and practitioners of management as well as human resource professionals. They go far in attempting to move management into management science.

This book presents the results of a three year study by Jaques and Cason, providing a major breakthrough in understanding human capability, intelligence, and development. An outcome of this study is further development of managerial practices to match people with roles and develop training and development programs. This is a highly interesting and informative volume that will be of significant value to all HR professionals whose agenda includes HRD and the cultivation of an organization's human capital. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates and HRconsultant.com InfoCenter.

My daughter will be 3 in April and we discovered this book at the library while picking out books after story time. She wants to read this one every night at bedtime, so I plan to buy it for her for her birthday. I echo all the other reviews, and agree that I think it is one that should be in every child's library! Even though the situations in the book happen to "raccoon children" they are real life situations that could happen to any "human child". Great job!

I bought this book for my nephew who is named Hunter!
It's a great story--with a message, but not in a pushy way.
Peer pressure is a difficult subject to address; this book handles it superbly!!

Ms. Elliot has followed up her acclaimed book for young adults, "Under a War-Torn Sky", with a charming new book for 2-6 year olds. My children love to hear about the little racoon's dilemma about following along with his best pal's naughty antics versus trying to inspire his friend to behave as his "best self." The story is wonderfully entertaining (my son walks around quoting his favorite characters' lines!), the illustrations are adorable, and the book teaches a valuable message for kids of all ages. Hunter has become my children's favorite book -- I highly recommend it!

This is an adorable book which will grab a child's attention from the beginning. I think this must become a staple for every kindergarten classroom. I was in public education at the kindergarten level. The lesson taught here on "peer" pressure, is a lesson that cannot be taught too early in a child's school career. The illustrations are wonderful too! Ms. Elliott and Ms. Munsinger, congratulations! You have done it again!

As an educator of young children for over twenty-five years, I find Hunter's Best Friend at School by Laura Elliott to be one of the best books I have ever read, dealing with being true to one's self. All children want to be liked and often do things that they would not otherwise do, just to be accepted. Hunter and Stripe are such friends, yet with the help of his mother and his teacher, Hunter is able to set an example that encourages Stripe to be "his best self." This book is absolutely delightful and entertaining. The words, the illustrations, the message of being true to oneself is certainly needed in today's world. I read it to a Kindergarten class that was spellbound by the second page. The school librarian is going to order one copy for each of the primary classes at our school. My own grandsons, age five and seven, were touched by Hunter's example, with the five-year-old saying, "my eyes are getting wet from hearing that story" and the seven-year-old saying, "I have that problem with my friend." Out of the mouth of babes is a telling review of this wonderful book and I would encourage every parent and grandparent to include it in their children's library as soon as possible.

Elliott Light is a great storyteller. He keeps your nose in this book from beginning to end and leaves you with a heartfelt concern for the main character, Shep and the members of the poor farm. Through this book, I feel as though Shep and I are now friends. I have genuine feelings for this fella. I want to know how he's feeling and if he's eating well! This Shep is one heck of a character and I hope he continues to do great things in small ways. He may be a small town guy, but he has a city boy's wit and intuition. Shep also has a bit of a heart, always trouble there. Read this book!

The most famous person from the Lyle, Virginia area was Reilly Heartwood who sang under the moniker of C.C. Hollinger, a legendary country music great. Recently Reilly committed suicide though disbarred attorney Shep Harrington finds discrepancies on what he has learned about the death of his mentor. He cannot understand why there was no autopsy, a relatively tiny medical report, and no police investigation. He also struggles with the question "why now" when Reilly finally promised to reveal a secret to him about Shep's father.

Though burned by the justice system when people perjured and accused him of criminal activity that led to three years of prison before he was exonerated, Shep seeks the truth about Reilly for his own peace of mind and that of the sister of the music superstar. Shockingly, Shep learns he is the prime heir to the multi-million dollar estate. Even stranger is how several locals loathe Reilly to the point of denying him a Christian burial. As Shep digs deeper he perilously places himself in the middle of a town divided and on the verge of exploding.

Fans of regional amateur sleuths will take pleasure from Elliot Light's affable who-done-it. The story line combines sub-genre elements with recent historical tidbits such as Poor Farms that make for a powerful background, which in turn enhances the key cast members, especially the hero. The investigation is fun to follow because the evidence Shep finds conflicts between cover-up and suicide making a culprit difficult to identify if one even exists. LONESOME SONG is a delightful tale that will lead the audience to pursue Shep's next mystery, CHAIN THINKING.

