It is extremely rare that the memoirs of someone who played a truly significant role in his country's history are also beautifully and sensitively written. They candidly reveal the shy and introspective man who also happen to have been a critical player in the U.S. relationship with the Soviet Union from the 1940s through the 1980s (from the late 1920s thorugh the 1950s in his governmental role and as historian and critic since then). Kennan is candid, brilliant, critical, and happens to have a wonderful writing style. This is personal history at its best. If you've read this one (which won the Pulitzer Prize), be sure to read the sequel.

"Experience had convinced us that far more could be learned by careful, scholarly analysis of information legitimately available concerning any great nation than by the fanciest arrangements of clandestine intelligence."(p48)

"In the face of this knowledge, [of the inevitable Russion domination of Poland] I could only feel that there was something frivolous about our whole action in this Polish question. I reflected on the lightheartedness with which great powers offer advice to smaller ones in matters affecting the vital interests of the latter. I was sorry to find myself, for the moment, a part of this. And I wished that instead of mumbling words of official optimism we had had the judgment and the good taste to bow our heads in silence before the tragedy of a people who have been our allies, whom we have helped to save from our enemies, and whom we cannot save from our friends."(pp209/10)

"The strength of the Kremlin lies largely in the fact that it knows how to wait. But the strength of the Russian people lies in the fact that they know how to wait longer."(p511)

[On the German war crime trials] "I have already mentioned my aversion to our proceeding jointly with the Russians in matters of this nature. I should not like to be misunderstood on this subject. The crimes of the Nazi leaders were immeasurable. These men had placed themselves in a position where a further personal existence on this earth could have had no positive meaning for them or for anyone else. I personally considered that it would have been best if the Allied commanders had had standing instructions that if any of these men fell into the hands of Allied forces they should, once their identity had been established beyond doubt, be executed forthwith.

"But to hold these Nazi leader for public trial was another matter. This procedure could not expiate or undo the crimes they had committed. It could have been justified only as a means for conveying to the world public the repudiation, by the conscience of those peoples and governments conducting the trial, of mass crimes of every sort. To admit to such a procedure a Soviet judge as the representative of a regime which had on its conscience not only the vast cruelties of the Russian Revolution,of collectivization, and of the Russian purges of the 1930s, as well as the manifold brutalities and atrocities perpetrated against the Poles and the peoples of the Baltic countries during the wartime period, was to make a mockery of the only purpose the trials could conceivably serve, and to assume, by association, a share of the responsibility for these Stalinist crimes themselves."(pp260/1)

This is a great book. It shows the progress of a fine mind possessed of a practical scholarship and a moral voice in what were often excrutiatingly ambiguous circumstances.

Kennan was in Moscow in 1935 when Stalin began the purges; he was in Prague in 1938 when Germany invaded the Sudetenland; he was in Berlin when Germany declared war on the U.S.; he was the chief architect of the Marshall plan. Of course, he is associated with our Cold War policy of "containment" of the Soviet Union, an association that he regrets, since very little of it reflects his thinking. The book is a fascinating look at modern power politics from a bemused, but acute, inside observer.

Oxford University Press' ongoing translation of the German government's official history of the Second World War, Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, has produced yet another fine volume. This is to my knowledge the best work available on Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. The sheer scope and depth of the campaign are laid out in astonishing detail.

This is the 4th volume of the "Official German" history of World War II. There are suppossed to be 10 volumes altogether. Volume 4 is so far the most ambitious and controvesial of the set. It is well over 1000 pages, many, many tables, charts etc. It even comes with a spiral bound 4 color map book that shows the operational side of the conflict. Considering that this tome covers the decision to invade, the build up, and attack from June 1941 thru December 1941 you will understand the scope of this project. While laying the bulk of the blame on the conflict to the Nazi's, there is some discussion on the new revisionist thinking that Stalin was in fact preparing a strike into Germany but was forestalled by the German assult. I will let you the reader figure out which way the book tends to go. The translation from the German is very good, I had no trouble following the text. This book and series is not meant for a first time introduction to World War II; great detail is given on the socio/economic aspects of this conflict that rarely get mentioned at all the standard popular books. All in all a great addition to the series and a wonderful new look at a topic that never seems to go out of style. You will love it in your library!!

A must have for those working in labor unions or companies with union contracts.

I became a union representative and had no prior labor relations experience. This book taught me everything I needed to know to process grievances. I don't know what I would have done without it! This is a must for all labor relations professionals, union and management.

