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This account of the long-term functioning of an extreme regional policy framework is informed by economic and sociological field studies and statistical analysis by a leading Russian scholar. ... Read more

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Compiled by two world-renowned authorities on geopolitics, it explores the geographical dimension of the Warsaw Pact breakup and the emerging Central European democracies. Covers the social and political transformation of these areas; looks at pioneering work on the electoral geography; discusses sociopolitical uncertainties in an international context; and delves into the pressures of nationalism, economic and social chaos as well as inexperience on both the regional and geopolitical system. ... Read more

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This collection challenges many of the comfortable assumptions unleashed by the euphoria of democratization and market capitalism in the years post-Glasnost. The transformations underway in post-Communist societies after 1989 have generated complex and highly differentiated regional systems of adjustment.

The contributions by geographers, economists, sociologists, feminists, and planners examine the theoretical perspectives on transition, industrial and regional restructuring, agrarian change, de-collectivization and rural struggles in a variety of eastern and central European contexts. Theorising Transition provides both a rich empirical map of the dimensions of post-Communism and raises important theoretical issues about how we interpret these changes. ... Read more

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One in a series of books analyzing the political, economic, social and national security systems and institutions of a range of countries, and how they are shaped by cultural factors. Here, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are examined both as they existed before and during the Soviet era, and how they have developed since 1991. The marked relaxation of information restrictions, which began in the late 1980s and accelerated after 1991, has allowed the reporting of nearly complete data on every aspect of life in the three countries. ... Read more

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The Baltic Sea and its coastal zones have been intensively utilised for centuries. Settlements, industry, fisheries and trade are still concentrated in the coastal zones. Concurrently, the coast is a web of sensitive and highly valuable ecosystems which suffer from ongoing degradation. Increasing demands and pressures on coastal ecosystems require integrated coastal zone management. This book reflects the current state and problems of coastal ecosystems in the entire Baltic region, highlighting obstacles and future solutions for integrated management. ... Read more

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Aleksandr Chayanov lived and worked in England and Germany in the 1920s, when he wrote many letters. He was also forced to write autobiographical material after his arrest in 1930. Frank Bourgholtzer uses this material in his account of this Russian utopian. ... Read more

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The Lands Between investigates the causes and dynamics of conflict in the "borderlands" of Eastern Europe: the modern Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the western provinces of Byelorussia and Ukraine, and the republic of Moldova -- areas that have changed hands in the course of the twentieth-century on several occasions. Alexander V. Prusin looks at these "borderlands" as a whole, synthesizing narrower national histories into a wider-ranging study that highlights the common factors feeding conflict across the region. He also takes a long-term view, from the modernizing of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires in the late nineteenth century, through to the break-up of the Soviet Union, with a particular focus on the 'era of conflict' between the outbreak of the First World War and the Soviet pacification of the area in the mid-1950s.

While admitting the importance of socio-economic cleavages and ethnic rivalries in creating conflict, Prusin argues that the borderlands' ethno-cultural diversity was in basic conflict with the policies of the authorities that dominated the region, whether these authorities were imperial or (after 1919) nation states. Since collective identities in the borderlands were based on ethno-communal rather than national association, connections between ethnic groups across state borders raised suspicions that their allegiances and identities were not necessarily compatible with those envisioned by the ruling authority. In wartime, when the state's economic and human resources became strained to the limit, suspicion of the groups deemed less loyal blurred the concept of internal and external enemies and entailed pressure on allegedly "corrosive" ethnic elements.

Efforts to impose some sort of supranational identity upon the patchwork of ethnically-mixed settlements thus became the standard practice through the first half of the twentieth-century, accelerating the conflict between the state and the population and making the potential for extreme violence so much greater. Simultaneously, as war progressed, violence was sustained and exacerbated by popular participation and acquired its own destructive logic, mutating into a vicious cycle of ethnic conflicts and civil wars. ... Read more

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An analysis of the Soviet elections held over the past several years, fully illustrated by analytical maps, this book from a Russian political geographer should be of interest among students of the former Soviet Union.; This book is intended for students and specialists in what was Soviet studies, especially those concerned with the contemporary political scene and its geopolitical manifestations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A product of its time
I bought this at a second hand book shop for £1 ($2), I would not want to spend much more than that.