Harriet Klausner

The book is a quick read, and exciting. I am not an avid fiction reader, but this is a compelling story. The author does a good job transporting you to his imaginary town. The story is well thought out, filled with surprises and keeps you guessing to the end. I have recommended this to others and all have enjoyed it. I look forward to the next book.

This is a gem of a little book, by a first time author Elliot Light. Now I am not a fan of stories of small town living or country towns, but I must say I couldnt put this book down. The charaters are engaging and real. Shep, the main character is a bit flawed, having had a colorful past as a lawyer, but you come to like him and want to know more about his past, and whatever road he was on before he got here. But no time... because soon you are drawn to the little story spinning in the pages in front of you. This book had me guessing from the start. I finished it in one day and I am looking forward to more..If you like witty, thoughtful, and engaging story and characterization, this is it.

Elliott Light's Lonesome Song: A Shep Harrington Smalltown Mystery is the darkly compelling, splendidly written tale about a country-western singer whose death is abruptly ruled a suicide without investigation. Shep Harrington, a perturbed, 32-year-old disbarred lawyer, is determined to find out the truth of what happened. The more Harrington learns of the last minutes of the victim's life, the more disturbing parallels appear between Harrington's own past and the tragedy he seeks to solve. A fascinating, convoluted novel, Lonesome Song is very highly recommended reading for mystery buffs.

This book can give great ideas. I am not big on learning different coined ideas, this one is the Diamond method. But the chapters, clearly labled, allowed me to pick the areas I felt weak on.

A great collection of advice and experience on public speaking and presentation. A lot of common sense, but well organised in a logical framework.

Just like "Wheel of Fortune's" before and after, Make Your Point is filled with "common sense of humor." But there is nothing common about it. A quick, easy read, these real tales about real people help clarify the Diamond technique introduced in the book. I always considered myself a good communicator, I know I am now a better one for having read the book. I loved the book the first time I read it, and the next 6 times I referenced it for help. In fact, I'm putting it on my gift list to give to my clients.

Ok, Ok, so I wrote the book along with my friend Bob Elliott. But what can I say...I love the book because it lays out what Bob and I have learned from years of coaching people at IBM, Merrill Lynch, Unilever and other great companies. The book is a quick read and will teach you how to use a fantastic communication tool we call "The Diamond." And it's loaded with real-world examples, too. Enjoy!
Kevin

This review is for YOU (the casual Amazon browser), for YOU (the business person), and especially for YOU (the fun and fascinating person)!!!

This book belongs in EVERY high school, EVERY college, and EVERY business reference library! This book belongs in the home! This book belongs in *ANY* type of communications course (including performing arts, personal growth, creative writing or thinking) to introduce and/or sharpen both verbal and written skills for readers at every level.

PLEASE - do not let the formal-looking, business-oriented jacket and client comments on the back cover lead you to think this book is another one of those ho-hum "oh-that's-nice-perhaps-there-is-something-in-here-I-can-use" business reference manuals ... Au contraire, mon frere ... Business folks can open the book to any page while having their morning coffee, read one of the one- or two-page chapters, and add something to enhance their 9 am meeting (whether as moderator or participant). Moderators and presenters can streamline their presentations while adding excitement. Participants can impress others by speaking up clearly, concisely, and with enthusiasm. If you are a group or department leader who wants your team to STAND OUT, I'd suggest you get each of them a copy of this book and use the principles the next time you're sharing a presentation - you will blow the room away with your unified front, your efficiency and your sizzle!

You COLLEGE folks can use this book as your stepping stone between writing extensive research and thesis papers to the brief and effective communications mandated by modern business. It will serve you well as you transition from the role of the regurgitating student/audience to your new role of creative, independent project leader who will be expected to learn quickly and inspire your coworkers and subordinates.

You HIGH SCHOOL students can refer to this book as you are beginning to work on your own papers and presentations and begin building some of the most important, meaningful, and fun relationships you will ever have. A few of the tips in this book will help you gain confidence in many of the situations you might find yourself in, when you may need a little help with self-expression. People will have a better understanding of your feelings, thoughts, and ideas and it WILL make a difference. This book is slim and won't take up much space in your locker or bookbag. You will find more uses for this book as time goes on and your life changes.

As for the REST of you - everyone needs to communicate - with the family (including that one person who never seems to listen or respond), with friends, with bankers, with car dealers, with doctors, with butchers, with bakers, with candlestick makers! Perhaps you are someone who performs on stage - a singer/songwriter, a poet, a comic, or someone who wants to offer a memorable toast or speech ... you will also find this book useful.

