Amid the Stygian pessimism, half-baked advice, half-understood facts, and confused thinking that informs much Western comment on ‘Zhirinovsky’s Russia,’ Jonathan Steele’s book stands out. He does not treat Russia as if it were a mysterious planet inhabited by little green men. He has lived there.
The Guardian - Rodric Braithwaite
Eternal Russia has a powerful title conveying a profound truism…it is an excellent book rooted in history while covering thoroughly the drama of events after 1987.
Sunday Times - David Owens
[Steele’s] accounts of Russian coups, aborted or not, and other convulsions are admirably clear and thrilling.
This is an extraordinarily important and timely book…(that) utterly demolishes the rationalizations of both the Russian and American governments about Yeltsin’s ‘democratic dictatorship’… This is the best history I know of on the whole Gorbachev–Yeltsin period to date. It will be indispensable for specialists, enlightening for the general audience, (and)…it will have a major impact in the debate now arising over Yeltsin and democracy.
The author’s history is well written and lively, profiting from the fact that Steele actually found his way to the scene of crucial developments as they occurred—to Gorbachev in captivity as well as to the Baltic republics and Afghanistan. The author is a good narrator who shows great sensitivity for the human feelings involved in the various situations… Steele does not pretend to have answers to all the important questions he raises about this history still so much in progress, but he has done an excellent job of formulating those questions.
[Steele’s] knowledge of the former Soviet Union and modern Russia is formidable… His description of the fall of the Russian empire, in the Third World, eastern Europe, and finally in the Soviet Union itself, is riveting… Here is a writer confidently in command of his subject.
London Tribune - Barney Bardsley
A provocative and well-written interpretive analysis of the collapse of Russian communism and of the prospects for democratic consolidation… A thought-provoking analysis. One of the strengths of the book is Steele’s ability to weave into the analysis his own first-hand observations from his days in Moscow… It makes for compelling reading that will appeal not only to scholars of Russian reform, but also to students and general readers interested in recent Russian political developments.
Perspectives on Political Science - Russell Bova
[This] book is written in a highly-engaging style, with exciting firsthand accounts of the author’s adventures in covering the unraveling of the Soviet empire, including detailed descriptions of the events of August, 1991, and October, 1993… Steele’s work stands as one of the best available works documenting events in Russia since the late 1980s… [It] provides a superb feel for how events unfolded and contains many sound judgments about a wide variety of aspects of life in contemporary Russia.
International Journal of Comparative Studies - Taylor E. Dark
A provocative and well-written interpretive analysis of the collapse of Russian communism and of the prospects for democratic consolidation...A thought-provoking analysis. One of the strengths of the book is Steele's ability to weave into the analysis his own first-hand observations from his days in Moscow...It makes for compelling reading that will appeal not only to scholars of Russian reform, but also to students and general readers interested in recent Russian political developments.
Perspectives on Political Science
Amid the Stygian pessimism, half-baked advice, half-understood facts, and confused thinking that inform much of Western comment on 'Zhirinovsky's Russia,' Steele's book stands out. He does not treat Russia as if it were a mysterious planet inhabited by little green men. He has lived there.
Eternal Russia has a powerful title conveying a profound truism. More important, it is an excellent book rooted in history while covering thoroughly the drama of events after 1987.
[This] book is written in a highly-engaging style, with exciting first-hand accounts of the author's adventures in covering the unravelling of the Soviet empire, including detailed descriptions of the events of August, 1991, and October, 1993...Steele's work stands as one of the best available works documenting events in Russia since the late 1980s...[It] provides a superb feel for how events unfolded and contains many sound judgments about a wide variety of aspects of life in contemporary Russia.
International Journal of Comparative Studies
Eternal Russia has a powerful title conveying a profound truism. More important, it is an excellent book rooted in history while covering thoroughly the drama of events after 1987.
Sunday Times [UK] - David Owens
Eternal Russia has a powerful title conveying a profound truism. More important, it is an excellent book rooted in history while covering thoroughly the drama of events after 1987.
In this analysis of Russia's failure to become a Western-type democracy since the fall of communism, the Moscow bureau chief of the Guardian stresses cultural obstacles instead of the personalities of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, which have indeed been overemphasized in the recent flood of memoirs from the former USSR. While Gorbachev did miss an opportunity by not running for president in the 1990 elections, the common notion that everything depends on a single leader and the country's inexperience with rule of law are more deleterious to Russian democracy. Without further development of Russia's political system, the economic "shock therapy" favored by the West is doomed to fail. Steele effectively mixes this big-picture perspective with eyewitness accounts of turning points like the August 1991 coup. The result is readable scholarship that will help untangle Russia's fast-moving recent history for lay readers and specialists alike.-Robert Decker, Palo Alto, Cal.
