^#smrgSAHAF The Russians - Pulitzer Prize Winning New York Times Correspondent -

Hedrick Smith has done what we all wish we could do: he has gone to Russia and spoken to the people. Over steaming samovars, in cramped flats, and on dirt-floors, he has spoken to peasants and bureaucrats, artists and officials. He has studied their customs and their governments and shares his fascinating insights and fresh perspectives with us.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago, I have visited various parts of the former Soviet Union over a dozen times. What astonishes me about this book is that all that Smith reports so closely matches what I have seen and experienced on my visits to the Soviet empire. Though he wrote in the 1970s - long before the collapse of Communism - Smith has captured the essence of the country and its people in a way which is extremely readable and relevant today. It is the best book on Russia which I have read.