Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union [Paperback]

Scott Shane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

By the 1980s the Soviet Union had matched the United States in military might and far surpassed it in the production of steel, timber, concrete, and oil. But the electronic whirlwind that was transforming the global economy had been locked out by communist leaders. Heirs to an old Russian tradition of censorship, they had banned photocopiers, prohibited accurate maps, and controlled word-for-word even the scripts of stand-up comedians. In this compellingly readable firsthand account, filled with memorable characters, revealing vignettes, and striking statistics, Scott Shane tells the story of Mikhail Gorbachev's attempt to "renew socialism" by easing information controls. As newspapers, television, books, films, and videotapes flooded the country with information about the Stalinist past, the communist present, and life in the rest of the world, the Soviet system was driven to ruin. Shane's unique perspective also places one of the century's momentous events in larger context: the universal struggle of governments to keep information from the people, and the irresistible power of technology over history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What did the people know, and when did they know it? Probing these questions, Shane--who from 1988 spent 39 months as the Baltimore Sun 's Russian bureau chief--shows how information technology doomed the Bolshevik experiment. In a system that withheld even local street maps and phone books and distributed material to its apparatchiks only on a need-to-know basis, Gorbachev's loosening of information controls ultimately destroyed the government he set out to reform, stresses the author. Although the events he relates are familiar, Shane's perspective is fresh and instructive. In his discussion of economic reforms, for example, he relates the populace's anger over market-driven prices to the disinformation disseminated about subsidized costs in the former U.S.S.R. But it was the revelations of the extent of the Soviet terror, Shane argues, that returned historical memory to a people who had accepted lies as truth. The populace rejected Gorbachev's cost-benefit contention that collectivization, industrialization and military victory counterbalanced Stalinism. About the current chaos in Russia, Shane simply concludes that information told people of their predicament, but didn't solve it.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The former Moscow correspondent of the Baltimore Sun looks at the role of information in bringing down the Soviet regime and finds that loosened restrictions on the press and the worldwide revolution in information technology probably had more to do with communism's downfall than the personalities of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Rich in human interest details, his analysis shows how information control in the form of phony prices and statistics had so endangered the Soviet economy as to make even the KGB a proponent of glasnost--that is, until liberalization of the press led to an information explosion and fatally undermined the Communist myth. Shane covers the process in Soviet literature, film, music, TV, and even stand-up comedy, as well as journalism. Some key events, like Chernobyl, are missing, but otherwise this highly readable volume is exemplary for putting the story into a historical framework while skillfully conveying the drama of its unfolding. For Soviet studies and larger public international affairs collections.
- Robert Decker, Palo Alto, Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee; 1st Elephant paperback ed edition (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566630991
• ISBN-13: 978-1566630993
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #600,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling read, beautifully written, July 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union (Paperback)

Scott Shane's "Dismantling Utopia" is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary Russia. David Remnick (Lenin's Tomb) called it "A critical book [written] with grace, sympathy and intelligence." I can't improve upon that assessment. I do think Shane is one of the United States' best journalists, and could make any subject interesting reading.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story that should be more widely told and understood, August 19, 2005

By 

Charles Hooper (Grass Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union (Paperback)

Wow. What an interesting book. Scott Shane was in the right spot and had the right skills to interpret the demise of a great empire, the Soviet Union. We don't have the luxury to run controlled trials in society, but sometimes they happen for us. The Soviet Union was one of history's biggest experiments. As we now know, it failed miserably. If we can't learn lessons from such a colossal failure, we aren't very good students of history and human behavior. The lesson from Scott Shane, that gives the book its subtitle, is that information can set us free. The lesson I draw is that governments should serve the people, not visa versa.

Charles L. Hooper, coauthor Making Great Decisions in Business and Life

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, compelling account , of the power of words., July 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union (Paperback)

I have lived in Russia for the past three years and am a personal friend of Andre Mironoff. I have taught Human Rights in Russian Universities, and have had Andre as a guest lecturer in my classe.

I recommend with out reservation reading this book to have a better understanding of life that still exists in modern Russia. There are more paradoxes than solutions to the complexities existing in Russia's difficult transition. I found Scott Shane's book to give a better understanding to the paradoxes existing today than did David Remnicks "Lenin's Toumb". Shane skillfully and accurately identified the power of informtion in the Soviet Union's collapse, the paradox being, the lack of coodinated information desemination in Russia today being a major barrier to reform.

Andrei is still pursuing Human Rights in Russia, and many others like him are vital to keeping the foundation of reform alive----that is a civil society with an appreciation of the importance of recognizing Human Rights of its citizens.

This book also has a great potential not in classes relating to Russia's current transition, but to Human Rights classe in general...The theoretical aspects are grounded into a practical reality for a reader of Shane's book.

To any reader,,,the importance of media in our modern society is underscored by this account. This book is an excellent gift to share with friends, It also allows readers to understand the importance of supporting reform in Russia