The book suffers from two major problems; the date of publication and the author's journalistic style.

Regarding the former, the book was published a few years before the collapse of the Soviet Union and now that the archives have been opened (to an extent), some of the chapters are inaccurate.

The latter problem is the author's style. Oberg is a journalist and this is no academic text. The book has no referencing whatsoever, no foot noes, no bibliography and even no index - we simply do not know where Oberg got his information. Oberg also has a tendency to write in a hyperbolic fashion that seems more at home in a tabloid newspaper.

These two problems combined mean we get a lot of speculation, guess work and unnamed 'sources'. Oberg simply doesn't know what happened in a lot of cases.

Old news but still relevant
At the time this book was published, in 1988, it was an amusing and telling example of how much (or how little) could be deduced by forensic techniques from a putatively closed society. As such, it remains of interest in the 21st century, where there are still putatively closed regimes (Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea) that are rightly suspected of being up to mischief.
By 1988, had a long record of uncovering mysteries in the Soviet Union, especially in their space program. His biggest coup was revealing the existence of "missing cosmonauts."
That tale was retold here, along with a fascinating retrieval of unreported news stories about mayhem in all walks of Soviet life. Some remain controversial, at least in benighted quarters, like the reactor failure atChernobyl.
Oberg concluded that while glasnost was real, it had not penetrated the Soviet military. "Uncovering Soviet Disasters" covers the period through late 1988. Subsequently, some military circles in Russia became more open, but on the whole his judgment then is good now.
The importance of this to arms control is obvious. Oberg's book is valuable on this and several other levels. Not the least reason for reading it is that it's a good mystery.
But nobody who reads this book will ever fly on a Russian airliner.

Good Sleuthing, But Some of it is Dated
When this book was written in 1987-1988, many of these mysteries were totally unknown and likely to remain so. But the collapse of the USSR in 1991 opened its secret archives and in many cases (such as the 1979 anthrax epidemic in sverdlovsk) made some chapters obsolete. Others -- such as dead cosmonauts, or the Antarctic station disaster, or aviation catastrophes (including the Korean Airlines 007 shoot-down and other border attacks on lost airliners as well as military reconnaissance planes), or especially the treatment of nuclear disasters -- provide still-relevant and still-useful insights into what was really happening inside the Soviet Union and what it can teach us about safety in our own lives.

The book was well received at the time. Here are some examples.

"Oberg's book... fills gaps in our knowledge of recent Russian history. Well documented..., the book serves as a fine interim report on the effects of glasnost." NY Times -- also, EDITORS' CHOICE of "recent books of particular interest". "A remarkable job of detective work!" [Nick Daniloff]. "Highly recommended!" [Library Journal]. "A fascinating exploration... written with the flair of a detective novelist" [American Library Association's BOOKLIST]. "A clear, relaxed, journalistic style... (which) makes for extremely interesting and entertaining reading" [National Review]. "A crackerjack book!", Barry Farber, WMCA, New York. "Dogged is the word that fits Oberg.... He leaves no page unturned. It is a motherlode of material and Oberg is adept at separating probable fact from probable fiction. This accretion of detail gives the book credibility" [WASHINGTON POST]. "(A) fantastic book! Oberg's an incredible supersleuth... It beats any thriller or whodunit you might see on cable TV. Don't miss this one." [Petr Beckmann, ACCESS TO ENERGY]. "When Oberg delves deep into issues, his research is admirable." LOS ANGELES TIMES. "A fascinating book that reads like a fine detective novel." SOVIET AEROSPACE (Washington, DC). "An attempt to recreate events in their reality.... Understandably, the majority of these facts didn't find exposition in the Soviet media, especially before perestroika.... Silence, life shows us, forces us to repeat terrible mistakes. The unlearned lesson is a new armed landmine. Oberg argues: nobody can long succeed at keeping truth hidden. Information one way or another seeps out, it finds a way. But it's important that this occur more quickly." Ivan Illesh, in IZVESTIYA, p.6, "Kak Eto Bylo (How It Was)", Moscow, Nov 13, 1989.

