Moshe Lewin is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of several books on Soviet
history.
Review
"Mr. Lewin's book is a grand essay of wide historical and sociological sweep. . . . Perhaps the study's
most valuable contribution is the emphasis on the social changes Russia has undergone since 1917, symbolized by
the shift of population from village to city and all the characteristic byproducts of urbanization, including the
rise of the educated professionals with middle-class values and attitudes."
- Alexander Dallin, New York Times Book Review
"A broad historical analysis of Lewin's kind makes the Gorbachev phenomenon far less an extraordinary event,
by replacing it within the continuum of historical trends of which he is the expression and which are being achieved
through him."
- Pierre Bourdieu, Times Literary Supplement
"This slim volume, based on a lifetime's scholarly research into social change since the revolution, is
compulsory . . . reading for anyone who would or should understand the Gorbachev phenomenon."
- Edward Acton, London Observer
"Concise, illuminating commentary on the state of the Soviet Union. . . . Lewin's study is sharply focused,
[and] offers intriguing perspectives on an imperfectly understood regime that may be only a few steps ahead of
the polyglot population it is assumed to lead and rule."
- Kirkus Reviews
"In an instructive and highly readable analysis, Lewin pinpoints Gorbachev's main strength as his awareness
that all parts of the system--society, party, state, economy--must be reformed simultaneously."
- Publishers Weekly
University Of California Press Web Site
March, 2000
Summary
The "Gorbachev phenomenon" is seen as the product of complex developments during the last seventy
years--developments that changed the Soviet Union from a primarily agrarian society into an urban, industrial one.
Here, for the first time, a noted authority on Soviet society identifies the crucial historical events and social
forces that explain Glasnost and political and economic life in the Soviet Union today.