Russia's Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin

Rating:
Summary: gasp!
Review: I admit there may be others, but is McFaul the worst Moscow-based Western journalist around? I feel like beating my head against a wall when I read his M.T. articles. They read like school reports written on the Metro. Heaven knows what 400 pages would do to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: I would go so far as to call this book the post-Communist "Fainsod," an allusion to Merle Fainsod's classic study of the Soviet system. This volume is a thoroughgoing, well-researched study of what happened day by day, institution by institution, from the waning days of Gorbachev's shaky, uncertain rule to the denouement of Yeltsin.
Without a doubt, thid book will be go down as the basic study of what the author aptly titled, Russia's unfinished revolution.

Rating:
Summary: Good but lacking
Review: McFaul's work is an easily readable overview of Soviet/Russian politcal change since the mid-1980s. McFaul's analysis of the Gorbachev's period is inferior to that of other experts, such as Archie Brown. His analysis of the Yeltsin period is perhaps the best aspect of the book, especially the reason for the failure of the 1st Russian Republic, and the endurance of the second. But at times he loses his 'scholarly distance' and is almost an appologist for Yeltsin. There is little mention of Russian politics sicne 1996, though he does subtitle it "From Gorgachev to Putin." Putin's is only mentioned in passing in the conclusion. Brown's latest edited work is far better in terms of contemporary trends including the significance of Putin. THis work is best suited as introduction for advanced undergrads or masters students.

Rating:
Summary: gasp!
Review: Professor McFaul's book TOTALLY ROCKS! This is the most kick-butt book I've ever read. The other reviewer is right, too. The bibliography in this book RULES! It is way detailed and kicks butt over its rivals' bibliographies! I wish I could give this book SIX stars! The only reason I'd give it five is that there aren't enough pictures. I wish there were some pictures of Mr. McFaul in Russia with the pro-Western "young reformers". Those guys totally rocked during the 90s! This is a serious book for serious-type people, but it's also a fun book to read and had me laughing out loud at times.

Rating:
Summary: McFaul Skipps Over Important Data
Review: The subtitle title of the book, 'political change from Gorbachev to Putin', defines what you expect to find between it's pages. Only that's not what's covered. McFaul covers the Gorbechev years, as well as Yeltsen's presidency -- but only until 1996. There is virtually nothing after 1996. I would expect that Putin's coverage would be light, given a publication date of 2001, but to skip over Yeltsen's final years is simply neglegent.

By giving only a few sentances to the 'Shares for Rubles' program, he skips over the criminal neglegance and fraud that occured. This behavior had strong impacts on the Russian economy, which directly caused the crash of their economy in 1998. This crash is skipped over completely -- possibly because at the time, as a reporter, McFaul was cheering Anatoly Chubais the mastermind and archetect behind the economic reforms. (If Chubais attempted to do what he did in the US, he would be spending a lot of time behind bars.) In short, it looks like McFaul is skipping over the time period when his journalism was (effectively) cheering on the corruption.

The complete failure of the economy (which -- to reiterate -- was skipped over completely), combined with the treatment of the oligarchs (also skipped over) directly led shaped the Russian perception of democracy and the free market. These factors also directly effected the conclusions at the end of his book, but he presents no explination as to why the results are so bad -- probably because the explination would involve covering the ground he choose to skip over. To skip over these major milestones is unforgivable for an author who is attempting to track the political and economic reforms in Russia.

On the positive side, he does give a lot of good information, and there are a lot of references to look up additional data. I would recommend this book for someone researching Russia up to, but not after, Yeltsen's re-election. And even then, it helps to have an idea of the issues he doesn't talk about.