The New Russians - Softcover

In his first book, "The Russians" the author concluded that the Soviet Union was too entrenched in dogmatic ideology - economic, social and political - to change. Following two years in Russia, where he travelled witnessing the effects of Gorbachev's reforms, the author reassesses his earlier judgements in this book. Smith interviewed outspoken mothers, former Gulag executioners, neo-Stalinists, farmers and factory managers faced by new free market demands, TV producers released from old-style censorship, and Gorbachev himself.

As a top New York Times journalist, Hendrick Smith was Bureau Chief and Chief Correspondent for nearly a decade, and his overseas assignments included Vietnam, Cairo, Paris and Moscow. His reporting from Moscow 1971-4 won him a Pulitzer Prize, and he was also a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that produced the Pentagon Papers series in the New York Times. His two previous books, The Power Game: how Washington really works and The Russians, have both been bestsellers. This edition of The New Russians have been updated and includes four new chapters including the 'coup' and its aftermath.