Review by Choice Review
Lewin's basic insight, that institutional/political changes must follow social realities, is Marxist. Although this is not the most thorough treatment of the recent spate of books about Gorbachev and his reforms, (e.g., see Marshall Goldman's Gorbachev's Challenge, CH, Oct '87; Seweryn Bialer's The Soviet Paradox, CH, Oct '86; and Thomas Naylor's The Gorbachev Strategy, CH, Mar '88), it is still an important contribution in the ongoing debate on the past and future of the USSR. Urbanization of Soviet society is the major theme of Lewin's study. In 1921, the urban population of the Soviet Union was only 16 percent of the total population, and as recently as 1960, it was 49 percent. Today it is 65 to 70 percent. A critical mass, the author argues, has been reached, a reality that no political order is able to deny or resist. Lewin is an optimist and, unlike most other Western commentators on Gorbachev's reforms, he prognosticates a successful outcome. He thinks that the Soviets will rise above all difficulties and make the necessary adjustments to become a modern state. Basically this is an intellectual's book. It purports to be more realistic than others, yet contains a major shortcoming: nowhere does the author mention the demographics and problems of nationality within the USSR that, according to Gorbachev himself, at the present constitute the major item of the reform. Recommended for all college libraries.-A. Ezergailis, Ithaca College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
For readers who want to go beyond Gorbachev's own account of his strategy in Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World (Booklist 84:810 Ja 15 88), Lewin, an American historian specializing in Russian affairs, looks at the recent past of Soviet society and evaluates Gorbachev's efforts to restructure and revitalize the country's political and economic systems. The rapid transformation of Russia from a primarily agricultural country into an industrial giant in 70 years has created many complex problems that were unsolvable in the past and are now being tackled anew by the current leadership. As the author traces both successful developments and setbacks, he shows that while the rural character of the nation changed, the despotic bureaucracy of government did not; now the state seems ready to adjust its authority and methods to urbanized reality, and a whole new social order may be at hand. Despite the intricacy of these questions, the book's cogent explanations and caveats address the issues in a highly accessible and interesting manner. Lewin is also the author of Lenin's Last Struggle (Booklist 65:800 Mr 15 69). Bibliography; index. JB. 947.085 Soviet Union-History-1953- / Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich [CIP] 87-22162
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Glasnost under Gorbachev has its roots in Khrushchev's de-Stalinization and Kosygin's attempted economic reforms, notes Lewin, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania. He contrasts the agrarian despotism that Lenin and Stalin presided over with today's highly industrialized society in which well-educated urban citizens are dominant. Soviet mass media cannot brainwash the individual, Lewin asserts, because a maze of interpersonal relations and informal groups serve as a shield against indoctrination. Themes like personal autonomy and individuality have filtered into public discourse. In an instructive and highly readable analysis, Lewin pinpoints Gorbachev's main strength as his awareness that all parts of the systemsociety, party, state, economymust be reformed simultaneously. (March) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
A major interpreter of Soviet history, Lewin briefly examines evolving Soviet social patterns from their 1917 origins to the present in an effort to place the current glasnost and reformism into sharper perspective. His rather dry sociological approach will not appeal to the generalist, while the brevity of treatment may not satisfy the specialist. Nevertheless, his book provides useful evidence that the Soviet Union is not some monstrous monolith but, rather, a heterogeneous, socially dynamic entity whose rapid transformation from underdeveloped provincialism to urban superpower status is unprecedented. Mark R. Yerburgh, Trinity Coll. Lib., Burlington (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Concise, illuminating commentary on the state of the Soviet Union. Lewin (Lenin's Last Struggle, Russian Peasants and Soviet Power) argues that Gorbachev did not unleash the winds of change now whistling through the Kremlin. As a practical matter, he concludes, the Communist Party's new general secretary and his Politburo comrades may be making a virtue of necessity; at a minimum, they will have to move nimbly to control the sociopolitical and economic forces that have been gathering momentum virtually since the end of the 1917 revolution. Over the past 70 years, the Univ. of Pennsylvania historian points out, the USSR, once a backward agrarian nation, has become a predominantly urban industrial power. In the process, a culturally diverse and well-educated citizenry has developed aspirations that the government must at least appease. That it has been doing so in one way or another since the Khrushchev era, Lewin submits, is largely lost on Western observers (including journalists), who prefer to view the Soviet system as static and essentially incapable of altercation, much less adaptation. ""Soviet society needs a state that can match its comlexity,"" Lewin asserts. But whether the reality of reform à la russe can keep pace with the East/West rhetoric it has aroused remains an open question in his mind. Given the likelihood of increasingly vocal opposition from a coalition of apparatchiks and party members, Lewin cautions, neither glasnost (openness) nor perestroika (restructuring) is a sure bet at this stage. If Gorbachev can persevere for a couple of more years, however, the author believes the old guard's day will have passed. Lewin's study is sharply focused, ignoring events at the margin in so-called satellite countries and entanglements like Afghanistan. He nonetheless offers intriguing perspectives on an imperfectly understood regime that may be only a few steps ahead of the polyglot population it is assumed to lead and rule. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
