Books in Brief: U.S.A. and the Soviet Myth

U.S.A. and the Soviet Myth, by Lev E. Dobriansky (Devin-Adair, 274 pp., $6.50). Dobriansky’s book on recommended U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union remains to be written; but he has given us a valuable description of the Russians’ imperial domination over various national minorities from the Baltic to the Pacific. Unfortunately, he hammers at the same few points until the reader has to push himself into the next chapter. Repeated ad nauseam is the fact that “Russia” is not the USSR, but only a small part thereof. On the other hand, he does show that what most of us call Communist imperialism has a long history of Russian identity; and he goes on to suggest that we probe for and exploit the USSR’s weaknesses among its national minorities. Refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Russian domination of these groups would put us on the offensive, thus denying the Russians their accustomed sanctuary. d. b. duval

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D. B. Duval

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U.S.A. and the Soviet Myth, by Lev E. Dobriansky (Devin-Adair, 274 pp., $6.50). Dobriansky’s book on recommended U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union remains to be written; but he has given us a valuable description of the Russians’ imperial domination over various national minorities from the Baltic to the Pacific. Unfortunately, he hammers at the same few points until the reader has to push himself into the next chapter. Repeated ad nauseam is the fact that “Russia” is not the USSR, but only a small part thereof. On the other hand, he does show that what most of us call Communist imperialism has a long history of Russian identity; and he goes on to suggest that we probe for and exploit the USSR’s weaknesses among its national minorities. Refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Russian domination of these groups would put us on the offensive, thus denying the Russians their accustomed sanctuary. d. b. duval