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Title: Russia's Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin by Michael McFaul ISBN: 0-8014-8814-1 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: McFaul Skipps Over Important Data
Comment: The subtitle title of the book, 'political change from Gorbachev to Putin', defines what you expect to find between it's pages. Only that's not what's covered. McFaul covers the Gorbechev years, as well as Yeltsen's presidency -- but only until 1996. There is virtually nothing after 1996. I would expect that Putin's coverage would be light, given a publication date of 2001, but to skip over Yeltsen's final years is simply neglegent.
By giving only a few sentances to the 'Shares for Rubles' program, he skips over the criminal neglegance and fraud that occured. This behavior had strong impacts on the Russian economy, which directly caused the crash of their economy in 1998. This crash is skipped over completely -- possibly because at the time, as a reporter, McFaul was cheering Anatoly Chubais the mastermind and archetect behind the economic reforms. (If Chubais attempted to do what he did in the US, he would be spending a lot of time behind bars.) In short, it looks like McFaul is skipping over the time period when his journalism was (effectively) cheering on the corruption.
The complete failure of the economy (which -- to reiterate -- was skipped over completely), combined with the treatment of the oligarchs (also skipped over) directly led shaped the Russian perception of democracy and the free market. These factors also directly effected the conclusions at the end of his book, but he presents no explination as to why the results are so bad -- probably because the explination would involve covering the ground he choose to skip over. To skip over these major milestones is unforgivable for an author who is attempting to track the political and economic reforms in Russia.
On the positive side, he does give a lot of good information, and there are a lot of references to look up additional data. I would recommend this book for someone researching Russia up to, but not after, Yeltsen's re-election. And even then, it helps to have an idea of the issues he doesn't talk about.
Rating: 1
Summary: gasp!
Comment: I admit there may be others, but is McFaul the worst Moscow-based Western journalist around? I feel like beating my head against a wall when I read his M.T. articles. They read like school reports written on the Metro. Heaven knows what 400 pages would do to anyone.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good but lacking
Comment: McFaul's work is an easily readable overview of Soviet/Russian politcal change since the mid-1980s. McFaul's analysis of the Gorbachev's period is inferior to that of other experts, such as Archie Brown. His analysis of the Yeltsin period is perhaps the best aspect of the book, especially the reason for the failure of the 1st Russian Republic, and the endurance of the second. But at times he loses his 'scholarly distance' and is almost an appologist for Yeltsin. There is little mention of Russian politics sicne 1996, though he does subtitle it "From Gorgachev to Putin." Putin's is only mentioned in passing in the conclusion. Brown's latest edited work is far better in terms of contemporary trends including the significance of Putin. THis work is best suited as introduction for advanced undergrads or masters students.
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Title: Putin's Russia by Lilia Shevtsova ISBN: 0870032011 Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Russia After the Fall by Andrew Kuchins, Jessica T. Mathews ISBN: 0870031988 Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy by Peter Reddaway, Dmitri Glinski ISBN: 1929223064 Publisher: United States Institute of Peace Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Oligarchs: Wealth & Power in the New Russia by David E. Hoffman, David Hoffman ISBN: 1586480014 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 19 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin: Political Leadership in Russia's Transition by Archie Brown, Liliia Fedorovna Shevtsova, Lilia Shevtsova, Jessica T. Mathews ISBN: 0870031864 Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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