Average customer rating:
- A highly readable account from an expert on the matter.
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Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Jack Matlock
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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ASIN: 0679413766
Release Date: 1995-10-24 |
Book Description
First posted to Moscow in 1962, Jack Matlock was America's man on the scene for most of the Cold War. Filled with portraits of the major players, including Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Reagan, and Bush, this dramatic, eyewitness account of those momentous years contains many new revelations and insights into the decisions of American policymakers. of photos.
Customer Reviews:
A highly readable account from an expert on the matter........1997-12-08
This "Account on the Collapse of the Soviet Union" may be the best book I have read about the demise of the Soviet Union - I personally prefer it over David Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb," which won the Pulitzer Price. For one thing I think Mr. Matlock is among the men best suited to write about the Soviet Union, since he has experienced it first-hand for over 30 years. Moreover, although he never denies that the book constitutes his personal account, he still manages to seperate the issues discussed from his own person, something that I found Remnick to have trouble with at times. His theories, although not necessarily earth-shattering, are backed up by oodles of evidence, be it data or just anecdotes. The summary and the description of the CIS states and the future of the Commonwealth also provide a glimpse into the future. All you ever wanted to know about the epochal events and influences shaping the former Soviet block today.
Book Description
In the Cold War era that dominated the second half of the twentieth century, nobody envisaged that the collapse of the Soviet Union would come from within, still less that it would happen meekly, without global conflagration. In this brilliantly compact, original, engaging book, Stephen Kotkin shows that the Soviet collapse resulted not from military competition but, ironically, from the dynamism of Communist ideology, the long-held dream for "socialism with a human face." The neo-liberal reforms in post-Soviet Russia never took place, nor could they have, given the Soviet-era inheritance in the social, political, and economic landscape. Kotkin takes us deep into post-Stalin Soviet society and institutions, into the everyday hopes and secret political intrigues that affected 285 million people, before and after 1991. He conveys the high drama of a superpower falling apart while armed to the teeth with millions of loyal troops and tens of thousands of weapons of mass destruction. Armageddon Averted vividly demonstrates the overriding importance of history, individual ambition, geopolitics, and institutions, and deftly draws out contemporary Russia's contradictory predicament.
Customer Reviews:
Book explains why the Soviet Union did not collapse amid a violent convulsion.......2007-09-06
The author's goal in this book, as he states in the introduction, is to explain why the Soviet Union did not erupt into a violent convulsion upon its collapse. Multi-ethnic empires rarely break apart without violent upheavel. Yet this one did. If your goal is to find out why this is happened this is a book you must read. Written by a leading scholar of the Soviet Union.
almost perfect.......2007-08-21
This is the best historical narrative I had ever read on the subject. It does jingle very well with my own recollections about this period. It is informative with a lot details.
According to Mr.Kotkin the final stages of the collapse were two-fold: first commie-romantic-idiot Gorbachev destroyed whatever was remaining of the existing system while trying to improve it, and then the Soviet elite saw better prospects in joining Eltsin in finishing it off instead of fighting for its meager spoils.
There are a few amusing/annoying/bizarre parts. First, Mr.Kotkin seems genuinely upset that the system did not even try to use its repressive powers to preserve itself. Second, the author could not accept the actions of Soviet elite as reasonable and often goes into incoherent ramblings condemning all parties including his fellow sovietologists.
But again, these are all very minor blemishes, and they are clearly separated from presented narrative, which is simply superb in my view.
Good, Concise History of the Soviet Collapse.......2006-11-22
Stephen Kotkin's "Armageddon Averted" is a good, concise history of the Soviet collage from 1970-2000. Kotkin has two themes that he repeatedly touches on: 1) that the Soviet system collapsed from within and 2) that the collapse was remarkably peaceful. Kotkin's work is very good, although at only 200 pages, it is a cursory account of the Soviet collapse.