Sin duda es una de las mejores novelas que jamás se han escrito.
En ella se puede encontrar un relato sobre las guerras
napoleónicas y la participación de Rusia en ellas, pero también
un retrato de la vida de la alta sociedad rusa de la época. Estas
situaciones tan diversas están narradas con una gran viveza.
Aprovechando el trasfondo histórico de la novela, Tolstoi nos
proporciona también sus visiones sobre la Historia y
el papel que los hombres representan en ella. Estas impresiones

no rompen la narración, sino que la complementan de forma
magistral.
El gran volumen de la novela puede asustar a algunos lectores,
pero en el caso de esta novela merece la pena: cada página se
lee con verdadero placer.

Sin duda es una de las mejores novelas que jamás se han escrito.
En ella se puede encontrar un relato sobre las guerras
napoleónicas y la participación de Rusia en ellas, pero también
un retrato de la vida de la alta sociedad rusa de la época. Estas
situaciones tan diversas están narradas con una gran viveza.
Aprovechando el trasfondo histórico de la novela, Tolstoi nos
proporciona también sus visiones sobre la Historia y
el papel que los hombres representan en ella. Estas disgresiones
no rompen la narración, sino que la complementan de forma
magistral.

El gran volumen de la novela puede asustar a algunos lectores,
pero en el caso de esta novela merece la pena: cada página se
lee con verdadero placer.

Possibly the only time that Sci-Fi made me cry, "Half a Life" is a collection of stories and a novells about normal sounding people experiencing the viscitudes that seemed reserved (in convetional sci-fi) for steely-eyed heroes or hyper-intelligent engineers who blather in incomprehensible technobabble. The heroin of "Half a Life", a human taken prisoner by alien robots, wanted nothing more after WWII, than a quiet life on some Oblast when she finds herself the latest addition to a menagerie of creatures from different planets. Instead of adjusting to prison life, she humanizes her fellow prisoners and seizes control of the means of freedom. The heroic explorers of "Red Deer, White Deer" look past their prejudices against the brutal ape creatures of a newly discovered planet, to find the kernel of humanity - with all of its qualities and failings. The protagonist of "Can I Speak to Nina" is something of a child frozen in the body of an adult - emotionally paralyzed by his clumsy loss of a ration card during WWII. Not entirely willing to forgive himself the mistake which made life much less pleasant in an unpleasant time (the rest of the family had to give up some of their rations), he never comes alive until accidentally calling a young girl who's literally more backward than he - eerily convinced that the year is not 1972, but 1943! The oddities of the universe, which cover up the unoriginality of plots or flatness of charachters in other sc-fi, cause Bulychev's charachters to unfold like a flower. His prose only seem spare but mask an inner humanity. when futuristic cosmonauts stumble on the derelict zoo-ship of "Half a Life", they argue on seemingly petty history - like whether Natasha, the human abductee, made it into space before Sputnik, or had to follow Gagarin. When other interplanetary explorers are welcomed home after a seemingly meaningless mission, you'll want to shout along "I was the first to find you!" Don't lose this one.

This novella and collection of short stories by the Russian author is one of my favorite science fiction works. He is unusally clear, original, poignant, and human. For a man who wrote this when Communism was not only Law in Russia, but Religion as well, his prose lacks the political pollution so typical of inferior Russian works that had to be approved by a Ministry before they were printed. Bulychev isn't given to flights of fancy to mask ignorance. His science is proven; his extrapolation of scientific ideas is believable; and his stories are marvellous. To those who enjoyed "The Ice People" by Rene Barjavel, Bulychev should be equally good. If not, well, at least I hope that "Half a Life" and the stories "Red Deer, White Deer," and "May I Please Speak to Nina?" (my favorite ones) will have still proven to be good enough. Happy reading.

If you are a reader of Russian Literature, or simply a lover of encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference works, "Handbook of Russian Literature" is something you might want in your library. The "Handbook" has nearly one thousand entries, large and small, providing comprehensive coverage, in a single volume, of every aspect of Russian literature during the past ten centuries. A large format book with small print and double columns on each page, the "Handbook" contains entries written by over one hundred leading scholars and ably edited by Victor Terras.

The entries range from one or two lines to several thousand words over several pages. There are biographical entries of Russian authors, little and well known, as well as entries on various genres, historical periods, literary movements, literary journals and periodicals, and critical theories. Each entry includes a bibliography and, in addition, there is a useful general bibliography, broken out by historical periods, at the end of the book. The "Handbook" is, in other words, a perfect reference and entrée into the world of Russian literature. I find myself dipping into this book often, at random, and never fail to learn something new and interesting. I also use it as a valuable source of background reading when I sit down to read a Russian author.

