SOVIET DISSENT: Intellectuals, Jews and Detente

by Albert Axelbank ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1975

Determinedly sidestepping the more emotional aspects of the issue, Axelbank sketches personable, sympathetic portraits of the best-known Soviet dissenters -- Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov, Panov, Nureyev -- who have found their artistry, writing and/or Jewishness incompatible with the Soviet view of citizenship. At the same time he explains to Americans the USSR's position that external propaganda has created most of the pressure for Jewish emigration and that the West is attempting to ""buy away"" its most valuable talents. Axelbank's analysis reflects his pro-trade, pro-detente sympathies, yet his personal knowledge of the Soviet intellectual community allows him to make important distinctions among the positions of individual dissidents and to trace both the ups and downs of official anti-Semitism and more invisible effects of discrimination. A challenging array of data and a generally steady overview.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Franklin Watts

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION