Remembering war : a U.S.-Soviet dialogue /

This stirring book grew out of a breakthrough joint U.S.-Soviet television program aired in 1985. Americans and Russians who had served on the home- and battle-front here reveal their wartime perceptions of each other as allies and discuss their recollections in the light of postwar antagonism, misunderstanding, confusion and fear. Keyssar, professor of communications at UC San Diego, and Pozner, Soviet TV commentator and author of Parting with Illusions , remind us that Americans experienced nothing comparable to the loss of life and hardship suffered in the U.S.S.R., yet it is evident throughout these statements by former soldiers, diplomats, factory workers and others that the two peoples shared common attitudes and a strong sense of kinship. This book will be of great interest to readers in both this country and Russia, where it is being published simultaneously. Illustrated. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Though the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War II, their experiences could hardly have been more different. This work, the first of its kind, is based on a live television program jointly produced by Soviets and Americans in 1985. For the printed version the participants expanded their contributions, and an extensive historical framework has been added. Keyssar and Pozner bring neither new material nor fresh insight to the narratives. With fewer than 25 interviewees, their work can do no more than begin surveying the human aspects of U.S.-Soviet interaction between 1941 and 1945. The accounts, however, cover a broad spectrum of subjects: home fronts and fighting fronts, images of war, Nazi atrocities, and the 1945 meeting at the Elbe. They successfully generate an appetite for more--an appetite likely to be well satisfied should glasnost and perestroika continue. Useful for general collections on World War II.-- Dennis E. Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colorado Springs (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An affecting, albeit uneven, collection of oral histories from American and Soviet veterans of WW II (or the Great Patriotic War, as it's still called in the USSR). The handsomely illustrated compilation originated with an interactive TV program broadcast on both sides of the Iron Curtain to commemorate the 40th anniversary of V-E Day. Keyssar (Communications/Univ. of California, San Diego) and the bestselling Pozner (Parting with Illusions, p. 34) tracked down participants as well as other individuals who did not get on the air; they conducted further interviews and supplied connective commentary (whose propaganda quotient promises to affront diehard Cold Warriors). The reminiscences of notables (Elliott Roosevelt, Gheorghi Arbatov) coexist with those of lesser lights in a way that, at its best, evokes not only the horror and tedium of a savage conflict but also the fragile ties that bound unlikely allies. Included, for example, are the bleak recollections of Stalingrad survivors; a Russian woman who flew combat missions with a squadron the Germans called the Night Witches; and ranking American officers mistrustful of their Soviet counterparts, plus happier memories from front-line soldiers present at the celebrated meeting on the Elbe. While some Soviets touch without dwelling on the prickly Stalin's less edifying strategems (e.g., his 1939 pact with the Nazis) and constant demands, Keyssar and Pozner are at pains to stress the cooperative role played by the USSR and the appalling casualties it suffered on the long road to victory. In consequence, eyewitnesses' unsparing accounts of battlefield carnage clash with the observations of authors whose often reproachful views or; at best, oddly coupled comrades in arms seem to have been filtered through rose-colored spectacles. Wishful, well-intentioned revisionism apart, a consistently moving and powerful testament. The text features a wealth of stunning photographs (150 b&w), plus a generous selection of contemporary posters, magazine covers, movie stills, and other graphics. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.