Review by Choice Review
The authors, sociologists from England and Germany, have written an interesting book on young people in postcommunist society in Ukraine, Armenia, and Georgia. Although the focus is limited to only these countries, the authors argue that their findings can be generalized to most postcommunist societies, with the exceptions of Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary. The authors have discovered that young people in Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine are surviving the postcommunist era. Although they have not yet achieved a better standing of living than they had under communism, young people are optimistic that they will someday attain a Western lifestyle. The book is based on interviews and surveys that the authors conducted between 1995 and 1999. Although the study gives an accurate gauge of youth disillusionment with communism and the slow pace of postcommunist reform, it never really analyzes why the countries of the former Soviet Union continue to lag behind the former communist countries of Central Europe. Its brief reference to geographic determinism ("Georgia would probably flourish if it could relocate to Switzerland") is simplistic. Upper-division undergraduates and above. D. J. Dunn; Southwest Texas State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
