This was one of our books for a course in the SIU Sociological department. US and Soviet society. ( )

Very good book, 22nd printing (1989) and updated version of the Copyright 1976 original. Very good look at everyday Russian life, attitudes, and changes within Russia in the 1970s-1980s. ( )

"The Russians" by Hedrick Smith is a book I loved the first time I read it in the 1980s. I reread it in the early 2000s and it more or less held up, even though things in the former Soviet Union were changing drastically. It is probably still of interest today because he looks at Russians as people, how they act in public, in private, among strangers, with bureaucracy, at work, at school and everywhere in-between. Smith and his family spent 4 years in Moscow during the late '60s and early '70s. He took every opportunity to meet people and find out what they were thinking, how things were done and he was an astute observer. It is entertaining and enlightening to read, even today. Highly recommended. ( )

Although older, it is still relevant. It is about Russian culture, and his thesis is that what we see under the Soviets we saw under the Czars. And probably we will see under the Presidents... ( )

In grade 9, our Language Arts teacher had one period of 40 minutes per week where we could read whatever we wanted for the whole period. (Mr. Wilson, D. S. MacKenzie Junior High School, Edmonton, Alberta.) At that stage in my life, I had brought this book to class because I loved to read the thickest books possible. I remember one of my friends saw it and called me a communist. Remember that this was grade 9 level, and in the mid 1970s the Cold War was still on. I was shocked by his name-calling but I was too mortified to complain to the teacher. Secretly, I was proud to be called a communist, and have some distinction from my peers.
I slogged through it and was quite fascinated by the descriptions of everyday people.
Not that we had zero accounts given to us North Americans of the Soviet environment, but you and I know that the ones that we could access were restricted in number and in scope. Apart from the doings of the Brezhnev and Nixon and Ford and Carter which we heard about sporadically on the news reports about the Cold War and arms reduction treaties, it was hard to get any idea of what everyday Russian life was like. Unless you count Russian track and field and gymnastics athletes highlighted during the Olympics every four years. This book accomplished that goal of enlightening me about all the regular people at home in Russia.
Years later, I could graduate on to Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol and The Gulag Archipelago.