Russia, The Soviet Union, and The United States: An Interpretive History

by John Lewis Gaddis

From the capricious reign of Catherine the Great and Alexander I to the provocative leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, the author concentrates on the interplay between interests and ideologies in the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, in an even-handed, non-ideological narrative.

Genres: History, Russia, Soviet Union, Political Science, Nonfiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book written by an outstanding author. Should have read this book a long time ago to better understand Russian methods and behavior. Way too many awesome points from this book, but below are a few.

-Because Russian activities in the Pacific Northwest and in Latin America provided the occasion for the Monroe Doctrine, that proclamation has often been interpreted as an anti-Russian measure. This is an inaccurate view. At no point were the United States officials seriously worried about Russian intervention in the Western Hemisphere. P 11. PJK: never before thought about the Monroe Doctrine possibly being aimed at Russia; always assumed it was aimed at the UK, France, Spain, etc. The author doesn't believe Russia was the target, but still interesting to ponder this question.
-One was the belief that Russia was too backward to be governed by anything other than despotism. P13. PJK: could still be considered true today.
-The Russians, grateful to the Americans for their friendly attitude, sent both their Atlantic and Pacific fleets to winter in United States ports late in 1863. Many in both Europe and America took these unannounced visits as a sign of Russian support for the Union…. P22. PJK: never realized this happened; amazing that Russian ships would overwinter in US ports.
-The year 1917 saw the United States enter World War I and Russian, for all practical purposes, leave it. P57. PJK: interesting; never thought about this. Quite a challenge to navigate at the strategic level.
-American observers badly underestimated Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the months that followed, but they were hardly alone in this. Few foreigners perceived the depth of antiwar sentiment in Russia. P66. PJK: very interesting; how different would history be if the U.S. understood Russia better back then?

[JC Sevart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the facts of this book are interesting but Gaddis has a massive blindspot where it comes to American foreign policy. And I did expect that from this book but it is still a big negative for me.

Gaddis has a very funny image of what exactly Communism is in regards to early 1920s Leninism which appears to be the unilateral eschewing of any form of international commerce or trade as a means of lampooning the Bolsheviks for being hypocritical.

There's something ironic about lampooning the USSR as removing eastern Europe's right to national self determination while using England and the US as the model.

The claim that the British and Americans never spied on the Soviets pre or during WWII is a shocking turn!

Soviet foreign dealings are secretly evil but when the US does them it's good ol fashioned foreign policy. With no irony that this includes propping up military dictatorships in South Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia as well as the unironic support for encouraging right wing nationalism in The Philippines and Latin America which would go on to create some of the most repressive regimes in the 20th century.

[Ashlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

started this and didn’t finish. yes it gives the facts but you know when you’re reading a book by a historian and you can just tell they’re an imperialist…. yeah.