A very good account of life in 1930s Russia under the Bolshevik regime led by Lenin and then Stalin. Stalin's policies of collectivism of agriculture and rapid industrialization is very apparent throughout the book. What stands out is the dim view held by many Russian citizens of the capitalistic society of western nations including the United States which is clearly exploited by Stalin to pursue his objectives of social engineering and absolute power. You even find yourself buying into Stalin's propoganda as seems to be the case with the author, John Scott. But Stalin's brutal tactics must not be overlooked. He does create impressive cities and a very strong army, but at a great cost to the Russian people.

A very good account of life in 1930s Russia under the Bolshevik regime led by Lenin and then Stalin. Stalin's policies of collectivism of agriculture and rapid industrialization is very apparent throughout the book. What stands out is the dim view held by many Russian citizens of the capitalistic society of western nations including the United States which is clearly exploited by Stalin to pursue his objectives of social engineering and absolute power. You even find yourself buying into Stalin's propoganda as seems to be the case with the author, John Scott. But Stalin's brutal tactics must not be overlooked. He does create impressive cities and a very strong army, but at a great cost to the Russian people.

A very good account of life in 1930s Russia under the Bolshevik regime led by Lenin and then Stalin. Stalin's policies of collectivism of agriculture and rapid industrialization is very apparent throughout the book. What stands out is the dim view held by many Russian citizens of the capitalistic society of western nations including the United States which is clearly exploited by Stalin to pursue his objectives of social engineering and absolute power. You even find yourself buying into Stalin's propoganda as seems to be the case with the author, John Scott. But Stalin's brutal tactics must not be overlooked. He does create impressive cities and a very strong army, but at a great cost to the Russian people.

Other reviewers have done a good job pointing out the positives of this book; it's a unique look at a moment in history in a region most westerners have never heard of. One issue that needs to be made clear, however, is that this book is under no circumstance to be considered unbiased. In reference to Stalin's purges, John Scott makes such statements in as "Often they tried the wrong people, but in Russia this is relatively unimportant" and "Most of these people were innocent, but some were guilty, and some might have become excellent Nazi fifth-columnists. Stalin considered this investment a good one" without a hint of remorse. He plays the apologist, by constantly citing figures like pig iron production or cement tonnage, which are somehow supposed to negate the Stalinist terrors. Yes, the author is a victim of that same blind denial that kept Jews in concentration camps and the Gulag full of innocent Soviets. After reading Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg's "Journey Into the Whirlwind", her account of her life in Stalin's prison system, I almost felt physically ill when I reexamined "Behind the Urals". I can not blame Scott for what so many other Soviets fell victim to, the Cult of Stalin, but you have to go into this book with the mindset you would an uncritical book about the wonders of arms production in Nazi Germany. "Behind the Urals" is full of history, but it needs a liberal dose of critical interpretation, and an understandings that his political views should best be taken as an historical curiosity.