Utopia in Power: The History of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the Present

Rating:
Summary: Best History of the Soviet Union I Have Read!
Review: Heller and Nekrich have written a comprehensive, indepth history of the Soviet Union. They give a perspective that is not politicized nor P.C., but factual. A must read for 20th century scholors and students. I would also highly recommend Heller's book "Cogs in the Wheel" to understand how the Soviet Union tried to reshape humane nature.

Rating:
Summary: Solid but dry history
Review: This book is very well researched but it's an incredibly boring read. If you're interested in things like Soviet wheat production in the 1940's, this is the book for you. The writer does a good job of showing how the twisted Soviet ideology made the U.S.S.R. more than just your "typical" dictatorship. The book makes it all too clear that the country under Stalin was simply a hell on earth. Unfortunately, personalities and geopolitical situations are given very short shrift and this is what makes the book such a difficult read. The book condenses far too much concering the immediate pre-Revolutionary era as well as the Revolution itself and the subsequent consolidation. One scarcely has an idea why it happened or why the people who led it tried to make it come about. Some fascinating passages concern the time just after after St. Petersburg falls. The Bolsheviks simply wait and do nothing, apparently believing that the historical "laws" set forth by Marx will soon kick into gear and communism will just appear. Instead things turn bloody quickly. Tragic and comic all at once. A bit more of this kind of thing would have made for a better read. By the end of the book the author ignores the conclusion his own book should have been leading him too. He shows how the Soviet Union had become a stagnant backward hopeless mess with an embittered populace, yet he fails to see its inevitable collapse which occurred just shortly after the publication of the book. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose but if the CIA had had a few copies of this book back in the 1980's, perhaps they would not have been so blindsided.

Rating:
Summary: Solid but dry history
Review: This book is very well researched but it's an incredibly boring read. If you're interested in things like Soviet wheat production in the 1940's, this is the book for you. The writer does a good job of showing how the twisted Soviet ideology made the U.S.S.R. more than just your "typical" dictatorship. The book makes it all too clear that the country under Stalin was simply a hell on earth. Unfortunately, personalities and geopolitical situations are given very short shrift and this is what makes the book such a difficult read. The book condenses far too much concering the immediate pre-Revolutionary era as well as the Revolution itself and the subsequent consolidation. One scarcely has an idea why it happened or why the people who led it tried to make it come about. Some fascinating passages concern the time just after after St. Petersburg falls. The Bolsheviks simply wait and do nothing, apparently believing that the historical "laws" set forth by Marx will soon kick into gear and communism will just appear. Instead things turn bloody quickly. Tragic and comic all at once. A bit more of this kind of thing would have made for a better read. By the end of the book the author ignores the conclusion his own book should have been leading him too. He shows how the Soviet Union had become a stagnant backward hopeless mess with an embittered populace, yet he fails to see its inevitable collapse which occurred just shortly after the publication of the book. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose but if the CIA had had a few copies of this book back in the 1980's, perhaps they would not have been so blindsided.