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GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power
The changing state of Russia
Charles Buxton gives fresh insights into complex social and political developments before and after the Soviet collapse, says Joe Gill
MIGUEL YOSHIDA explains the evolution and influence of the Cuban Casa De Las Americas in joining culture to the revolutionary struggle
ANDY HEDGECOCK is charmed by a skilful adaptation of Tove Jansson’s lyrical portrait of three generations of a family, overcoming grief
ALEX HALL treads warily through a messy, dialectical struggle fought in the mundane machinery of driving licences, criminal law, and birth registries
MICHAL BONCZA, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and ANGUS REID review Atlas of Disappearance, Love Me Tender, Bouchra, and This Tempting Madness
Flitting between myth and the modern world, Medusa is determined to steer clear of human affairs. When her resolve crumbles, the result is petrifying in every sense
Russia and Development: Capitalism, Civil Society and the State by Charles Buxton (Zed Books, £24.99)
In this wide-ranging book, Charles Buxton brings a fresh eye to the historical analysis of Russian development during the Soviet and post-Soviet period. Rather than take a simplistic pro- or anti-Soviet position, he attempts to place more recent developments in Russia and Central Asia in a historical context by examining the late tsarist and Bolshevik periods and comparing these to developments since perestroika and the Soviet collapse.
It is not strictly speaking a Marxist analysis. But it does allow for the complex factors of local, national, class and international forces at work —which are impacting on Russia and the states of the former Soviet Union.
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