Kotkin focuses almost entirely on the Soviet system's inner workings. He describes how the Soviet system was destined to collapse from within and would have collapsed earlier had oil prices not increased in the 1970s, allowing the Soviet Union to continue to finance itself. Only with the coming of the new generation - Gorbachev - did anyone in the Soviet leadership have the courage to realize that the system must be changed. However, when Gorbachev tried to save the Soviet Union by liberalizing part of society, he set loose powers and forces and quickly lost control of the country.
It was at this point, Kotkin argues, that the real miracle occurred: while the Soviet Union had used military force to keep Hungary and Czechoslovakia in its sphere, and had an entire security apparatus that had perfected the police state, the Soviet dissolution was almost completely bloodless. The Soviet leadership (or reactionaries in the government) did not crack down on its own citizens, and neither did it lash out at the rest of the world in either a conventional world designed to foment nationalism nor launch a spiteful nuclear strike.
This is a very good book, but it is lacking on details. Kotkin's writes from the perspective of a textbook, making sweeping statements and broad generalizations without much supporting argument. The book also lacks any personal look at the fall of the Soviet Union (other than occasional anecdotes about the leadership), unlike the excellent (but very different) "Lenin's Tomb." Kotkin also completely dismisses any credit to the United States or any other foreign power or policy for the Soviet collapse. Despite these drawbacks, though, this is an excellent book for anyone interested in Soviet/Russian history, modern history, or political science and foreign policy.
Good book, but Kotkin Does Not Answer the Question.......2006-09-25
Kotkin attempts to answer how the Soviet Union and its empire could quickly and quietly implode - a bewildering topic indeed. He posits that Soviet leadership fossilized beginning with the drooling Brezhnev followed by other barely breathing leaders. He does an excellent job explaining how the disunion got started in Gorbachev's reforms, but fails to answer why no Soviet elites stopped him, or later, stopped Yeltsin.
When Gorbachev took over a moribund system, he had a real and abiding commitment to 'socialism with a human face'. He believed the Soviet system could be reformed and set about seriously pursuing reform through perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness). As it turned out, Gorbachev was wrong, the system could not be reformed.
The interesting point here is why didn't Gorbachev or, if not him, a reactionary coup leader use the might of the Soviet army and the KGB to put down by force what could not be stopped by reason. It is understandable why Gorbachev let Eastern Europe go; the Russians could not afford the empire any longer, but why let the system fall apart at home without a fight?
Would state violence have worked? Maybe, maybe not, but why wasn't it tried? Kotkin explains why Gorbachev started the process much better than he explains the lack of forceful response by the elites before it was too late. The August 1991 coup led to Yeltsin's ascension and sealed Gorbachev's demise, but again, why did the generals order the troops to return to the barracks without shooting down the forces that were destroying the Soviet empire?
Kotkin does a great job in the first part of the book describing the ossification of the Soviet empire, the late Cold War, and Gorbachev's rise. Kotkin also originally disputes standard Western views of what the economic 'reform' really was and was not. He also does a decent job explaining why 'reform' didn't really work (the same elite who ran the socialist system was also in charge of dismantling it.) His description of the later period leading up to and under Putin is disjointed. All in all, a good book, but Kotkin never really explains why the Empire faded meekly away rather going out in a firestorm of violence.
History's Truths Revealed.......2005-12-25
Kotkin is a first rate historian who dispenses with the slogans, cliches, and jingoism that often cloud Soviet studies. Armageddon Averted is superbly titled and succinctly written. The author takes less than 200 pages of text to explain the ending collapse of the U.S.S.R. - the "death agony of an entire world comprising non-market economies and anti-liberal institutions." It's a pleasure to read history that so elegantly summarizes complex and world changing events without mischaracterizing them. Many "experts" not only failed to anticipate the changes that occurred, but subsequently gave the wrong reasons for them. Kotkin's breadth and depth of knowledge allow him to avoid such blunders. Most highly recommended. Additional plusses are the Notes and Further Reading sections. The naysayers below seem to have axes to grind that cloud their "reviews."
