A review by ursulamonarch
Sovietistan by Erika Fatland

4.0

I have to give a book a certain amount of credit if it's interesting enough to read over 400 pages about these former Soviet states. I was completely ignorant of them coming into the book, and the author makes it easy to jump into the book. There were definitely some weaknesses - of course, some topics are glossed over, the author has a distinct Western perspective that is front and center, there are a couple of odd notes in the translation, and I guess it was originally published a few years ago - and it's been updated with jarring footnotes. I also had a hard time retaining much from the book (near the end, I realized I could not name the five countries - yikes, although that's a fault with me and not the book), but I certainly enjoyed reading it!