Tom Nichols book is a wonderfully challenging but comfortably readable analysis of the role of presidentialism in holding together Russia's fragile democracy. He provides enough background for capable but untutored readers like myself to understand his thesis, but never so much that you feel like you're in an introductory course. Read the footnotes. The long ones not only contribute to a lay reader's overall understanding of the subject, but on occasion are downright funny. A wonderful book.

Russian Pulp deserves a wide audience. Regrettably, it probably won't find it unless more people come to appreciate its wide ranging implications.

Although ostensibly "about" the Russian detective novel today, the real value of this gem of a book lies in the author's splendid grasp of what the Detektiv genre tells us about Russian democracy today. As Olcott demonstrates, Russian detective novels reflect rampant cynicism and distrust of law, individualism, capitalism and materialism. Rather empowering the reader to help "solve the crime", through the use of clues and evidence, as Western detective novels typically do, the Russian detektiv is little more than a "morality play" designed to show that individuals cannot ignore the will of society.

Reflecting conditions and mores in Russia today, the detektiv depicts good cops as people who are willing to bend the law, while criminals are often portrayed as people who have the temerity to want to improve their own circumstances (the "zero-sum" implication being that, sooner or later, the society will suffer as a result).

For anyone who cares about democracy, Russia, US-Russian relations, public ethics, and many other matters, this is a lively, well-written book that will offer fresh, if disturbing insights, on every page.

This is an exceptional little book which tells the story of the four largest peasant revolts in Russian history all of which were named for the leaders who inspired the revolts--Bolotnikov in 1606-1607, Razin in 1670-1671, Bulavin in 1707-1708, and Pugachev in 1773-1774.

Readers have always wondered why Russia has traditionally felt the need for a strong authoritarian central government. This book answers that question in part. The huge Russian empire was made up of many different ethnic groups. Ethnic jealousies, resulting in civil wars and foreign invasions were always the result of a weak Czar or a change of dynasty. Thus the social compact of the Russian state was that all groups must submit to the power of a Czar in order to survive. This is the reason for the god-like status and supreme power given to the Czar in the old Russian empire.

A very good overview of the 1917 Revolution in Russia and the major events through the Bolshevik takeover in October. This book is written in a fast moving narrative style, and covers the main events, trends and people in an informative and entertaining way.

I especially liked the the chapter "The Rise of Marxism" which described the the development of socialist and Marxist thought, and the impact this thinking had on the various Russian revolutionaries. Mr. Goldston ably lays out the origins and meaning of socialism, dialectical materialism, Marxism, communism, and gives the historical settings in which these ideas developed. All in a manner that even someone unfamiliar with these ideas can follow and understand.

In the epilogue titled "War and Peace" he examines the after effects of the Revolution and the origins of the Cold War. Given that the book was written in 1966, his belief that "If we recall the patience and fortitude with which this people endured an old and seemingly eternal tyranny, and the resourcefulness and courage with which they shattered it, we can remain confident that they will eventually triumph over newer oppressions [the communist totalitarianism] as they continue to 'break a path into the future'"...is amazingly optimistic and prescient of the "revolution" which in the early 1990's led to a democratic, open society and government and the beginnings of a market oriented economy.

If you are looking for exhaustive detail and footnotes, this is not the book. However, if you want a thorough overview of the Russian Revolution of 1917 in a small (200 pages), quickly read and easily digestible format, then it will be difficult to top this book. It does include a bibliography and suggested additional reading. Highly recommended.

This work is a seminal look at the February and October Revolutions by a member of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet (later executed by Stalin) who was nominally a Menshevik, but whose view of these events was remarkably neutral and detached. He offers glimpses of most of the major players such as Trotsky, Kerensky, Miliukov, Lenin, Chernov, Martov, etc.
although NOT Stalin, which may have been one reason for his eventual destruction. A strong primary source about the events of the critical year 1917 in Russian history.

While at George Mason University I had the honor of taking a class from Dr. Wade while he was writing this book. It turned out as an outstanding effort. Not only is the book scholarly and well researched, it is extremely well written, a rarity for scholarly historical works. Unlike previous books, Dr. Wade gives significant focus on previously overlooked minorities such as women while still maintaining focus on the workers and pesants.

There are numerous good books on the Russian Revolution of 1917, and this is one of them. There are few good books on the 1918 - 1923 Civil War, and Chamberlin's book, originally published in 1934, is still essential reading for anyone who wishes to know more than what's contained in Evan Mawdsley's `The Russian Civil War'. Chamberlin's book was chosen by the reviewers for `Foreign Affairs' in 1997 as one of the most important books on international relations published in the last 75 years; I agree. Chamberlin's book goes in and out of print; copies are easy to find even when it's out of print.

Chamberlin spent 1922 to 1934 as a foreign correspondent in the USSR; he was later a lecturer at Yale and Harvard. He had access to people, places and documents which no later writer on the Civil War had access to until about 1990. So his book is packed with important information about aspects of the Russian Civil War that it's hard to find discussed elsewhere. And his statements of fact are almost all accurate, which is more than one can say for many books on the subject. The organization of the book leaves something to be desired; finding all the places where a particular topic is discussed is difficult. Hence, it's a good idea to read Mawdsley's book before reading Chamberlin. But Chamberlin is still a `must read'.

Chamberlin set out to report facts. Therefore he was severely criticized by left-wing reviewers in the 1930's as being biased against the Soviet Union, and equally severely criticized by right-wing reviewers and scholars of the 1950s and 1960s as having been too sympathetic to the USSR. From the perspective of the 1990's this book contains a remarkably accurate account of the facts.

Excellent essay on the use of and the intellectual 'reasoning' behind murder as a means to conquer or to keep political power in Russia.
This book covers the whole history of Russia from Ivan the Terrible to Gorbachev.
It evaluates brilliantly the writings of well known (Lenin, Trotski, Bakunin) but also of nearly forgotten revolutionaries (Pestel, Netchaev, Morozov, Heinzen and others).
The author proves convincingly that the liquidation of former allies, opponents or whole segments of the population was not a characteristic of the Bolshevik regime alone.
A brilliant work from the author who predicted that, if the Communist party would lose power in the USSR, the country would fall apart.

Interesting insight into the leaders of Russia

Am forever indebted to my mentor Bea Brickey for getting me involved with the United Farm Worker union locally, and for instilling in me the importance of getting involved and living by Christ's motto that what you do to the least of them you do to Christ.

The book begins with a reminder form Cesar Chavez himself, who said in 1992 two years before his death that "The rich have money, the poor have time". The reader is reminded that patience was his tool of success.

The book is just shy of 400 pages and is a humbling as well as an energizing read. The title Sal Si Puedes is from the San Jose barrio where Chavez' farm workers union work was birthed. The book was begun with a three year stint the author had in the late 70's with Chavez with much appreciated postscript that brings the reader up to date with the events that incurred since the 60's and 70's.

Bea would spend hours passing on the wisdom that Chavez and the other UFW activists had taught her. How she and her husband were often taunted by San Joaquin farmers and called commies and pinkos and how Chavez and the other UFW workers who simply wanted decent working conditions and a living wage were taunted like this as well. How migrant workers were/are exposed to high pesticide levels and that in one breath the farmers denounce the "slave" labour workers for wanting decent housing and wages, while bemoaning the fact that they can't find American who will do the damn stoop labour for slave wages.

This is a book I am passing on to a lot of people, since I believe it is so important that we as citizens, stand up for what is right and that sometimes people have to have their comfort levels challenged.