The only shortcomings of the "Handbook" are that its print is very small (allowing the book, of course, to cram an immense amount of information in less than 600 pages) and that it devotes little coverage to authors of roughly the last quarter of the twentieth century, including some of the so-called "dissident" authors who wrote in the years immediately preceding publication (a shortcoming, however, that is excusable because most of the research for the "Handbook" was done in the early 1980s and the book was published in 1985). Also, while the bibliographies are useful for the casual reader, serious research requires reference to more recent sources.

This is a great book for anybody who is studying or likes reading Russian Literature. It has an informative article on practically every Russian writer that you'll need to know about, although a few of the more contemporary ones are omitted.

In addition to providing a thorough biographical sketch for each author, it also mentions the major works of each author and gives critical opinions and brief analyses of many of the works. The major translations available are listed at the end of each entry.

I like reading the sketch on an author before I begin reading his or her work. It provides a great introduction.

Rachleff, labor historian who "studies the past because he is interested in the future", writes the perfect and much needed antidote to Barbara Koppel's Academy Award-winning documentary about the Hormel Strike, a film that cast the P-9ers and their supporters as "hapless victims" engaged in a hopeless cause. As an academic AND an activist who personally participated in this struggle and became the chair of the Twin Cities P-9 Support Committee, Rachleff succeeds in putting things into their proper historical perspective, describing the betrayal of a community by a formerly paternalistic family owned corporation (and a DFL governor) and a rank-and-file by their own international union, but most importantly, he inspires all working stiffs by showing union democracy in action and the potential of a movement that motivates family, friends, and workers from around the country. The final chapter outlines the positive lessons drawn from these experiences and gives hope for the future of the labor movement. This is a must read for any union member and anyone thinking that they need a union.

Peter Rachleff writes this narrative of the Hormel Strike from the prospective of the common man. His unique vantage into the Labor movement is both intriguing and compelling. He breaks with the standard fodder of analyzing union structure and instead delves into the plight of the "every-man" (i.e. the rank-and-filer). Excellent.

In "Harmonizing Europe," Duina and his unique perspective facilitate his ability to do a splendid job of concentrating on the intricacies involved with the merger of Europe into one, more uniform, entity. His detailed analysis of the effects of equal pay and environmental issues on the EU is enlightening. As we move into an era of more political, economic, and social mergers between nations along the lines of NAFTA, ASEAN, CARICOM, etc, this book serves as a model for understanding these phenomenons.

It is not easy to understand a totally new experiment like the one putting together many States with so different racial and cultural background. There are no previous examples to use as reference. Duina decided to take a very detailed picture of a moment in the EU evolution. If we had more pictures like this, that would allow the assembly of a movie, the closest thing man has devised to link together actual information and time. The book is very clearly designed and assembled, an excellent example of normative science implementation.

Not necessarily for students, this paperback from the Ballentine Espionage/Intelligence Library is sensational. I had already been a case officer overseas when I read it, and I read it with real admiration for the Soviet Division and the case officers who had the luxury of doing it "right." From the overseas evaluations to the discreet subway signal of interest in Moscow to the follow-up that resulted in a recruitment in place and an ultimate exfiltration across the desert of Kuwait, this is a magnificent account of "the way it is supposed to be" in the clandestine service. It has a spy's kind of happy ending-really rotten treatment by CIA security blockheads during the resettlement program, a very long drunken period, hit bottom, and finally get clean and work your way free from the system on your own.

The compelling, fast-paced and ironic memoir describes in the first person, the life of a priveliged young member of the post-World War II Soviet nomeclature--the 100 or so families who ran the USSR. Groomed as a foreign ministry official in Moscow and inevitably drawn into KGB operations he loathed, Sakarov strikes out against the Soviet elite he grows to despise for its corruption of Russia, including his own father. Assigned to the Middle East for the KG, he joins the CIA as its double agent and eventually helps in the struggle to support Anwar Sadat's rise in Egypt. Compromised and hunted, he must flee to the U.S. abandoning wife and daughter in disgrace. Sakaraov's story is filled with insights into Moscow society, why and how the Soviet Empire exploited Russia and its own. It is a psychological spy classic written with bright clarity brought by co-author Umberto Tosi.

For anyone who is interest in the history of Latvia, this book is a MUST. The book does not go in great depth. But presents the reader with highlights of Latvian history, culture, and chronology. Most of the book consists of a historical dictionary. The historical dictionary, portion of the book, is interesting. After the dictionary, I would rate the bibliography as interesting and useful. It is 25-1/2 pages long.

This book is a MUST, for the Latvian historian.

Plakans' dictionary is well thought out and reads extremely well with supporting background material. A must for scholars and historians as well as the casual Baltic observer or student!