The Collapse of the Soviet Empire: A View from Riga

From Library Journal
Neimanis (economics, Niagara Univ.) here gives an eyewitness account of a recent turbulent period in Latvian history. During the second half of 1991, he was in Riga as an adviser to the Latvian parliament. From that vantage point, he observed and analyzed the end of the Gorbachev era and a referendum on Latvian independence. As a Western-trained economist, he is critical of central planning and of propaganda proclaiming that conditions in the West were worse than in the Soviet bloc. He also sees nationalism as a force that disrupted Moscow's control, because many in Latvia still remember the pre-World War II independent republic. Finally, he is critical of the lack of accountability in Soviet life and of a Party that rewarded obedience rather than results. This work lacks the vitality of Richard Kruckus's Showdown (LJ 2/1/97), and the Latvian perspective often gets lost in the macroeconomic analysis of the Soviet Union. Not an essential purchase.?Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., N.Y.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
An American academic describes the breakup of the Soviet Union and the formation of an independent Latvia from the vantage point of Riga, where he was acting as an advisor to the Latvian Parliament and was a visiting faculty member at the time of the events. This description is unusual for several reasons--the author was based in Riga rather than Moscow or Leningrad, where most reporters lived, the work was written by someone who had access to the government, and the author was able to understand the local press and people. Background material on the Baltic countries and their relationship to the USSR is discussed.


About the Author
GEORGE J. NEIMANIS is Professor and former Chair of the Department of Economics and Commerce at Niagara University.


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An American academic describes the breakup of the Soviet Union and the formation of an independent Latvia from the vantage point of Riga, where he was acting as an advisor to the Latvian Parliament and was a visiting faculty member at the time of the events. This description is unusual for several reasons - the author was based in Riga rather than Moscow or Leningrad, where most reporters lived, the work was written by someone who had access to the government, and the author was able to understand the local press and people. Background material on the Baltic countries and their relationship to the USSR is discussed. The work will interest those who want to learn what really happened during the breakdown of the USSR and those who need to deal with the changes that continue to occur in the successor states.


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