Book Description
This study examines the process by which the seemingly impossible in 1987--the disintegration of the Soviet state--became the seemingly inevitable by 1991. It provides an original interpretation of not only the Soviet collapse, but also of the phenomenon of nationalism more generally. Probing the role of nationalist action as both cause and effect, Beissinger utilizes extensive event data and detailed case studies from across the U.S.S.R. during its final years to elicit the shifting relationship between pre-existing structural conditions, institutional constraints, and event-generated influences in the massive nationalist explosions that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Download Description
This study examines the process by which the seemingly impossible in 1987 - the disintegration of the Soviet state - became the seemingly inevitable by 1991, providing an original interpretation not only of the Soviet collapse, but also of the phenomenon of nationalism more generally. Probing the role of nationalist action as both cause and effect, Beissinger utilizes data and case studies from across the USSR during its final years to elicit the shifting relationship between pre-existing structural conditions, institutional constraints, and event-generated influences in the nationalist explosions that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Beissinger demonstrates, the 'tidal' context of nationalism - i.e., the transnational influence of one nationalism upon another - is critical to an explanation of the success and failure of particular nationalisms, why some nationalisms turn violent, and how a crescendo of events can overwhelm states, periodically evoking large-scale structural change in the character of the state system.
Book Description
Understanding the Collapse of Communism in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the Soviet Union "Until 1989, the people of Eastern Europe lived under Communism's totalitarian grip. They lacked even the most basic human rights. They were not allowed to criticize the government. There was no way for them to present alternative candidates for government posts. There was no free press. They could not practice their religion. They could not travel. Then, quite unexpectedly, the Iron Curtain began to crumble.…" In this important new book for young adults, Peter Cipkowski, a historian and writer educated in Poland, explains the causes behind the 1989 revolution in Eastern Europe, examines the future of the Eastern European countries, and talks about the implications, for both the East and the West, of the crumbling of the Soviet Empire.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Overview of the Communism fall.......2007-03-03
I Think it's a good book because it gives a general overview of each country and how they achieved freedom ,human rights and democracy, sometimes fast and without violence other times with violence or very slowly. But it serves as a good introduction to the topic without going too deep into it.
A useful but superficial retelling.......2005-01-24
I picked this up when the 15th anniversary of the overthrow of the Communist governments of Eastern Europe went almost unnoticed in the media, and I was curious to recall the events of that tumultuous year. This book is intended for young adults and is a nation-by-nation retelling of the quiet cataclysm that changed Europe. Hastily written, it runs only as deep as a newspaper article--there are no interviews, either with political figures or the man-in-the-street, or, as far as I can tell, any original research. In so short a book it would be impossible to really treat the subject as it deserves, but if all you want is to recall what happened in 1989, without an investigation of their root causes or a deeper understanding of the cultures of these countries, this would do the job.
Average customer rating:
- A great book for academics
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The Collapse of a Single-Party System: The Disintegration of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies)
Graeme Gill
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0521469430 |
Book Description
In this book Graeme Gill traces the disintegration of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. The first book to follow the debates in the party over the implications of Gorbachev's reforms and how the party should respond to them, this study is also an in-depth analysis of the institutional dynamics of a party under pressure, showing how Gorbachev's reforms and the new political forces that grew up in their wake created disunity and fragmentation that ultimately led to the collapse of the most powerful single-party state in history.
Customer Reviews:
A great book for academics.......2004-06-24
I used this book for academic purposes, and I must say it was an excellent source. Gill goes into full depth and analysis into the collapse of the Soviet Union, analysing whether the it was due to external or internal factors.
The book is not a light read, nor is it for any "history lover", but for serious academics or historians who are studying the subject. This book isn't exactly what I would want to come home and read all day, but its investigation in superb and its propositions seem to be very well founded.
This is one of the many books that will make history be kind to Gorbachev, especially in the recent post-Soviet decade where eh is considered a traitor to the communist society, and it will give the reader food for thought on the inflexibility of the Party in the USSR.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Overview.......2004-12-15
Strayer's book is more than proposing one particular thesis as to why the USSR is no longer in existance. His book is more about using the events that happened between 1985 and 1991 (while keeping in mind the context of 1917-1985) to look at how a historian does his/her work. Rather than proposing one thesis and saying this is the reason for the collapse, Strayer examines a multitude of theses and discusses the pros and cons of each of them from a historians perspective.
