Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War (Annals of Communism Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is another wonderful volume in the very important Annals of Communism series published by Yale University Press. I can't praise this series enough for the service they have provided us in every one of these volumes.
This book provides, in English translation, 81 important documents of the true Soviet actions in its participation in the Spanish Civil War. Historians will have to make the final judgments and assessments of this material. But I am glad to have the myth of the idealistic Soviet exposed for the lie it always was.
Just as an example of what we learn, we now understand Stalin's desire and success at basically stealing the $50,000,000 Spain had in gold reserves. by shipping Spain outdated and non-functioning military junk as arms. We also know that the French, in effect, supported the Nazi's by interdicting other Soviet arms shipments to the Republic.
There is much more valuable information between the covers of this wonderful book. It reads shorter than its five-hundred plus pages because the documents can be read quickly and the commentary on them is completely fascinating.

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Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934-1941 Review

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(More customer reviews)This book contains many interesting anecdotes about life in the Soviet Union from the mid-1930s until the outbreak of World War II. However, its fundamental arguments -- that the Great Terror was not so great nor even truly a terror -- are badly flawed. The principal problem is that the author spends far too much effort knocking down straw men. Among other things, he attempts to argue that the Soviet Union was not a totalitarian regime, the basis for this being that it did not achieve absolute control over every aspect of Soviet life. But if this is the test, not even the society in Orwell's "1984" was totalitarian, since free thinking was still possible, even if severely punished when caught. If the standard is set so high, the word becomes useless. He also argues that the Terror was not really a terror since its only goal was not the random creation of fear in society. Thurston appears to believe that a true terror could not arise if many of the participants and victims were involved because they actually believed the skewed form of "reality" created by Stalin and his cohorts. Further, Thurston at times almost sounds like an apologist for Stalin & Company, hinting for instance that the rooting out of Trotskyists had some justification in the fact that a "bloc" of like-minded supporters of Trotsky and his policies actually existed and communicated with one another. There are plenty of similar issues and problems with this book which I will not detail. I do not recommend it except as a source of anecdotes for the point that Stalin's terror was not all it might have been.

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The White Death: Tragedy and Heroism in an Avalanche Zone Review

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(More customer reviews)As the sister of Ray Martin who was killed in the avalanche of which The White Death is so richly written, I can tell you that every word kept me hanging on the edge of my seat. Knowing firsthand the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, I was still mezmerized by the way McKay Jenkins brought it all together. It was very informative about the mysterious physics of snow layering as well as capturing the very personal and fruitful lives of the five young men who died. Their's was a hunger to seek places of majesty. I have found that sometimes the only people who can begin to understand the risks and rewards of a mountain climber is another mountain climber or someone who is fortunate enough to love them. The great sacrifice and perseverence of all who are courageous enough to search for someone under these tragic circumstances says a great deal about the integrity of these people. Bravo to Mr. Jenkins who did such a splendid job of giving some peaceful closure to such a painful time in our lives.

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Special Tasks Review

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(More customer reviews)4/28/99 Pavel Sudoplatov joined the secret police as a boy, and rose to be one of Beria's most trusted assistants, in charge of sabotage, assassinations, and atomic bomb espionage. Though Sudoplatov sometimes gets things wrong (not suprising when working from memory fifty years later), he has a wealth of information on how Stalin's secret police worked, and presents a chilling picture of the kind of people who thought they were building a better world through mass murder. After reading this, you'll have better understanding of how so many Westerners could betray their countries to the USSR, and why so many are still trying to pretend it didn't happen. This new edition has some interesting material that answers criticisms made of the first edition, especially his claim that Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer passed on information about the atomic bomb (I seem to be the only serious student of the Oppenheimer case who believes Sudoplatov on this). Recommended.

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The Road to Terror: Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks, 1932-1939, Updated and Abridged Edition (Annals of Communism Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)I liked the book because it is the first time I was able to read the Kremlin archives. Being a Russian origin, I would rather read this book in Russian. But I could not. Yes, it is said that archives are open in Russia now, however when I asked my parents to look for this book in St-Petersburg, Russia they were not able to find it and the booksellers never heard about this title. I liked how documents are organized in the book by years and by relevance to the events. The book is logical with the interesting comments by the authors that fill gaps created by the dry language of the protocols and memos. This book helped me understand the motives and evolution of Stalin. It is based on facts and you can not argue with them. If you are looking for the answers like me this book is definitely worth reading However, I think you need to be familiar with a subject.

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The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (Longman History Of Russia) Review

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(More customer reviews)Obviously a small book covering the entire history of an empire that ruled hundreds of millions of people for decades cannot possibly be exhaustive, but some coherency of coverage could at least be expected. Although it makes some attempts at covering its subject, in my opinion it suffers from being poorly written, its almost lackadaisical style, and a failure to properly introduce and explain concepts. For example, the reader is bombarded in the first chapter by Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, Left and Right SRs, New Style, with hardly a clue as to their meaning and historical significance. Worse, analysis is lacking or flawed. Its perpetuation of the mischaracterization of the coup of October 1917 as a 'revolution' is indefensible in light of information that has long been available to Western historians. In addition, its poor typography and lack of overall structure make its reading an ordeal.

All in all, I would suggest someone who is seeking a good overview and introduction to the history of the Soviet Union to look elsewhere.

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An authoritative account of the Soviet Unionfrom its conception to its demise.Contains features such as a chronology, biographies, chapter openers and boxed studies that will highlight and explain key informationMcCauley worked in the Soviet Union for many years and met key figures such as Gorbachev – his personal accounts, anecdotes and photos give a unique perspective on the subject

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