RUSSIA, MY NATIVE LAND

A U.S. Engineer Reminisces and Looks at the Present"" is the subtitle of these memoirs, and while it is accurate enough as far as it goes, some words of warning are in order, because the message here is not at all what we have come to expect from Russian emigres. Neither is it apt to please other White Russians or professional anticommunists. The author's father was a Don Cossack officer, as for a time was he himself, and his mother was close to the Tsarina. The first section of his book describes his pre-Revolution youth; the second and largest part is devoted to the Civil War itself; and the third is concerned with the impressions he gained of the Soviet Union during 1959 when he was there as a member of the U.S. Foundation Engineering Exchange delegation. Part I is a valuable and vivid picture of a vanished society; Part II is even more valuable as a contribution to a misunderstood and confused piece of history. And Part III -- attempts to correct our attitude to the Russians as people. It seeks an understanding of the fact that ""continuation in the West of 'Hate and Dismember Russia' propaganda can only slow down changes towards more liberal policies within the USSR.