The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost (Modern War Studies Series)
Author: Russian General Staff
"This superb translation will generate widespread and unprecedented interest in the subject. Offering a candid view of a war that played a significant role in the ultimate demise of the Soviet Union, this book presents analysis absolutely vital to Western policymakers, as well as to political, diplomatic, and military historians, and anyone interested in Russian and Soviet history. It also provides insights regarding current and future Russian struggles in ethnic conflicts both at and within their borders, struggles that could potentially destroy the Russian Federation."—David M. Glantz, coauthor of The Battle of Kursk
"Provides a treasure trove of information and analysis."—William E. Odom, author of The Collapse of the Soviet Military and On Internal War
Author Biography: Lester W. Grau, a Vietnam War veteran and retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, is an analyst for the Foreign Military Studies Office at the Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth. He is also the editor and translator of The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan and The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War.
Michael A. Gress is a native of Siberia and a former soldier in the motorized rifle forces of the Soviet Army.
Publishers Weekly
This is the third volume in a trilogy on the operational aspects of the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979-1988. The first two dealt respectively with Soviet and mujahideen tactics. This one is the perspective of the Russian General Staff. It follows the Soviet tradition of recording the events and experiences of previous wars not from a historical perspective, but in a "lessons learned" context, to help improve future performance. The work lacks the shaping, ideologically based overview of its predecessors. It is, rather, a compilation of information from a broad spectrum of sources synthesized by a group of authors who mostly have been through the fighting, and the book is destined for think tank and military academic libraries. Its text, admirably translated and edited, will be nearly impossible for lay people to stay with, but it tells a story of poor intelligence compounded by inappropriate force structures, inadequate operational doctrine and no strategy to speak of. Soviet forces did not understand their opposition, especially the mujahideen's ability and willingness to sustain the fighting far beyond rational-actor parameters. Repeated failures of conventional, large-scale war techniques led the Soviets to adopt smaller, more flexible formations and nonlinear tactics with increasing success, but mujahideen-operated Stinger ground-to-air missiles provided by the U.S. helped drag out a conflict the Soviet military could not win decisively in a time frame acceptable to Soviet political authorities. In the end, Afghanistan contributed significantly, perhaps decisively, to the collective loss of confidence that brought the U.S.S.R. to self-destruction. (Feb. 5) Forecast: The hardcover is priced out of the trade market, but if the paperback makes it onto the shelves, expect some unsuspecting browsers looking for layperson's narrative to pick this one up. Otherwise, only collections concerned with the nitty-gritty history of operations planning and execution will find what they're looking for here. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
The stark contrasts between the current American-Afghan war and the traumatic events of the Soviet conflict that ended more than a decade ago are dramatically apparent in this book. Translator and editor Grau (Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, ret.; The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan) had help deciphering the Russian General Staff papers from Gress, a Soviet migr who served in the Soviet army. The main body of the book is about Soviet army and air force tactics, operations, and armaments. At the end of each section, Grau offers "editor's comments" to explain and draw perspective on the accounts from the Russian General Staff. Several recurring themes are that the Soviets/Russians have not given accurate statistics on the war, the Soviet military had thoroughly penetrated the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan before the invasion, and the Marxist-Leninist framework kept the generals from making a proper assessment of their task. Although of some historical interest, this book is ponderous with details and is not a light read. Recommended for public libraries with Soviet history collections and academic libraries. Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. Syst., Iola Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Interesting book: Jesus the Village Psychiatrist or There Are No Secrets
The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath
Author: John Steinbeck
Recently listed in the Top 100 List of the Century's Best American Journalism.
Gathered in this important volume are seven newspaper articles on migrant farm workers that John Steinbeck wrote for The San Francisco News in 1936, three years before The Grapes of Wrath. With the inquisitiveness of an investigative reporter and the emotional power of a novelist in his prime, Steinbeck toured the squatters' camps and Hoovervilles of California. Here he found once strong, independent farmers—the backbone of rural America—so reduced in dignity, beaten in spirit, sick, sullen, and defeated that they had been "cast down to a kind of subhumanity." He contrasts their misery with the hope offered by government resettlement camps, where self-help committees, child nurseries, quilting and sewing projects, and decent sanitation were restoring dignity and indeed saving lives.
The Harvest Gypsies gives us an eyewitness account of the horrendous Dust Bowl migration, a major event in California history, and provides the factual foundation for Steinbeck's masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath. Included are twenty-two photographs by Dorothea Lange and others, many of which accompanied Steinbeck's original articles.
Publishers Weekly
In 1936, a San Francisco newspaper commissioned Steinbeck to write a week-long series of articles about California's underclass of white migrant farm workers, who became the models and the inspiration for The Grapes of Wrath. Reprinted here, Steinbeck's observations of migrant families and of their exploitation by wealthy agriculturists have not lost their potency. And as Wollenberg, a history professor at Vista College, Berkeley, Calif., points out, the plight of the newly destitute and newly homeless has particular relevance today. Steinbeck's journalism shares the enduring quality of his famous novel (but critics of Steinbeck will beware; his heavy-handed style is only slightly less obtrusive here). Especially interesting are the final articles, which analyze the history of California's migrant populations and propose federal programs to alleviate their distress. Steinbeck's outrage leads to an emotional indictment of then-current farm management as ``a system of terrorism that would be unusual in the Fascist nations of the world.'' Certain to engage students of both American literature and labor history. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)
No comments:
Post a Comment