If you have read my comments thus far, then you've already ingested more words than most of the chapters contain. You can read the whole thing in an hour or two but you will refer to it for a long time to come. Then I wouldn't be surprised if you tell someone else about it or give it as a gift. By the way, it's a GREAT book to take to the airport. Or how about on the train, on the bus, to jury duty, to study hall ... well, you get the idea.

You will HAVE FUN reading it, you will ENJOY applying the principles in the book, and you will LOVE the results.

Well done, Mr. Elliott and Mr. Carroll - I can't wait to see what you guys have in mind for your next book!

This is a fantastic book. My daughter is 11 months and she absolutely loves finding the monkey at the bottom of the page. This book keeps her entertained for twenty minutes at a time - which is great for me!

My son LOVES this book. It's suitable for a 10month old, but the rounds monkeys are made of cardboard and got destroyed pretty quickly from being gnawed on. At 13 months, he knows the book by name, and I have to read it ten times a day. It's only 5 pages so not too annoying for me. :)

My 15 month old nephew loves this book. While his coordination is not so good yet that he can drop the little pog-like monkey disc in the slot at the bottom AND be able to watch it tumble, he "helps" me drop the monkey in and watches. My stepmother says her friend bought one for her two year old granddaughter and the kindergarten-aged brother loved it too. He read it to his sister and they both enjoyed it. Also, the book comes with two monkey discs so I suggest stashing one in a drawer and only leaving the kids with one at a time.

My 18 month old granddaughter LOVES this book. Matter of fact, it's a replacement for the original! Good for her coordination as there is a round 'chip' with the monkey on it that she has to put in a thin slot at the top of the page and then open a flap to get it out. Loves it!

My 14-month old loves to read this book b/c it is interactive. It comes with two little monkeys on cardboard discs. You drop the 'monkey' in a top slot and you can watch the monkey tumble down to the bottom of each page. While my little one doesn't really pay attention to the words he loves to lift the flap to find where the monkey tumbled to. It is a unique and fun concept. I'm looking for more like it.

After our recent earthquake, many of us who are focused on lifelines have been scouring the literature for useful recommendations for loss reduction provisions. This is a key text. It evaluates the responses of seven large organizations in a "best methods" type of analysis to distill specific actions that assist recovery following an earthquake. The monograph discusses political and regulatory issues and preventive evaluation approaches. The authors are commended for such a useful work.

Brilliant technical analysis of lifeline seismic improvement programs. A must read.

I am a state official responsible for maintaining a lifelife system in a seismically-active zone. This was a very well-thought-out and useful analysis that will be of great use in my work. Bravo!

Good writing and excellent technical analysis. This monograph is focused on the preventive side of the seismic field. If you are active in the risk field or in the management of lifeline systems, this book is vital. Highly recommended.

This is a carefully crafted analysis of success stories for maintaining functioning following an earthquake. The analysis of mitigative options and recommendations is insightful and useful from a practical perspective.

The book gifs an good overall view to the beginning, or more experienced doctor (or layman) in the physiology and pathophysiology of hyperbaric medicine. The book is rather complete and easy to read, it reads more as a novel than a scientific book. I use it as standard book for many questions in the field of diving or hyperbaric medicine. Besides this it gives a view at the treatment of diving disorders.

physiology and medicine of divin

The book gifs an good overall view to the beginning, or more experienced doctor (or layman) in the physiology and pathophysiology of hyperbaric medicine. The book is rather complete and easy to read, it reads more as a novel than a scientific book. I use it as standard book for many questions in the field of diving or hyperbaric medicine. Besides this it gives a view at the treatment of diving disorders.

This is an in depth treatment of the physiology of diving. We use it as a reference at the UCLA Gonda Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine where we operate two large recompression chambers. The style is readable and useful, but I believe that interest in it will be limited to physicians, physiologists,and kinesiologists. For those interested in a less in-depth treatment consider the excellent U.S. Navy Diving Manual available on CD-ROM.
Another text more heavily weighted towards medicine is Diving Medicine by Bove. All three of these texts grace are shelves and are referred to regularly.
If the price puts you off, try lurking until a used one comes up.

This book is probably the standard work in the field of diving physiology. The contributers are the leaders in the field and this well referenced and thought out book is certainly a must for people who are involved in diving research and development.

