"The New Russians"

[Webstral]

I’m reading an old book that is proving to be a splendid resource for the Danilov regime of 1989-1996. “The New Russians” by Hedrick Smith came out in 1990. I bought it at the local library used book sale in 2003. It sat unread in my library until a couple of months ago. I have started a campaign to read all of my unread books in an effort to a) justify getting new books and b) get old books I won’t read again out of my library. “The New Russians”, though, is a book I’m going to have to keep.

Smith discusses at length many of the factors that Gorbachev tried to tackle in the late 1980’s. He discusses many of the particulars of the Soviet agricultural and industrial systems. He discusses many of the political factors that would make it impossible for Danilov to roll back the clock completely. I have a lot of new ideas for how specifically Danilov changes the way the Soviet economy works. I recommend “The New Russians”, though I should point out that it’s a 400 page hard cover book.