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- Book explains why the Soviet Union did not collapse amid a violent convulsion
- almost perfect
- Good, Concise History of the Soviet Collapse
- Good book, but Kotkin Does Not Answer the Question
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Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
Stephen Kotkin
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0195168941 |
Book Description
In the Cold War era that dominated the second half of the twentieth century, nobody envisaged that the collapse of the Soviet Union would come from within, still less that it would happen meekly, without global conflagration. In this brilliantly compact, original, engaging book, Stephen Kotkin shows that the Soviet collapse resulted not from military competition but, ironically, from the dynamism of Communist ideology, the long-held dream for "socialism with a human face." The neo-liberal reforms in post-Soviet Russia never took place, nor could they have, given the Soviet-era inheritance in the social, political, and economic landscape. Kotkin takes us deep into post-Stalin Soviet society and institutions, into the everyday hopes and secret political intrigues that affected 285 million people, before and after 1991. He conveys the high drama of a superpower falling apart while armed to the teeth with millions of loyal troops and tens of thousands of weapons of mass destruction. Armageddon Averted vividly demonstrates the overriding importance of history, individual ambition, geopolitics, and institutions, and deftly draws out contemporary Russia's contradictory predicament.
Customer Reviews:
Book explains why the Soviet Union did not collapse amid a violent convulsion.......2007-09-06
The author's goal in this book, as he states in the introduction, is to explain why the Soviet Union did not erupt into a violent convulsion upon its collapse. Multi-ethnic empires rarely break apart without violent upheavel. Yet this one did. If your goal is to find out why this is happened this is a book you must read. Written by a leading scholar of the Soviet Union.
almost perfect.......2007-08-21
This the best historical narrative I had ever read on the subject. It does jingle very well with my own recollections about this period. It is informative with a lot details.
According to Mr.Kotkin the final stages of the collapse were two-fold: first commie-romantic-idiot Gorbachev destroyed whatever was remaining of the existing system while trying to improve it, and then the Soviet elite saw better prospects in joining Eltsin in finishing it off instead of fighting for its meager spoils.
There are a few amusing/annoying/bizarre parts. First, Mr.Kotkin seems genuinely upset that the system did not even try to use its repressive powers to preserve itself. Second, the author could not accept the actions of Soviet elite as reasonable and often goes into incoherent ramblings condemning all parties including his fellow sovietologists.
But again, these are all very minor blemishes, and they are clearly separated from presented narrative, which is simply superb in my view.
Good, Concise History of the Soviet Collapse.......2006-11-22
Stephen Kotkin's "Armageddon Averted" is a good, concise history of the Soviet collage from 1970-2000. Kotkin has two themes that he repeatedly touches on: 1) that the Soviet system collapsed from within and 2) that the collapse was remarkably peaceful. Kotkin's work is very good, although at only 200 pages, it is a cursory account of the Soviet collapse.
Kotkin focuses almost entirely on the Soviet system's inner workings. He describes how the Soviet system was destined to collapse from within and would have collapsed earlier had oil prices not increased in the 1970s, allowing the Soviet Union to continue to finance itself. Only with the coming of the new generation - Gorbachev - did anyone in the Soviet leadership have the courage to realize that the system must be changed. However, when Gorbachev tried to save the Soviet Union by liberalizing part of society, he set loose powers and forces and quickly lost control of the country.
It was at this point, Kotkin argues, that the real miracle occurred: while the Soviet Union had used military force to keep Hungary and Czechoslovakia in its sphere, and had an entire security apparatus that had perfected the police state, the Soviet dissolution was almost completely bloodless. The Soviet leadership (or reactionaries in the government) did not crack down on its own citizens, and neither did it lash out at the rest of the world in either a conventional world designed to foment nationalism nor launch a spiteful nuclear strike.
This is a very good book, but it is lacking on details. Kotkin's writes from the perspective of a textbook, making sweeping statements and broad generalizations without much supporting argument. The book also lacks any personal look at the fall of the Soviet Union (other than occasional anecdotes about the leadership), unlike the excellent (but very different) "Lenin's Tomb." Kotkin also completely dismisses any credit to the United States or any other foreign power or policy for the Soviet collapse. Despite these drawbacks, though, this is an excellent book for anyone interested in Soviet/Russian history, modern history, or political science and foreign policy.
Good book, but Kotkin Does Not Answer the Question.......2006-09-25
Kotkin attempts to answer how the Soviet Union and its empire could quickly and quietly implode - a bewildering topic indeed. He posits that Soviet leadership fossilized beginning with the drooling Brezhnev followed by other barely breathing leaders. He does an excellent job explaining how the disunion got started in Gorbachev's reforms, but fails to answer why no Soviet elites stopped him, or later, stopped Yeltsin.
