Customer Reviews

Alien Wars: The Soviet Union's Aggression Against the World, 1919 to 1989

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Not a bad book, although at times it was quite tendious to read. It gives a basic overview of Soviet involvement in major world coflicts (Spanish civil War, WW2, Vietanam, Arab-Israeli wars etc). It is quite heavy on militaristic elements, which would be interesting to anyone interested in how wars are fought and funded. The historical backgrounds of the wars are briefly discussed, as fell as the fallout created by conflict. Interesting chapter about Soviet involvement in Afghanistan, which gives a detailed look into the geo-political reasons for the invasion. All in all, not a bad book, but lacking in historical depth.

An author would have to work awfully hard to make the history of the USSR and the aggressive aspects of its foreign policy dull. But these two authors manage to pull it off. This snoozer reads like a bad military manual, with authors that seem utterly unable to tell a story, preferring instead to dwell on the incredibly uninteresting minutae of military logistics. Even when it tries to be interesting by giving you insider information on the thought processes of Soviet officialdom, whether through insider information, official correspondence or newly declassified Kremlin documents, it still manages to underwhelm the reader. The writers should have focused on writing this as a history rather than as a textbook for a military academy which is how it reads.

As if the narrative isn't bad enough, the writing style is at best amateurish. This book reads like a rough draft. Thus it is difficult to decide which is worse, the writing of the book or the total lack of editing done by the publisher.

Anyway, I normally keep the books I have read in my book collection. This one will be donated to my local library's used book fundraiser before it can stink up my house any further. Come to think of it, I hate to cause yet another individual to waste their hard-earned money on this coma-inducer. But hey, it's for a good cause!

This book is awful. Do not buy it under any circumstances. Sarin and Dvoretsky have no understanding of history or strategy. They simply fulminate against the Soviet regime. They claim to have used new documents from the Russian archives, but none of the documents they cite is of any great significance (they are largely anecdotal). There are many better books on the Soviet military and Soviet foreign policy, so don't waste your time with this gibberish