Russia: The Roots of Confrontation(American Foreign Policy Library)

Robert V. Daniels's book Russia: The Roots of Confrontation, first published in 1985, examines the historical contrasts between East and West and elucidates the Russian enigma. The book springs from the thesis that Russia's national character and its international relations can be understood only in light of the traumas and triumphs, privation and privileges that the country weathered in its unique past under the tsars and the Soviets. The author lays to rest the mistaken American view that Soviet behavior was simply the application of Marxist revolutionary ideology. The character of the Soviet system as it evolved after the Revolution is shown to be a synthesis of revolutionary rhetoric, dictatorial pragmatism, and traditional Russian kinds of behavior. Daniels points out that no part of the world is more alien to Americans than Russia, and he evokes parallels and contrasts with the American experience to clarify the driving forces behind this ill-understood superpower.

Table of Contents:
1. The Past in the Present The Old in the New The Geographical Base The Ethnic Mosaic Ethnodemographics The Geology of Historical Experience 2. Holy Russia The Phases of Russian History Imperial Expansion Autocracy Two-Storey Slavery Cultural Schizophrenia 3. Imperial Power The International Context The Rise of Russian Power Russia in the Age of Alliances The Road to Catastrophe The United States and the Tsarist Government America and the Peoples of Russia 4. The Road to Revolution Modernization and Revolution The Russian Revolutionary Movement Marxism in Russia The Uprising of 1905 5. The Revolutions of 1917 The Setting The February Revolution The Provisional Government The October Revolution The Legacy of Revolution 6. War, Intervention, and International Revolution World War and the Provisional Government The Bolsheviks and the World Russia Leaves the War Civil War Allied Intervention World Revolution 7. The Evolution of the Soviet Regime Lenin's Dictatorship and War Communism Building Socialism and the New Economic Policy The Stalin Revolution The Great Purge and Stalin's Counterrevolution From Stalin to Brezhnev 8. Isolation and Alliance The NEP in Foreign Policy The Third Period From Collective Security to the Hitler-Stalin Pact The Grand Alliance 9. Cold War and Coexistence The Big Two The Expansion of Communism Containment From Freeze to Thaw From Coexistence to Polycentrism 10. The Contemporary System The Politics of Leadership The Political Structure Ideology The Socialist Economy 11. Soviet Life and Culture The Social Structure Education and Science Intellectual Life and Dissent Religion The Nationalities The Soviet Way of Life 12. The Soviet Union and the World The Road to Detente The Bloc and the Triangle Third-World Competition The Balance of Terror The New Cold War Conclusion: Confrontation or Accommodation? Suggested Readings Index

About the Author :
Robert V. Daniels is Professor of History, Emeritus, University of Vermont. Edwin O. Reischauer was University Professor at Harvard University.

Review :
Daniels’s extraordinarily compact survey of Russian history, contemporary Soviet society and Soviet-American relations arrives right on time. Lucid, level-headed, firmly grounded, it should serve as a perfect introduction to the Age of Gorbachev. In this authoritative analysis of the Russian historical experience, Daniels dismantles many of the old stereotypes, misperceptions, and irrational fears that have cumulatively (and consistently) undermined accurate perceptions of who the Soviets are… Both pragmatic and sensitive, this book will give both policy makers and interested laypersons an opportunity to understand the Soviet Union in new and more enlightened ways.