My Russia

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Good
Jacket Condition: Good
Publisher: Macmillan
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 1983
Edition: First Edition

Description: 224 pages. Book and Jacket are both in Good condition. There is some light shelf and reading wear, but still a presentable copy. Russia Has Been Invaded More Than She Invaded, And Lost More Sons And Dughters On Her Soil Than She Has Lost On Foreign Fields.This Then Is Is The Story To The Roots Of A National Character Which Often Frightens And Often Mystifies.

Publishers Description: Proselytizing, not postcards. "The title," says Ustinov, "is the publishers"; still he does have a Russia of his own - with no resemblance to the savage giant or deadly prison of Western "prejudice." There, he bas a point; but this spotty, idiosyncratic pictorial history doesnt make much of a case. Ustinov wants to remind us that Russia bas always felt threatened - because she has always been threatened. Insofar as Russia did stand between the Mongols and Europe, and withstood Napoleon and Hitler, the Russians have a claim to understanding; but in extending Russias defensive perimeter to include the Baltic states and Poland, Ustinov pushes that claim at the expense of the legitimate interests of others. Its captious, moreover, to assert that "Russia was never an imperialist power in the conventional sense" (because she didnt make over-seas conquests) and plainly absurd to object to "the image. . . of endless autocracy" when even his last czars are stoutly proclaiming themselves autocrats. And when he does necessarily describe the excesses of Russian rulers, and the extremes of Russian temperament (or both: "Ivan was never more himself than when torturing and killing with his cronies, dressed as them, in black"), the reader cant help but feel that theres something to the old impressions. The Russians, Ustinov would like us to realize, are different - as a nation and as a people. But whether or not "the American way of life would be. . . curtly rejected by most Russians," as he alleges, "the proof" is not that "the Russians voluntarily abandoned Hawaii, whereas the Americans made it their 51st state, and increased the voltage of the electric guitars." (There once were a few Russians in Hawaii, in 1815-16 - and, yes, it does say 51st state.) Readily dispensable. (Kirkus Reviews)

ISBN: 0333341295