I would recommend this book for two reasons, one if you want to know what events influenced the collapse of the USSR, this book does a good job (well documented too) of providing an overview of those events. From the rise of Gorbachev to the failed coup attempt. The second reason I would recommend this book is that from the perspective of a history teacher, Strayer gives an excellent opportunity to look at how historians analyze events and try to develop a thesis to fit those events. This book would serve as an excellent way to look at the historian's trade.
Overall, Strayer has given people several theses and the information to back those theses so that they can make up their own minds as to why the USSR is no longer around.
One of the most important events of the late 20th century.......2001-07-30
Robert Strayer does a wonderful job of communicating the changes in the Soviet Union, and the Communist Bloc, and foreshadwoing the eventual downfall of the role of communism. Strayer sets up the thesis of the book with a fairly in depth history of the Soviet Union following WWII, broken down by Presidents of the USSR. It is interesting to follow the major changes which occurred mainly at the powerful hands of the Soviet leaders during the Cold War. It is also very interesting to see such a silent, yet inevitably deadly, political pattern emerging -- hindsight is 20/20. This book is a great look at one of the most massive political changes in the 20th century.
Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?.......2000-05-22
How did the Communists keep everyone under their thumb for 70 years? Actually, the trick was to let a tier in society have more absolute power than all the tsars put together & let them get away with murder, repression & deportation by the political millions. The demise of the USSR illustrates a large historical pattern - the process by which all human societies change, sometimes slow & unobtrusive, sometimes with the speed & impact of revolution. Good questions & some curious answers. Bit of a slog! Well worth the read, however! ....................
Book Description
Victory tells the story of a secret U.S. strategy developed in the Reagan White House in early 1982 that hastened the demise of the Soviet Union. In this explosive book, Peter Schweizer provides the riveting details of how the Reagan administration undermined the Soviet economy and its dwindling resource base while subverting the Kremlin’s hold on its global empire.
Customer Reviews:
Only Tells Part of the Story. Once Groundbreaking but is now Incomplete.......2007-06-17
At the time this book was published, the details of Ronald Reagan's warfare against USSR were groundbreaking at the time. Ronald Reagan persuaded the leadership of Saudi Arabia to lower the price of oil, damaging the already-struggling Soviet economy, which needed hard currency through oil exports. "Victory" shows that Reagan applied a sustained pressure against USSR through economic warfare, a huge military build-up, and support of anti-communist groups around the world. Reagan believed that free elections and self-determination had been promised at Yalta but the Soviets broke that promise. Reagan sought to liberate Eastern Europe, starting with Poland, and win the Cold War.
Paul Kengor's excellent 2006 book called "The Crusader" also tells this story but, I believe, is better documented (usable footnotes) and has important recent information only recently declassified. Therefore, I recommend "The Crusader." Ronald Reagan was the right man at the right time, and the Cold War would not have ended when it did without Reagan. Reagan has not received enough credit.
However, books like "Victory" and "The Crusader" only tell part of the story. Ronald Reagan himself tells a different story in his autobiography "An American Life" and "The Reagan Diaries." Reagan emphasizes his friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Reagan affectionately calls "Gorby," and together they achieved a peaceful end to the cold war. I believe that this part of the story is being vigorously suppressed by the rigid neo-cons. The truth is that Reagan's skillful diplomacy with "Gorby" was as important as his sustained pressure before "Gorby" came to power. Read Reagan's autobiography and diaries to learn this from Reagan himself.
At Gorbachev's friendly invitation, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at Moscow State University and received a standing ovation. Reagan was a celebrity, and the Great Communicator sold Gorbachev and the Russian people on free markets and freedom. When a reporter asked Reagan if USSR was still "the evil empire," Reagan replied, "No. I was talking about another time, another era."