That last review was particularly impressive, since it was from the former newspaper of the Soviet communist party, then reformed by glasnost, and reporting approvingly of Oberg's attempt to get the full truth out.

You can visit the author's home page at
www.jamesoberg.com
to see what else he's writing along these lines.

Disappointing
I read this book thinking that it would bring forth some evidence to prove that some of the rumored Soviet disasters were more than just urban legends. Instead, the book was just chapter after chapter of "AnUnnamed source reported that an Unidentified plane (or boat or sub, etc.)crashed due to Uncertain causes at an Unknown location, killing anUndetermined number of fatalities." Then the logic is "We said ithappened, they said it didn't. This proves they are liars and always havebeen." It was a shame, because many of the stories would have beenpotentially interesting if there was some evidence demonstrating whatactually happened. Too many maybes, probablys and most likelys in this one.Also, I'm wondering why the author was surprised that the Soviets didn'tpublicize military disasters, especially one that disabled their defensesystem for a while. I'm not sure if we'd be putting that on the front pageof the Times, either. At least not willingly. Anyway, I would rate this oneas a real disappointment, especially because I had very high hopes for it.

Excellent research, good writing, but it'll spoil your day.
After reading Oberg's excellent documentary/book, one must: FIRSTLY - emphatize with those thousands of well-meaning, country-serving people affected by their perfidious Government, One Party System and simply lousy Management.

SECONDLY - wonder why we were stupid enough to enter with the same people into a demanding and dangerous venture such as the International Space Station. Maybe, after the International Space Station has been cancelled, there's another book for Jim Oberg to write. ... Read more

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Professor Pritchett continues his study of topographical data to test the veracity of Greek historians. This sixth volume focuses on Pansanias's account of the sites in the Thyreatis, on the historical record on the use of the Thermopylai pass, and on Polybios's accounts of Philip V's march across the Peloponnesos in 219 B.C. and on Thermon in 218 B.C., with new identifications proposed for sites in Arkadia and Aitolia. ... Read more

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As societies around the world are challenged to respond to ever growing environmental crises, it has become increasingly important for activists, policy makers, and environmental practitioners to understand the dynamic relationship between environmental movements and the state. In communist Eastern Europe, environmental activism fueled the rise of democratic movements and the overthrow of totalitarianism. Yet, as this study of environmentalism in Slovakia shows, concern for the environment declined during the post-communist period, an ironic victim of its own earlier success.

In Nature Protests, Edward Snajdr demonstrates how concerns about ecology generated a social movement that led to political dialogue about freedom, ethnicity, and power. He connects the role that green dissidents played in communism's collapse with the forces in Slovak society that replaced them. Through ethnographic interviews and archival materials, he explains why Slovakia's ecology movement, so strong under socialism, fell apart so rapidly despite the persistence of serious ecological maladies in the region. Synthesizing theory in anthropology and political ecology, he suggests that the fate of environmentalism in Slovakia marks the beginning of a global post-ecological age, where nature is culturally maginalized in new ways.

In addition to its significance for policy makers, this book will be a valuable resource for anthropologists, sociologists, political ecologists, and scholars of East European and post-Soviet studies. ... Read more

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The Soviet Arctic is the first book to consider Soviet policy in this region from a historical point of view. Pier Horensma analyzes the relationship between historic legacies and current Soviet Arctic policy, with particular emphasis on the Stalin period. The book also considers the international implications of Soviet policy and the effects of technological advance. ... Read more