When Gorbachev took over a moribund system, he had a real and abiding commitment to 'socialism with a human face'. He believed the Soviet system could be reformed and set about seriously pursuing reform through perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness). As it turned out, Gorbachev was wrong, the system could not be reformed.
The interesting point here is why didn't Gorbachev or, if not him, a reactionary coup leader use the might of the Soviet army and the KGB to put down by force what could not be stopped by reason. It is understandable why Gorbachev let Eastern Europe go; the Russians could not afford the empire any longer, but why let the system fall apart at home without a fight?
Would state violence have worked? Maybe, maybe not, but why wasn't it tried? Kotkin explains why Gorbachev started the process much better than he explains the lack of forceful response by the elites before it was too late. The August 1991 coup led to Yeltsin's ascension and sealed Gorbachev's demise, but again, why did the generals order the troops to return to the barracks without shooting down the forces that were destroying the Soviet empire?
Kotkin does a great job in the first part of the book describing the ossification of the Soviet empire, the late Cold War, and Gorbachev's rise. Kotkin also originally disputes standard Western views of what the economic 'reform' really was and was not. He also does a decent job explaining why 'reform' didn't really work (the same elite who ran the socialist system was also in charge of dismantling it.) His description of the later period leading up to and under Putin is disjointed. All in all, a good book, but Kotkin never really explains why the Empire faded meekly away rather going out in a firestorm of violence.
History's Truths Revealed.......2005-12-25
Kotkin is a first rate historian who dispenses with the slogans, cliches, and jingoism that often cloud Soviet studies. Armageddon Averted is superbly titled and succinctly written. The author takes less than 200 pages of text to explain the ending collapse of the U.S.S.R. - the "death agony of an entire world comprising non-market economies and anti-liberal institutions." It's a pleasure to read history that so elegantly summarizes complex and world changing events without mischaracterizing them. Many "experts" not only failed to anticipate the changes that occurred, but subsequently gave the wrong reasons for them. Kotkin's breadth and depth of knowledge allow him to avoid such blunders. Most highly recommended. Additional plusses are the Notes and Further Reading sections. The naysayers below seem to have axes to grind that cloud their "reviews."
Book Description
When the Cold War ended, the world let out a collective sigh of relief as the fear of nuclear confrontation between superpowers appeared to vanish overnight. As we approach the new millennium, however, the proliferation of nuclear weapons to ever more belligerent countries and factions raises alarming new concerns about the threat of nuclear war. In Return to Armageddon, Ronald Powaski assesses the dangers that beset us as we enter an increasingly unstable political world. With the START I and II treaties, completed by George Bush in 1991 and 1993 respectively, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), signed by Bill Clinton in 1996, it seemed as if the nuclear clock had been successfully turned back to a safer hour. But Powaski shows that there is much less reason for optimism than we may like to think. Continued U.S.-Russian cooperation can no longer be assured. To make matters worse, Russia has not ratified the START II Treaty and the U.S. Senate has failed to approve the CTBT. Perhaps even more ominously, the effort to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons by nonweapon states is threatened by nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan. The nuclear club is growing and its most recent members are increasingly hostile. Indeed, it is becoming ever more difficult to keep track of the expertise and material needed to build nuclear weapons, which almost certainly will find their way into terrorist hands. Accessible, authoritative, and provocative, Return to Armageddon provides both a comprehensive account of the arms control process and a startling reappraisal of the nuclear threat that refuses to go away.
Book Description
In this important new work, scholar, teacher, and diplomat James E. Goodby analyzes how American presidents have confronted the dilemma of nuclear weapons. Drawing on his own involvement in over fifty years of nuclear policy, he explores specific case studies to illustrate the decision making process and the delicate balance between international cooperation and freedom of action, between the rules of behavior and governmental autonomy.
Customer Reviews:
Avoiding Armageddon.......2006-09-26
The people assuming the role of the presidency in the United States are faced with a different set of challenges than anything they have faced before. One of the biggest is making decisions regarding the use of nuclear weapons. Being the governor of a small southern state, working in Congress, movie acting -- none of these, or any other profession really prepares one to make decisions of such importance to not only this country but to the entire world.
James Goodby has been involved with the study of nuclear weapons, their use, and the various negeotiations concerning them for many years. In this book he examines the outlook of the presidents beginning with Roosevelt through each holder of the office down to George W. Bush.