The reason for only 4 out of 5 is that the book is probably too technical for the average person you need a reasonably good background in both physiology and hyperbaric medicine to get a true benefit from this book.

Otherwise a seminal text in the field

Full page photos of numerous birds are faced by a page of details. What makes this item extra special is the included CD with the call or song of each bird. It's a rare treat to see, hear and read the why's of each bird. It's great.

The quality of the sound on the CD, and the photos are excellent. Our dog and cat thought we were playing the CD for them! Only wish it covered more than 50 birds.

The Songs of Wild Birds by Lang Elliott gives us glimpses not only into the romantic lives of birds, but into the author's life as well. Lang Elliott serves up a sumptious package: lucid, engaging, and informative text, knock-out photos, and a CD to listen to over and over again. Elliott takes the academic study of bird songs and broadens it to include the aesthetic. Bravo!

The close-up photos of wild birds in this book are simply breath-taking. It is not just a coffee-table book, though. The text conveys interesting information--even for someone who is well-read in ornithological literature--and the CD is superbly done. These are not the typical bird i.d. recordings, but carefully selected cuts which sometimes include rarely heard songs and calls.

Lang Elliott is among the best and best-known recordists of birdsong in North America. His new book, The Songs of Wild Birds, is a combination of words, images, and often spectacular sounds that will delight and intrigue birders and non-birders alike.
I particularly enjoyed the eery "quartet" performed by trilling Eastern Screech-Owls; the juxtaposition of eastern and western Winter Wren vocalizations is extremely informative and useful, as are the illustrations of dialect differences in White-crowned Sparrows.

If your looking for a general and linear narrative on the history of the Soviet Union, you will not find it in this book. In "The Soviet Century," Moshe Lewin has compiled a scholarly analytical deconstruction of the Soviet process, rise-and-fall, bureaucracy, dissolution and selected analysis of some major figures.
This is the book you read after reading, studying or understanding the general aspects of collective Russian history, to read this first is interesting, but could be overwhelming and should be treated as a collection of brilliant historical abstracts to be read later.
Lewin has drawn on Soviet sources previously unavailable to western audiences, or at least seldom surveyed in English.
The chapters feature pinpoint focus on the minutiae of the Soviet experiment. Lewin's analysis of the necessity of the Soviet Republic hits the mark and explains the Imperial Russian historical burden that the Soviets would be forced to bear.
Logical, intelligent, insightful and deeply scholastic.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, READERS, PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS.

This book gives an excellent, unbiased account of how Soviet Communism evolved from 1917 until its end in 1991. It shows how Stalin gained sufficient power to achieve his reign of terror, and how the Terror led to the destruction of the Communist Party as any sort of positive force. He clearly describes the Khrushchev thaw and the later period of stagnation, contrasting the latter especially with Stalin's rule. A key point in the author's analysis is the transfer, not long after Stalin's death, of the secret police's vast industrial empire to the relevent civilian and military bureaucracies. Thus was ended the need for vast numbers of arrests to maintain a pool of slave labor.
Another key point is the inability of the Soviet Communist Party to develop any legitimate rules of succession. Rulers either died in place or were ousted by their enemies. By the year 1991, Russians were sufficiently aware of these issues and sufficiently powerful, through their independent organizations, to negate Gorbachev's overthrow and to ban the Communist Party as an archaic and dangerous organization.

The only problem with Professor Lewin's work is the fact that the author chose not to have a continuously flowing text, as the book unfolds as a series of chapters of uneven lenght, dealing with case-studies of various issues, mostly about the post-Stalin period of Soviet history. Therefore the book cannot be treated as a reference work for the whole of the period covered. However, there is so much in the book to be offered praise for: firstly, its skillful use of recently avaliable documents in order to develop original observations about the history of the late URSS; second, its refusal of anti-communist mythologizing; thirdly, its concentration on the internal dilemmas facing Soviet bureaucracy rule as it had to face an ever-increasing crisis of legitimacy, even amid a process of sharp (relative) political liberalization. It's not the best written book on the subject, but it compensates in content what it lacks in style.

Lewin has outdone himself in this overview of the history of the USSR. Some potential readers might perhaps be somewhat dismayed by the fact that this book was published with radical leftist publisher Verso, but have no fears: this is no apologia for totalitarianism.

