Customer Reviews

Uncovering Soviet Disasters: Exploring the Limits of Glasnost

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

At the time this book was published, in 1988, it was an amusing and telling example of how much (or how little) could be deduced by forensic techniques from a putatively closed society. As such, it remains of interest in the 21st century, where there are still putatively closed regimes (Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea) that are rightly suspected of being up to mischief.
By 1988, had a long record of uncovering mysteries in the Soviet Union, especially in their space program. His biggest coup was revealing the existence of "missing cosmonauts."
That tale was retold here, along with a fascinating retrieval of unreported news stories about mayhem in all walks of Soviet life. Some remain controversial, at least in benighted quarters, like the reactor failure at Chernobyl.
Oberg concluded that while glasnost was real, it had not penetrated the Soviet military. "Uncovering Soviet Disasters" covers the period through late 1988. Subsequently, some military circles in Russia became more open, but on the whole his judgment then is good now.
The importance of this to arms control is obvious. Oberg's book is valuable on this and several other levels. Not the least reason for reading it is that it's a good mystery.
But nobody who reads this book will ever fly on a Russian airliner.

When this book was written in 1987-1988, many of these mysteries were totally unknown and likely to remain so. But the collapse of the USSR in 1991 opened its secret archives and in many cases (such as the 1979 anthrax epidemic in sverdlovsk) made some chapters obsolete. Others -- such as dead cosmonauts, or the Antarctic station disaster, or aviation catastrophes (including the Korean Airlines 007 shoot-down and other border attacks on lost airliners as well as military reconnaissance planes), or especially the treatment of nuclear disasters -- provide still-relevant and still-useful insights into what was really happening inside the Soviet Union and what it can teach us about safety in our own lives.

The book was well received at the time. Here are some examples.

"Oberg's book... fills gaps in our knowledge of recent Russian history. Well documented..., the book serves as a fine interim report on the effects of glasnost." NY Times -- also, EDITORS' CHOICE of "recent books of particular interest". "A remarkable job of detective work!" [Nick Daniloff]. "Highly recommended!" [Library Journal]. "A fascinating exploration... written with the flair of a detective novelist" [American Library Association's BOOKLIST]. "A clear, relaxed, journalistic style... (which) makes for extremely interesting and entertaining reading" [National Review]. "A crackerjack book!", Barry Farber, WMCA, New York. "Dogged is the word that fits Oberg.... He leaves no page unturned. It is a motherlode of material and Oberg is adept at separating probable fact from probable fiction. This accretion of detail gives the book credibility" [WASHINGTON POST]. "(A) fantastic book! Oberg's an incredible supersleuth... It beats any thriller or whodunit you might see on cable TV. Don't miss this one." [Petr Beckmann, ACCESS TO ENERGY]. "When Oberg delves deep into issues, his research is admirable." LOS ANGELES TIMES. "A fascinating book that reads like a fine detective novel." SOVIET AEROSPACE (Washington, DC). "An attempt to recreate events in their reality.... Understandably, the majority of these facts didn't find exposition in the Soviet media, especially before perestroika.... Silence, life shows us, forces us to repeat terrible mistakes. The unlearned lesson is a new armed landmine. Oberg argues: nobody can long succeed at keeping truth hidden. Information one way or another seeps out, it finds a way. But it's important that this occur more quickly." Ivan Illesh, in IZVESTIYA, p.6, "Kak Eto Bylo (How It Was)", Moscow, Nov 13, 1989.

That last review was particularly impressive, since it was from the former newspaper of the Soviet communist party, then reformed by glasnost, and reporting approvingly of Oberg's attempt to get the full truth out.

You can visit the author's home page at
www.jamesoberg.com
to see what else he's writing along these lines.

I read this book thinking that it would bring forth some evidence to prove that some of the rumored Soviet disasters were more than just urban legends. Instead, the book was just chapter after chapter of "An Unnamed source reported that an Unidentified plane (or boat or sub, etc.) crashed due to Uncertain causes at an Unknown location, killing an Undetermined number of fatalities." Then the logic is "We said it happened, they said it didn't. This proves they are liars and always have been." It was a shame, because many of the stories would have been potentially interesting if there was some evidence demonstrating what actually happened. Too many maybes, probablys and most likelys in this one. Also, I'm wondering why the author was surprised that the Soviets didn't publicize military disasters, especially one that disabled their defense system for a while. I'm not sure if we'd be putting that on the front page of the Times, either. At least not willingly. Anyway, I would rate this one as a real disappointment, especially because I had very high hopes for it.

I bought this at a second hand book shop for £1 ($2), I would not want to spend much more than that.

The book suffers from two major problems; the date of publication and the author's journalistic style.

Regarding the former, the book was published a few years before the collapse of the Soviet Union and now that the archives have been opened (to an extent), some of the chapters are inaccurate.

The latter problem is the author's style. Oberg is a journalist and this is no academic text. The book has no referencing whatsoever, no foot noes, no bibliography and even no index - we simply do not know where Oberg got his information. Oberg also has a tendency to write in a hyperbolic fashion that seems more at home in a tabloid newspaper.

These two problems combined mean we get a lot of speculation, guess work and unnamed 'sources'. Oberg simply doesn't know what happened in a lot of cases.

After reading Oberg's excellent documentary/book, one must: FIRSTLY - emphatize with those thousands of well-meaning, country-serving people affected by their perfidious Government, One Party System and simply lousy Management.

SECONDLY - wonder why we were stupid enough to enter with the same people into a demanding and dangerous venture such as the International Space Station. Maybe, after the International Space Station has been cancelled, there's another book for Jim Oberg to write.