Lenin's Tomb : The Last Days of the Soviet Empire

Rating:
Summary: I got interested in Soviet/Russian society through this book
Review: Wow. I read this book in the summer of 1994 as a project for my AP Government class in my senior year of high school. Four years later, it's still a favorite book of mine. By telling the stories of Russians from the down-and-out to those in the loop, Remnick gives one of the most detailed description of the fall of Communism possible.

Rating:
Summary: SO INTERESTING THAT YOU WILL SEARCH FOR MORE INFO
Review: Wow. I wanted to buy a noteworthy book that was definitive re: old USSR. I looked to award winning books on the subject and then, as always, checked with Amazonian's ratings. Before I started the book I assumed I would read some, scan some and re-educate myself on the subject. It was GREAT READING. A book that describes despair, fear and degradation of an entire nation of people. One asks onself, again and again throughout history, what conditions of the mind must exist that have throughout time enabled those in power to justify the destruction of the human spirit. Of course that begs the question as to how those STAY in power for decades on end. Author Remnick writes wonderfully and easily of tough experiences and yet they are not so horrific when laid on the page by this author, rather this book does read like a novel and thus it is easlily digested and hard to stop reading. Fascinating stuff which includes how the book itself was researched and written. Read this book, you won't be sorry. I would love to find another non-fictional account on any subject matter that rivals this. I'd love to know if there are any good suggestions.