Gorbachev received the first ever Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, at Ronald Reagan's urging, which "is bestowed upon those who have made monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Freedom Award recognizes the courage of an individual who has promoted freedom around the world. Each year, the Foundation presents the Freedom Award to an individual who embodies President Reagan's lifelong belief that one man or woman truly can make a difference."
Mikhail Gorbachev also won the Nobel Peace Prize and was named Time Magazine's Man of the Decade for his role. Yet Gorbachev never intended to destroy the Communist Party. He hoped, instead, to save it through reforms. Without Reagan initially applying pressure the way he did and pushing freedom in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Empire would not have unraveled when it did.
Recent Reagan biographies by John Patrick Diggins and Richard Reeves, drawing on the latest research, also emphasize Reagan's skillful diplomacy and a peaceful end to the Cold War. Reagan sold Gorbachev on his ideals and pushed Gorbachev to go further with his Perestroika and Glasnost reforms." Reagan was so sincere and good-natured. He believed that, if he and Gobachev could just sit down and talk, they could responsibly make the world safer from the danger of nuclear war. Reagan was so charming and persuasive that Gorbachev trusted him, then the Soviet Empire unraveled under him!
Read a book like "Victory" or "The Crusader," and then read "The Reagan Diaries" and Reagan's autobiography "An American Life" to learn the whole story. Also read "Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History" by John Patrick Diggins, "From the Cold War to a New Era" by Don Oberdorfer, "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis, "President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination" by Richard Reeves, Paul Lettow's "Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons," the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick, and "Reagan and Gorbachev" by Jack Matlock, Reagan's top advisor and ambassador to USSR.
Academicians Beware..........2007-04-09
This book contains neither a Table of Contents nor an Index. If you are planning on using this book for research, I recommend going elsewhere.
Behind the scene look of the Reagan Administration.......2006-11-07
An awesome disclosure of the financial planning to defeat Russia. Combined with the military weapons strategy, it demonstrates how the Reagan administration defeated Russia. Fascinating reading and an insight on the travel and personal sacrifices that were made to accomplish this.
"We Win - They Lose!".......2006-05-11
This book is one of the best ever written on public policy. It gives concrete examples of how to wage a resource-based campaign against an opponent. While the context is the U.S. - Soviet campaign of the 1980's, the same principles could be used in political campaigns, cities versus surburbs situations, state versus state economic development, legal disputes, etc.
When Ronald Reagan was trying to get Richard Allen to join his campaign team in the late 1970's, Allen asked him what his strategy was for dealing with the Soviet Union. Reagan's response, "We Win - They Lose!" It was seen then (and now by some pointy-headed leftist pundits) as simplistic in the extreme and Reagan was seen as extremely dangerous for pursuing it.
This book deals not so much with the strategy but the tactics in carrying it out. Specifically the idea was to destroy the Soviet empire by raising the cost of that empire while reducing the benefits of that empire. The trick was to use low cost (to the U.S.) tools to provide ruinous results (to the Soviets). In short, Economic Warfare.
For instance, early on the Reagan Administration found that Western European bankers were providing low-cost loans to Soviet client states based on the idea that Soviet gold reserves would insure the loans. When the Reagan Treasury Department did a study that discovered that there were more loans outstanding than gold reserves to cover them, that information was given to the bankers and the empire subsidy stopped. Low cost to us (a few million dollars for a study) yielded a high cost to them (billions in additional interest payments).
Over and over this book gives examples of Bill Casey at the CIA and how he would use these tactics to make the strategy work-- opposing the Soviet natural gas pipeline into Western Europe, secretly funding Poland's Solidarity Labor movement, bleeding the Soviet war machine in Afghanistan, convincing the Saudis to drop the price of oil at exactly the right moment so that Soviet natural gas reserves became worthless, etc. The list goes on and on.
Reagan's opponents said before the collapse of Communism that this "Reagan Doctrine" wouldn't work. Afterwards they gave the credit to Gorbachev' reform efforts and the 1950's containment theory. But unlike the Reagan Doctrine, those were just strategies. As too many businesses have discovered, long-term strategies have a way of being swamped by short-term considerations.