To quote from his Preface: 'Were presidential decisions invariably wise and skillfully executed? No, but nuclear weapons were never exploded over any city anywhere in the world after 1945. That wa sa major achievement. Things could have turned out far differently. That they did not, we shuld be thankful and should take pride in the statecraft that so far has avoided Armageddon.'
Regardless of how one views the various presidents, this has been an amazing and enduring achievement. This book talks about the turns and twists in American and world policies that made this possible.
Book Description
In Bracing for Armageddon, Dee Garrison pulls back the curtain on the U.S. government's civil defense plans from World War II through the end of the Cold War. Based on government documents, peace organizations, personal papers, scientific reports, oral histories, newspapers, and popular media, her book chronicles the operations of the various federal and state civil defense programs from 1945 to contemporary issues of homeland security, as well as the origins and development of the massive public protest against civil defense from 1955 through the 1980s. At a time of increasing preoccupation over national security issues, Bracing for Armageddon sheds light on the growing distrust between the U.S. government and its subjects in postwar America.
Book Description
On February 28, 1993, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) launched the largest assault in its history against a small religious community in central Texas. One hundred agents armed with automatic and semi automatic weapons invaded the compound, purportedly to execute a single search and arrest warrant. The raid went badly; four agents were killed, and by the end of the day the settlement was surrounded by armored tanks and combat helicopters. After a fifty-one day standoff, the United States Justice Department approved a plan to use CS gas against those barricaded inside. Whether by accident or plan, tanks carrying the CS gas caused the compound to explode in fire, killing all seventy-four men, women, and children inside.
Could the tragedy have been prevented? Was it necesary for the BATF agents to do what they did? What could have been done differently? Armageddon in Waco offers the most detailed, wide-ranging analysis of events surrounding Waco. Leading scholars in sociology, history, law, and religion explore all facets of the confrontation in an attempt to understand one of the most confusing government actions in American history.
The book begins with the history of the Branch Davidians and the story of its leader, David Koresh. Chapters show how the Davidians came to trouble authorities, why the group was labeled a "cult," and how authorities used unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse to strengthen their case against the sect.
The media's role is examined next in essays that considering the effect on coverage of lack of time and resources, the orchestration of public relations by government officials, the restricted access to the site or to countervailing evidence, and the ideologies of the journalists themselves. Several contributors then explore the relation of violence to religion, comparing Waco to Jonestown.
Finally, the role played by "experts" and "consultants" in defining such conflicts is explored by two contributors who had active roles as scholarly experts during and after the siege The legal and consitutional implications of the government's actions are also analyzed in balanced, clearly written detail.
Customer Reviews:
This is it!.......2004-08-14
This is the ultimate treatise on the Waco "incident," the massacre that at rock bottom informs us of the limitations of our government's ability to "uphold the Constitution" of the United States of America. Whether deliberately or by tom foolery, men, women and children were burned to death because the BATF and the FBI failed in their mission to inform themselves of what was at stake. The authors of the various essays in the book are well-informed, articulate and thoughtful souls who have given great care in crafting their words. They have brought forth many of the troubling aspects of the Branch Davidian conflict that the mainstream media did not even have the capacity to approach.
Do not be simple-minded about this issue. It is the seed from which there has been much trouble since (think Oklahoma City). It is important to understand Waco as much as is humanly possible in order for this country to get past it. Of all the books I have read so far on the subject, this one is by far the best.
Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives.......2000-06-20
Dr. Stuart Wright brings together experts in sociology, psychology, criminal justice, constitutional law, and the media to analyze data collected, witness testimony, and survivor accounts of a tragedy in Texas. For anyone wanting the truth of what really happened in Waco, this is a good start. The authors present a sociologically sound study of many of the dynamics affecting the events in Waco. The Branch Davidian's orgin and what ultimately happened in Waco are also clearly detailed.
Finally, the truth.......1998-04-28
Having grown up in a separatist, non-denominational, apocalyptic, congregation, I knew I would not be an unbiased reader of this collection of essays. What I was not prepared for was the shattering of almost all I had thought to be true, all I had learned through television and newspaper reports and commentaries on the Waco siege. In this media age we are bombarded with so much information, our senses constantly stimulated- It is difficult to step back from any situation and see it for what it is. This exhaustively researched collection is profound, moving, and thought-provoking. It places the Waco tragedy in a larger context, one we as a society have, for the most part, failed to recognize. The collection explores the roots of this conflict- the way in which marginalized religious groups are woven into the fabric of the identity of our nation. It then expands to explore the psychology of those involved, breathing the life back into those names and faces that had been pressed and packaged into stereotypes by less precise reports. The collection also addresses the specific legal and constitutional issues. Waco was a tragedy for us all, this collection gives us the ability to begin to understand it, and all the forces that lay the groundwork for it's escalation, from our own prejustcies, to the media's distortions, to the governments role in balancing religious freedom with societal order. My interest, as I said in the beginning, was personal, but I finished this book understanding the events in a universal context. I would highly recommend it to anyone concerned with broadening their perspective.
