Anticipating a new dawn of freedom and democracy after the disintegration of the Soviet Union; Russians could hardly have foreseen the reality of their future a decade later: a country desperately impoverished and controlled at every level by criminals. This is the story of the 1990s reform period in Russia through the experiences of individual citizens. Recounting in detail the development of a new era of oppression; journalist David Satter conveys the staggering nature of the changes that have swept Russian life; society and ways of thinking. Through the stories of people at all levels of Russian society; Satter describes fraudulent investment schemes; massive corruption; and the intrusion of organized crime everywhere. With insights derived from more than 20 years of writing and reporting on Russia; Satter considers why the individual human being there has historically counted for so little. He also offers an analysis of how Russia's post-Soviet fate was decided when a new morality failed to fill the vast moral vacuum that communism left in its wake.
#764968 in Books imusti 2000-08-11Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.78 x 1.26 x 5.01l; 1.09 #File Name: 0300082533490 pagesYale University Press
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Dense; well-written; and well-documentedBy C. D. VarnYuri Stoyanov's recent on the dualist trends in Zoroastrianism; Gnosticism; Manichaeism; Bogomilism; and Catharism. If one is expecting lots of conjecture on Gnosticism; this is not what Stoyanov's puts on the table. Stoyanov's focus on dualism goes back into the sources of Slavic paganism as well as more obscure points of Zoroastrian Zurvanism; Mithraism; and Manichaeism. The scope of the book falls between antiquity to late medieval crusades. Chapters focus on different elements: pre-Christian dualism; crusades; Balkan dualism; etc.The book is dense and well-documented. The bibliography and footnotes are staggering; and the lack of unsourced conjecture is refreshing for the topic. Stoyanov avoids pitfalls of the topic; and while that makes for slow reading; the foot notes (and there are over a hundred pages of them) are themselves rewarding.Strong recommend to anyone interested in religious studies or the transition from antiquity to medieval thought.8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. A comprehensive survey of dualistic movementsBy C HillThis book is a sober straight-forward account of many versions of the Other God; that is to say; the ignored; defeated; or avoided divinity in dualist systems. The main concern; however; is not so much the other deities as much as dualistic belief systems and their fate in history. The original title is more accurate: "The Hidden Traditions in Europe: the Secret History of Medieval Christian Heresy." It is for the most part well-written although some surprising typographical errors creep in here and there. It tries to cover most dualist religious systems in history. The book is 476 pages long out of which 125 are endnotes! These are almost exclusively bibliographical info. The chapter titles and section titles are for the most part not particularly helpful in describing the content (e.g."The Bridge of the Separator"; "The Father of Light and Darkness").This book is not written in a difficult way at all. But it does use a lot of terms from the Greek and Latin. It is arranged chronologically; which also means somewhat geographically and travels from ancient Egypt via Greece and Palestine to medieval France making several stops in Persia and the Balkans; where it also concludes. A difficulty is the geography and names of places we don't have anymore. Some unclear maps are provided at the beginning of the book. This difficulty is compounded by political history which invariably affected some of these religions and movements. Typical of the larger religious movements is their spreading; mixing with other religions; then being persecuted by those in power; so aside from names of places we get a wealth of names of clans; dynasties; tribes; ethnies; rulers; writers; etc. As a result; some chapters focus entirely on history and not so much on religion.The Cathars don't occupy all that much space or interest for the author. In turn; the Balkans is what takes up a good portion of this book; and that story was a revelation to me. Sandwiched between Western and Eastern Christianity and later even Islam; the Balkans were the last and most consistent stronghold of dualism. We are introduced to a dizzying array of varieties of Christian dualism with all their respective varieties of demonology and Christology. One should also note that the author acknowledges that sources for this material are questionable as they come mostly from opponents of dualism who distorted and caricatured and literally demonized dualistic beliefs. To some extent this makes a good companion to Umberto Eco's excellent Baudolino; where heresies are at the center of the story and the significance of fine theological differences are worked out more clearly.The author did a tremendous amount of research and this work could almost be the perfect reference text on heresies; if the index were clearer.11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. can't do better than thisBy WyoteBooks like this are real treasures: at once fascinating and scholarly. Usually if you find a book on Mithraism; the Gnostics; Manichees; and Cathars; it's mostly nonsense. But this one is the highest level of scholarship.I was never bored while reading this; every page is full of information about obscure movements and heresies that anyone who studies the history of religion; especially religion in the Classical world or pre-modern Europe; will love to know.If you suspect you'll enjoy this book; I guarantee that you will. Of course if you want to read about Nicholas of Cusa; you'll be disappointed; but otherwise; you'll love it.