This book shows that Reagan's strategy in the hands of a skilled tactician like Casey was what doomed the Soviet Union. It makes for fascinating reading.
Only in America.......2006-04-09
This is one of the two best books I've read thus far about the Reagan Administration. The other was "Revolution: The Reagan Legacy" by Martin Anderson. That book took us through the inner workings of the Reagan White House as seen from the perspective of a non-political scholar who just happened to be an insider at the time. This book tells the story of the Reagan Administration's seven year struggle to restore America's military strength while at the same time undermining the Soviet Economy and sapping Soviet strength so as to hasten the demise of the Soviet Union. Boring as all that may seem; this book reads more like a spy thriller than a history book since it primarily focuses on the extraordinary efforts of one man, William Casey, Reagan's Director of Central Intelligence (DCI).
About all I knew about Bill Casey before reading this book was that he was the secretive head of the CIA who had a tendency to mumble (Reagan said he was the only man in the CIA who didn't need a scrambler.), that some people thought he was the man behind the Iran-Contra Affair, and that he died of a malignant brain tumor before he could be called to testify about Iran-Contra. Now I see him as a truly great American hero who played a vital role in the demise of the Soviet Union. In fact, after reading this book, I'm almost convinced that it wouldn't and couldn't have been done without him. As the author says, Reagan had the vision and pointed the direction, but it was men like Bill Casey who made it happen.
This, then, is a great read about an unsung American hero. After reading it you will understand in some detail the grand scale of Reagan's seven year plan to restore America's strength; to re-establish America's reputation as a trustworthy ally; to undermine and stall the Soviet economy; to support and encourage those struggling against Soviet oppression behind the iron curtain; and to aid those fighting against the expansion of the Soviet Empire. You will also see how that plan was implemented and will most likely marvel at the efforts of Bill Casey who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the President's policies a reality. Casey, like the President, was clearly the right man, in the right place, at the right time.
In the end, you will also wonder how it can be possible that Reagan's political opponents in the United States have been able to assign the lion's share of credit for the collapse of the Soviet Union to the Soviet Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, rather than to America's President, Ronald Reagan. As the author so aptly points out, "[It is] a most curious development, giving the vanquished more credit than the victor." Only in American politics would such a thing be possible.
Book Description
This timely and pathbreaking work shows how and why the dramatic collapse of the soviet Union was caused in large part by nationalism, that is, by the increasingly urgent demands of the subject nationalities of the Soviet Union for independence and autonomy.
Customer Reviews:
USSR dug its own grave by its incubation of smaller nations.......2003-04-12
Suny stresses the development and creation of nationalism within the Soviet Union as the main cause of its collapse. This nationalism, he states, is built on common interests, imagined communities (loaned from Benedict Anderson), rituals, symbols, flags, songs, collective events and the expression of goals.
Suny describes how, especially under Lenin, the development of nationalism was encouraged the Soviet Union. It was this naïve trust in the institutionalization of previously non-existent nationalism within the Soviet Union which lead to inner conflict and desire for the new nations to break free from the Diets, from Russia's rule.
Suny points out that nationalism and nationality are not artificial by blending his moderately constructivst view on nationalism with the suggestion that nationalities might be rooted in "ethnies" (Anthony D. Smith's term). Suny also contributes war with the strengthening of the nation.
In the book he describes clearly the reasons to why regions in the Soviet Union became independent nations and why this process occured on different terms in these different areas. The nations he pedagogically discusses are Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In part the author contributes the short-sightedness of the Russian policy of building nations to the failure of Marxists in the 19th and early 20th century to realize the importance of nationalism.
Ethnicity and class were not obliterated in the Soviet Union and it remained an empire open mostly for Russians and Slavs. In Caucasus the local peoples were constantly kicked around by the Soviet Union and surrounding empires. In Azerbaijanis' capital, Baku, the Azerbaijan's were marginalized by the influx of skilled-workers (mostly from Northern lands).
