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Rating: 
Summary: A Stunningly Brilliant Book
Review: Before the Soviet Union collapsed, any number of so-called Soviet "experts" wrote nonsense about what was happening in that country. David Satter was a notable exception. His book is full of the kind of conscientious reporting, real-life descriptions, and insightful analysis that tells the true story of how the Soviet system worked--and why it ultimately collapsed. I suspect that the "experts" who carp about his work are simply jealous that they never produced anything that even comes close to his level of writing. By reading Satter, you can really get a feel for what life was like in the Soviet Union, and the absurdities of that system. It's a terrific read.
Rating: 
Summary: Literally Hell On Earth
Review: David Satter's stunning book is one of the most vivid accounts I've ever read about the day-to-day reality of life in the old Soviet Union. He was a reporter in and out for the last 18 years of the regime and interviewed many, many inhabitants, dozens of whose stories he tells in this riveting, horrifying book. It turns out that Orwell's "1984", which is fiction for most of us, was documentary reality for these poor people. It's a chronicle of wasted lives and blasted hopes. Satter tells of a total lack of human freedom in the smallest aspects of human life (typified by the internal passport, a document which dictates where you live, what your job is, and even who you can marry.) The most basic concepts of compassion and even common courtesy were swept away, and many people admit that behaving like animals was standard practice in relating to other people. Add to this the grinding poverty, the bullying by local authorities (because you have no rights as an individual, you are at the mercy of "the good of the collective"), and the atmosphere of the total lie in newspapers, television, and even conversation with your "friends" who may be informers. Satter diagnoses that the basic problem of the Communist experiment was it attempted to do away with the idea of transcendent morality. Becuase matter is all that is, you can do anything you want to it--thus producing the mass slaughter of the Stalin years (which only came to light in Russia during Gorbachev's ill-fated glasnost. The new knowledge destroyed the remaining moral authority of the regime.) After finishing the book, you will be shaken enough to admit that the phrase "evil empire" was totally appropriate. Satter closes with a few stories of people trying to rebuild from the ruins; a local party secretary becomes a priest, a convicted murderer helps build a new church on the site of a Stalinist mass grave. One can only wish the Russian people good luck after seventy years of catastrophe.
Rating:
Summary: Literally Hell On Earth
Review: David Satter's stunning book is one of the most vivid accounts I've ever read about the day-to-day reality of life in the old Soviet Union. He was a reporter in and out for the last 18 years of the regime and interviewed many, many inhabitants, dozens of whose stories he tells in this riveting, horrifying book. It turns out that Orwell's "1984", which is fiction for most of us, was documentary reality for these poor people. It's a chronicle of wasted lives and blasted hopes. Satter tells of a total lack of human freedom in the smallest aspects of human life (typified by the internal passport, a document which dictates where you live, what your job is, and even who you can marry.) The most basic concepts of compassion and even common courtesy were swept away, and many people admit that behaving like animals was standard practice in relating to other people. Add to this the grinding poverty, the bullying by local authorities (because you have no rights as an individual, you are at the mercy of "the good of the collective"), and the atmosphere of the total lie in newspapers, television, and even conversation with your "friends" who may be informers. Satter diagnoses that the basic problem of the Communist experiment was it attempted to do away with the idea of transcendent morality. Becuase matter is all that is, you can do anything you want to it--thus producing the mass slaughter of the Stalin years (which only came to light in Russia during Gorbachev's ill-fated glasnost. The new knowledge destroyed the remaining moral authority of the regime.) After finishing the book, you will be shaken enough to admit that the phrase "evil empire" was totally appropriate. Satter closes with a few stories of people trying to rebuild from the ruins; a local party secretary becomes a priest, a convicted murderer helps build a new church on the site of a Stalinist mass grave. One can only wish the Russian people good luck after seventy years of catastrophe.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Chronicle of the Last Days of the USSR!
Review: I could not put this book down and am happy to report that it is one of the finest books about Russia ever written. No details, no personalities were left unexplored by this incredibly talented author. The ideas I had of the USSR were sharpened and some of the myths I had believed dispelled. An extraordinary historical work!
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Chronicle of the Last Days of the USSR!
Review: I could not put this book down and am happy to report that it is one of the finest books about Russia ever written. No details, no personalities were left unexplored by this incredibly talented author. The ideas I had of the USSR were sharpened and some of the myths I had believed dispelled. An extraordinary historical work!
Rating:
Summary: A Stunningly Brilliant Book
Review: This book attempts to chronicle the last ten or so years of the Soviet Union through vignettes that illustrate people's struggles with a dying system.
Although superficially vivid, these 'tales' do not constitute trustworthy history. First, lacking footnotes citing authentication, these stories lack the basic foundations of scholarship. Second, and more worryingly, Satter presents reams of conversation he couldn't possibly have heard. (Was he present, for example, when the KGB interrogated dissidents?)This cavalier approach to sources makes me suspect that Satter is actually interested in producing a colorful polemic that damns Communism. This suspicion is only heightened by Satter's acknowledgements, which mentions the 'indispensable help' he received from ‘Reader's Digest’--a publication well known for its fiercely held anti-Communist agenda.
Rating:
Summary: amazingly detailed
Review: This is an amazing book- truly an in depth study of the personal stories that made up the huge events surrounding the fall of the Soviet Union. That is the biggest benefit of reading this book- the reader will get a view of the political events from the standpoint of the little people. Factory workers, mothers and soldiers are all represented here. Forget Yeltsin's autobiography- this is the real story. By the end of this book you will probably understand the myriad of factors that led to the collapse of the Soviet state.
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