On the contrary, Lewin gives a balanced and very thorough overview of each of the periods of Soviet history, beginning with its Leninist inception and ending with Gorbachov. Most of the book deals with his description of the Stalinist period, and this is also the book's main strength. On the one hand Lewin effortlessly dispels the myths around the gigantic numbers of deaths that have been 'credited' to Stalin by less informed writers such as Conquest and Montefiore; using both statistical records of Chrushchov's period (hardly a fan of Stalin) and the most up-to-date Russian research by Khlevniuk and others, he shows that in fact the death toll of Stalin will have been in the millions rather than tens of millions.

Nevertheless, that is evil enough, and Lewin has no qualms in showing the horrid, oppressive and stifling side of communism. Not only Stalin gets this deserved treatment, but Brezhnev and similar people equally. Lewin also takes the time to look at the development of various socio-economic factors in Soviet history, such as the too often overlooked effects of rapid urbanization in the 1970s.

The only downside of the book will be to some that it pays relatively little attention to World War II, preferring instead to concentrate on the political and social history of the Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, the best in its kind, and far to be preferred over more mainstream works.

For those already familiar with the history of the USSR, Moshe Lewin's "The Soviet Century" is a very exciting book. Instead of offering a comprehensive overview of Soviet history, Lewin focuses on the aspects of the country and its system that have been neglected by previous scholarship. Amazingly, he identifies these phenomena as central to actually understanding the Soviet Union, and blames their neglect on both the unavailability of the relevant documents as well as plain "ideological frenzy" (1). Promising not "to play the role of counsel for the prosecution or for the defence" (274-5), Lewin bases his book almost exclusively on recent Russian-language scholarship dealing with the newly-discovered documents, hinting at a more comprehensive future work that will incorporate English-language scholarship as well.

Lewin focuses primarily on the means through which the rulers of the Soviet Union controlled the country and their subordinates. The first of three parts, "A Regime and its Psyche", focuses on Stalin, how he obtained absolute power, and how he protected it through purges, terror and elaborate structures of control over the party and bureaucracy. It begins in the 1920s with the "de-politicization" of the Communist Party, its abandonment of socialism and absorption by the bureaucracy. Lewin explores in great detail the apparatus set up by Stalin to control the Party, especially the NKVD and its "industrial empire" of labor camps (113). He concludes by characterizing Stalin's rule as an "agrarian despotism", a combination of old-style Tsarism with a new focus on industrialization (146). "Focused on the cult of a supreme leader", it was "a despotism that allowed free range to one individual's delirium... and a huge repressive system" (147).

The second part of the book, "The 1960s and Beyond: From a New Model to a New Impasse", focuses on the second great neglected aspect of Soviet history, the bureaucracy, which cemented its hold on power after Stalin's death, despite efforts by Khrushchev and some others to put the Party back on top. The result was "bureaucratic absolutism... much more modern than that of the Tsars or Stalin [but of] the same species" (380). Lewin includes in this section a lot of nitty-gritty details of the structure and functioning of various bureaucratic institutions (especially Gosplan and Gossnab), and also profiles some post-Stalinist leaders such as Kosygin, Andropov, Mikoyan, Khrushchev and Gromyko. In addition, he addresses the "avalanche of urbanization" (202) and other social development in these decades.

Themes such as urbanization and long-term developments in society are the focus of the third and final part, "The Soviet Century: Russia in Historical Context". This section is in many ways the most interesting, as it addresses thematic issues over the whole of soviet history: backwardness, modernity, urbanization, bureaucracy, demography, etc. Lewin describes "a social and cultural landscape undergoing massive changes" (319) and criticizes other authors for focusing exclusively on the regime and its leaders, as though Soviet society did not exist or were unimportant. Lewin also criticizes those who tend to "Over-Staliniz[e] the whole of Soviet history, by extending it backwards and forwards", and he argues that the changes following Stalin's death "should be acknowledged, and not dismissed with contempt on the grounds that a democratic system offers much more" (324). He distinguishes two different comparisons that can be made: between the Soviet Union and the democratic West, and between Stalinism and the bureaucratic stagnation that followed it, when "improvement in social conditions" (324) led to high levels of development in terms of "demography, education, health, urbanization, [and] the role of science" (373), which were to positively decline during the 1990s.

"The Soviet Century", though focusing for the most part on nitty-gritty details of apparatus and bureaucracy, deals with the largest questions of the central nature of the Soviet Union. Thus Lewin can conclude that the sorry story of the Soviet Union "cannot be described as the 'failure of socialism', because socialism was not there in the first place" (308) and that the USSR never actually "represented the alternative to capitalism it sometimes claimed to be" (359). It should be of great interest to all students of the history and nature of the Soviet Union.