Amazing.

The author comes from a family of Russian emigres who fled to the West as a result of the Russian Revolution. Before the Revolution, they were part of the minor nobility that supplied the Tsars with military officers in time of war and high- and mid-level government officials in time of peace. The book is mainly about how this family lived through the tumultuous period before, during and after the Revolution. The descriptions of Russian life during this period are vivid and engaging. The family portraits of people struggling to serve and save their country (and ultimately suffering the cruelest repudiation by it) are poignant. And the pages sparkle with objective analysis and insight. In spite of his family background, he does not grind axes or pine away for what was lost. And yet, although much was lost, his love for Russia and its people is clear. He sees clearly that the old order that was swept away in 1917 had its shortcomings, shortcomings that he warns may yet undermine contemporary Russia's latest experiments with constitutional democracy.

Serge Schmemann has written a terrific book about his ancestors on his Mother's side, the aristocratic Osorgin family. He traces the estate in Sergiyevskoye (now Koltsovo) that Mikhail Osorgin acquired in a card game in 1843 to the present day. It is a facinating tale interspersed with a history of the country from monarchy to communism to today. Schmemann, the son of an noted Russian Orthodox priest, is emminently qualified to write such a book. He spent many years in the Soviet Union as a reporter for the New York Times prior to winning a Pulitzer for his reportage on the fall of the Berlin Wall. The book is well researched and balanced with little tears shed over how his family lost everything to the successors of Lenin. This is his first book and it is written as what one would would expect from a newspaperman. The balalaikas do not strum and the book does lack the flavor that a book writer would bring. Never-the-less, it holds ones interest for all 333 pages. Unfortunately, Schmemann is currently an editor at the Times, so one misses his excellent columns. We look forward to his next book.

The first half of this book is both leisurely and entertaining, giving us a rich and at the same time penetrating look at the life of a wealthy family, its estate, and the villagers who were their neighbors. The second half, concentrating as it does on post-Bolshavik experiences, both in the rural village area and elsewhere, including a gulag on the White Sea, cannot be more riveting. It's hard to remember that all this really happened; it is no fiction, or creative dramatization. At the same time, there is the sweep and intellectual vision that one does associate with the great Russian novelists of the early part of this century and before. I have sent this extraordinary book to friends of mine, and I am its ardent publicity agent!

The pictures are elegant even if the subject isn't. Very beautiful book. Know that the book is not intended to show you all aspects of life in Soviet Russia. It focuses more on the downside of life.

Having traveled in Russia during the Soviet era, I believe that Sherbell, in words and images, has captured the essence of the latter stages of the Empire. The picures and text show a deep understanding and appreciation of the problems of the Soviet system. More importantly, the beauty, humanity and resiience of the Russian people come shining through. It is a terrific photo book.

Whether or not you ever visited the Soviet Union in its dying days, Shepard Sherbell's photographs will grab you. His images of that moribund nation reveal the darkest secrets of the U.S.S.R. Those of us who lived through those final moments will recognize the chilling faces of a great power in demise. The crumbling buildings, cracking monuments and crushed spirits of a once-mighty state are beautifully portrayed in this book. It's an eyewitness to a land of infinite impossibilities.

Make no mistake: THE SOVIETS is not another collection of snapshots from Red Square and the Bolshoi Theater. Instead, its pages are populated with glimpses into the real life of that now-extinct country. Unless you'd lived there, this is a side of the Soviet Union you probably never saw.

Brace yourself.