Eventually due to Stalin's strangle-hold; the following "thaw" under Chruschev, Breshnev, Chernko; due to Gorbachev's bumbling and the intiative of Russian satellite states; the aforementioned nine nations broke free from the retarding Russian rule and became independent nations.
This book provides an interesting perspective on the development of nations and nationlism and their seeming inevitability in a world ruled by such things such as democracy, capitalism, class and race. Suny has written this book in an orderly fashion and covered in detail the specific nations and the struggles within. However, this book is lacking many details in the effort to depict the downfall of the Soviet Union from a somewhat tenuous perspective that favors political ideology and momentum of specific classes as the sole firebrands of revolution.
Amazon.com
William E. Odom, a retired Lt. General with a Ph.D. from Columbia, served as a top advisor in both the Carter and Reagan administrations (including a stint director of the National Security Agency). He writes surprisingly well about the quiet disintegration of the Soviet armed forces: "In a mere six years, the world's largest and arguably most powerful military melted like the spring ice in Russia's arctic rivers as it breaks up, drifts in floes, and slowly disappears." He also offers key insights, particularly in his analysis of Soviet war philosophy, including the reasons Marxist theory made a huge military almost inevitable and why Gorbachev's attempt to reduce its size posed a threat to the whole Communist system; he also traces the influence of von Clausewitz's thinking on Lenin. But this is all by way of introduction to Odom's discussion of what happened when Mikhail Gorbachev foisted perestroika on the Soviet Union and its armed forces. Odom personally interviewed many of the participants, lending considerable detail to his chronicle of Russia's 1991 August Crisis and the rise of Boris Yeltsin. --John J. Miller
Book Description
In this book, a distinguished United States Army officer and scholar traces the rise and fall of the Soviet military, arguing that it had a far greater impact on Soviet politics and economic development than was perceived in the West. Drawing on interviews with key actors in the Soviet Union before, during, and after its collapse in 1991, General William E. Odom tells a riveting and important story.
Customer Reviews:
Honest and Original.......2000-05-22
How could the huge, powerful Soviet Army have vanished so quietly? William Odom, an American general, takes on this question and in the process of answering it demolishes many of the more smug conclusions drawn from the collapse of the USSR.
Odom writes of Soviet military culture with understanding, knowledge and respect. If there's a failing in the book, it's that Odom spends so little time on Soviet military adventures themselves, focusing instead on the organizational quirks of the military/industrial/ideological complex. He mentions only in passing episodes like the border war between Russia and China along the Amur, and spends only a few pages on the war in Afghanistan.
Odom's conclusion is that the Soviet military, grown sluggish and top-heavy, became the focus of Gorbachev's hatred, and could not stand up to his relentless attacks. Gorbachev comes across, in Odom's account, as an anti-Lenin, as avid in destroying the Soviet system as Lenin was in forging it.. When he managed this destructive feat, Gorbachev was astonished to find that the whole structure fell almost instantly. As Odom concludes, Gorbachev had failed to realize what even the fatuous Nicholas II knew: that the Army has always been the heart of the Russian state.
Thouasands of writers have swarmed over the carcasse of the USSR, most of them interested only in profiting from or gloating over its fall. One of its last ironies is that one of the most respectful, subtle appreciations of its life and death has come from an enemy general.
Valuable -- thorough, lucid, and interesting.......1999-09-05
I discovered William E. Odom when a lecture of his was shown on BookTV. His talk showed an understanding of the Russian military so informed and thorough that I had to find and read his book. I found the book even more valuable and influential on my thinking than I expected. If I had known anything of William E. Odom's work and reputation, I would have known, as I do now, that his book would be lucid, detailed, and written so that its complex subject becomes clear evn to the amateur. He sets a standard of sound historical vision and attention to fact that all of us can enjoy, admire, and follow.
Books:
- Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
- Chasing Life: New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today
- Chestnut Soldier (The Magician Trilogy)
- Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in a Hot Zone
- Colonial America in an Atlantic World
- Converting California
- Dances with Wolves
- Day Of The Dragon-King (Magic Tree House 14, paper)
- Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill
- Doomworld (Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..., Book 1)
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