Customer Reviews:
The "supreme truth" about Aum's ambitions.......2006-01-11
This is a thorough, readable, and not overly-sensational analysis of Aum, and an excellent starting point to learning about the sect. The author uses a combination of narrative recreations of individuals' experiences and scholarly descriptions of information. It covers the life of Shoko Asahara, the growth and structure of Aum Shinri Kyo, their brainwashing techniques, their legal battles, their theology, astonishing detail on Aums' various attacks, and the ultimate goals of Asahara's arms program. It goes beyond the sarin attack everyone knows about and details Aum's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons, mass produce assault firearms, topple the Japanese government and initiate an apocalyptic world war. As horrible as Aum's attacks were, if events had played out differently, giving them more time, things could have been far worse.
Stands Out in a Crowded Field.......2001-03-22
I bought this book in 1997 as research material for a report I did for a federal agency on terrorist threat groups. One of the things that stood out for me when I reviewed it recently for a different project was the authors focus on the critical details of Aum's operations. Author Brackett places less emphasis on the splashy and sensational (though there is plenty of that) than on a practical review of the groups structure, facilities and leadership. Brackett's background in intelligence and journalism are readily apparent by his use of graphics to assist his narrative. These graphics include: Maps and diagrams of the cult's Mt. Fuji compound, detailed "crime scene" photos of the locations of cult attacks, descriptive graphics of the cult's spiritual beliefs and internal hierarchy, as well as large collection of pictures of the participants and victims of this cult's wave of terror.
Outstanding
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Armageddon 2000
Kenneth Rayner Johnson
Manufacturer: Creation Books
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ASIN: 1871592275 |
Book Description
Throughout our present decade, both the media and the general public - not to mention various fanatical religious factions - have been concerning themselves increasingly with the imminent end of the millennium and its possible implications for mankind.
Kenneth Rayner Johnson predated them by 20 years with the publication in 1975 of The Zarkon Principle, his best-selling premonition of apocalypse in the year 2000AD. Now, with just four short years left on the clock, Johnson has returned with Armageddon 2000, an updated version of his earlier work. In Armageddon 2000, Johson not only demonstrates how many of his previous theories and predictions have already come true, but also how his research in the intervening decades has led him even more forcefully to one conclusion: the world as we know it is about to end.
To reach this conclusion Johson has re-interpreted the scriptures of many religions, and the histories and writings of Alchemy, Freemasonry, Magick, Theosophy and other arcane disciplines. He has examined such ancient and enigmatic structures as the Pyramids and Stonehenge; delved into the secret lives of Jesus, Mohammed, Aleister Crowley and Adolf Hitler; and researched phenomena such as UFOs and alien abductions. He has correlated all this information with the most recent findings of astrophysicists, theoreticl physicists, meteorologists and ecologists, and posed a grim question: how long does mankind have left? And emerged with a terrifying answer....
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Avoiding Armageddon: Canadian Military Strategy and Nuclear Weapons, 1950-63 (Studies in Canadian Military History)
Andrew Richter
Manufacturer: Univ of British Columbia Pr
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0774808888 |
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The advent of nuclear weapons in the 1940s brought enormous changes to doctrines regarding the use of force in resolving disputes. American strategists have been widely credited with most of these; Canadians, most have assumed, did not conduct their own strategic analysis. Avoiding Armageddon soundly debunks this notion.
Drawing on previously classified government records, Richter reveals that Canadian defence officials did come to independent strategic understandings of the most critical issues of the nuclear age. Canadian appreciation of deterrence, arms control, and strategic stability differed conceptually from the US models. Similarly, Canadian thinking on the controversial issues of air defence and the domestic acquisition of nuclear weapons was primarily influenced by decidedly Canadian interests.
Avoiding Armageddon is a work with far-reaching implications. It illustrates Canada's considerable latitude for independent defence thinking while providing key historical information that helps make sense of the contemporary Canadian defence debate.
Published in association with the Canadian War Museum.
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OMEN IV: ARMAGEDDON 2000
GORDON MCGILL
Manufacturer: TIME WARNER PAPERBACKS
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ASIN: 0708822754 |
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