
Joseph Novak (alias of Jerzy Kosiński) through a compilation of interviews, questionnaires, and observations presents the reader with a picture of Soviet society on all levels, social, cultural and economic. He will get to know the Russian citizen, his home, surroundings, place of work, his psychology, his prejudices, his education, his welfare and his family. Novak does not attempt to interpret his findings-he lets the quotations speak for themselves. If he does not provide the reader with an interpretive framework, he does establish the basis for an understanding of a society foreign to our own- and this is the value of the book. Novak presents the Soviet Union not as Communist, but as Russian, with its history of authoritarianism and stringency.... (from Kirkusreviews)