great for everybody who is interested in russin culture

When I was studying Russian history for my final year in High school, I used this book extensively. It is a detailed, thorough and invaluable reference tool, but in many ways it's also enjoyable and witty. I studied only 19th century Russia, but I went on to read Westwood's account of Russia in the 20th century, simply because it was so interesting. A top book for anyone!

"Enemies of the State" provides a riveting look into the slave-labor prisons of the Communist world during several decades of the 20th century. It brings history alive to a whole new generation of Americans who may be only vaguely aware of the oppression, torture and viciousness imposed on their countrymen by totalitarian leaders like Stalin, Mao, and Castro. The book contains 10 first-person accounts by people who spent years wrongfully imprisoned in slave-labor camps. Very much like the first-person accounts of Jews held in German concentration camps during the Holocaust, "Enemies of the State" also includes historical background and explanations of the political themes of the times. The book is factual and compelling for anyone over the age of 12. It is a great resource for high school or college students, and teachers and college professors. The general public will also find this book to be fascinating reading, although it is not for anyone with a weak stomach. The tortures and degradations described in the book are beyond imagination, but they are real and are presented in painful and vivid detail. Anyone with a love of history, however, will find this book to be an important addition to their library. I highly recommend it for youths and adults, and I especially encourage home schoolers to consider including this book in their studies.

This is a marvelous peek inside Robert Kennedy's efforts against corrupt labor unions. I had long been intrigued with the whole RFK-Jimmy Hoffa "feud," so this was a treat for me. Robert Kennedy's writing style is at once humorous and pragmatic. He provides a detailed account of the inner workings of the McClellan Committee. Moreover, he meticulously describes the corruption within the labor organizations, with particular emphasis on Jimmy Hoffa. A word of warning: When I use words like "detailed" and "meticulously," I'm being serious. The book is a must for anyone interested in RFK, Jimmy Hoffa, the McClellan Committee, or American labor history; but someone who wants an action movie packaged as a book, will probably be disillusioned. Having said that, I loved the book. I highly recommend it.

"From Grizzly Bear to Teddy Bear: Gorbachev and his Illusion of a 'Common European Home'"

Jacques Levesque, The Enigma of 1989: the USSR and the Liberation of Eastern Europe (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). 267 pp. trans from French by Keith Martin.

Although Jacques Levesque's book The Enigma of 1989 contains few startling revelations, it highlights succinctly the larger ironies of Gorbachev's foreign policy in the last years of the Soviet empire. This highly readable book consists of three parts: one dealing with "the place of Eastern Europe in Gorbachev's political project; another examining individual East European countries; and the third part focusing on German reunification and the end of the Warsaw Pact. Since the book seems to be more about Gorbachev and the USSR than Eastern Europe, the original French title, La Fin d'un Empire, captures the book's essence a bit better than the one provided for the English translation: [The End of an Empire]. One irony that Levesque articulates to some degree concerns Gorbachev's motives for perestroika, and novoe myshlenie [new thinking]. Was Gorbachev truly inspired by these new ideas, or was he merely making a virtue out of a necessity? In the beginning of his book, Levesque points out how the USSR was lagging behind economically, despite its success in projecting military power in the 1970s. The war in Afghanistan in particular was draining Soviet resources. NATO officials had decided to place Pershing II missiles in Europe, and Reagan initiated the Star Wars project, with which Soviet leaders knew they could not compete. By withdrawing from Afghanistan, initiating bold disarmament proposals, disavowing the use of military force to solve conflicts, praising and paying dues to the United Nations, Gorbachev could score great public relations successes and put Reagan on the defensive for dubbing the USSR the "Evil Empire." Gorbachev was saavy, probably the most highly educated Soviet General Secretary. He was no doubt conscious of the practical advantages of his ideas. Yet later events indicate that Gorbachev may have begun to believe his own ideas too intensely, to the point of naivety .For example, in a 1997 speech at Rice University in Texas, when former Secretary of State James Baker awarded him the Enron Prize for Public Service, Gorbachev explained that perhaps the Soviet Union actually "won" the Cold War because it first understood that 21st century problems require global efforts and that the superpowers' arms race was suicidal. As Levesque points out, from 1985 to 1987, Gorbachev focused most on improving Soviet-American relations, by building the United States' trust in the USSR, by initiating arms control proposals, and other measures. He spoke repeatedly about "replacing the balance of power" with a "balance of interests." But in focusing on the United States-Levesque argues-Gorbachev "neglected" Eastern Europe, the traditional Soviet sphere of influence (p. 90). By claiming repeatedly that the Soviet Union would no longer "interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states" and no longer use military force to settle conflicts, Gorbachev won the admiration of many Americans, but also undercut the authority of the communist regimes throughout Eastern Europe. How could Gorbachev genuinely have believed that after forty-odd years of maintaining hegemony over Eastern Europe by the use or threat of military force, that Moscow could retain that power without such pressure? Did he really believe, to quote Levesque, that "perestroika could co-opt a significant part of the opposition through its progression," so that "the [communist parties in each of the Warsaw Pact countries], acting through the Popular Fronts, could become their own opposition?" (p. 82). At other times, Gorbachev behaved contradictorily: sometimes pressing for more reform, at other times temporizing (p. 84). Levesque also reminds his readers that Gorbachev and some of his colleagues may have already decided to relieve themselves of Eastern Europe, which had become a financial burden-costing the USSR perhaps $18 billion per year since the early 1980s (p. 88). END

There are a lot of books and journals out there that talk about the EU, but few that provide an overall look at the EU. This book does that. Heavy on the theory and practical workings of the EU while light on the structural jargon, it provides an excellent, in depth look at the EU. Recommended for students just beginning in their studies of the EU or others who would like a compact reference, this book is an excellent find.

Once you have read a few of the Russian classics, short prose works or novels by Pushkin, Turgenev and Dostoyevsky, etc., this is a must read "to put you in the picture," look behind the scenes, and whet your appetite for more. Don't pass up this opportunity to really understand the Russian classics.
Syndicated columnist, Colin Campbell.

Everybody should read some Turgenev. He was the man whom made the world outside Russia aware of that the great Russian literature existed. And he has inspired great western authors too, like Guy de Maupassant (whom in his turn inspired Chekhov), Henry James, Ernest Hemingway (whom again also admired Chekhov and Maupassant). By reading Turgenev today, one will find that his writing still is astonishingly modern and will continue to have influence on new generations of writers. Turgenev was one of the greatest and all of his tales are imbued with his unique feeling for the texture and dignity of all human in life.

Pohl's painstakingly accurate description of Stalin's horrific crimes of ethnic cleansing provides excellent insight into Stalin's corrupt regime. Pohl's analysis of the development of the economy in remote areas of the Soviet Union rounds out an extremely informative and well-written book. This book is essential to understanding Stalin and his influence on Soviet history and economy.

The EU Strucutral Funds is a pioneering book that provides the first systematic and critical examination of the role of the EU Structural Funds and other financial instruments in European integration. The examination is important because of the substantial sums of money involved and shows that these sums are not necessarily being used effectively or efficiently. Total Structural Fund spending from 1994 to 1999 is to be almost Euro 170 billion and this sum represents around 33 per cent of the Union budget and around 0.4 per cent of the Union gross domestic product. For the years 2000 to 2006 spending up to Euro 218.4 billion is proposed. The issues raised by Andrew Evans are highly topical because of the challenges to established practice entailed by the introduction of a single currency, the 'Euro', and by plans for the future accession of several countries of the Central and Eastern Europe of the Union.