Our Daily Bread: Socialist Distribution and the Art of Survival in Stalin's Russia, 1927-1941 (The New Russian History)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting material, poor translation
Review: I read this book for a course in Russian History taught by Professor Osokina at Oberlin College. The book focuses on the consumer side of Stalin's industrialization, an aspect of his reign that has not recieved much attention from historians, and draws on previously off limits records and documents. If you are interested in Stalin's reign and the industrialization of Russia, it will definitly present some interesting information.
The down side of this text is that the translation from Russian (It was written and published in Russia first) is not particular good. The text does not flow as you would expect it too and it often uses poor wording. I can say that this is not the authors fault (she dislikes the translation as well!) but that of the translators.
Overall, Professor Osokina is incredibly knowledgable about Russian History and has some new and interesting information to offer in this book.