Book Review: The Soviet Union: The Land and its People, the American Impact on Russia, 1784–1917, the Bolshevik Revolution, 1917–1923, the New Soviet Empire
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205100600310 |
| Date | 01 September 1951 |
| Published date | 01 September 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
THE
SOVIET
UNION:
THE
LAND
AND
ITS
PEOPLE.
By
Georges
JorrA.
1951.
(London,
Toronto:
Longmans.
xvii,
353
pp.
$5.00,
members
$4.00.)
THE
AMERICAN
IMPACT
ON
RUSSIA,
1784-1917.
By
Max
M.
Laserson.
1950.
(New
York,
Toronto:
Macmillan.
xiii,
441
pp.
$5.75,
mem-
bers
$4.60.)
THE
BOLSHEVIK
REVOLUTION,
1917-1923.
By
E. H.
Carr.
1950.
(London,
Toronto:
Macmillan.
x,
430
pp.
$5.00,
members
$4.00.)
THE
NEW
SOVIET
EMPIRE.
By
David
J.
Dallin,
1951.
(New
Haven,
Conn.:
Yale
University
Press.
Toronto:
Ryerson.
viii,
216
pp.
$5.00,
members
$4.00.)
One
of
the
things
which
we
Canadians
most
need
in
the
long
cold
war
upon
which
'we
are
engaged
is
more
knowledge
about
the
great
power
on
the
other
side
of
the
Arctic
Circle.
If
enough
of
our
Canadian
citizens
cannot
be
induced to
overcome
their
deep-seated reluctance
to
read,
it
may
be
predicted
with
certainty
that our
Canadian
efforts,
whatever form they
take,
will
in
the
long
run
be
used
by
other
people
for
other
people's
purposes.
Here
are
four
useful books
on
Russia and
the
Soviet
system
which cover a
wide
range
of
interest-geography,
history,
political
theory
and
practical
politics.
Georges
Jorr6
is
a
French
scientific
geographer,
professor
in
the
University
of
Toulouse,
whose
book on
the Soviet
Union
has recently
been
translated
into English,
with
additional
sections
added
by
the
author
to
bring
it
up
to
date.
It
is
a
very
comprehensive account
of
the
physical
setting-the
soil,
climate, coastline
and
rivers,
vegetable
and
animal
life-,
the
movement
of
population and
settlement
across
the
vast
continental
area,
and
the
economic
developments
carried
out
by
the
Soviet
government;
and
the
last
half
of
it
gives
a
detailed
survey
of
the
conditions and
potentialities
of
each
of
the
main
geographical
regions-tundras,
forest
belt, black
earth country,
steppes,
desert
areas
and
mountains.
Some
of
Professor
Jorrds
statistics for
recent
years
are
pretty
sketchy-for
obvious
reasons-but
the
book as
a
whole
seems
an admirable
study
of
the
physical
and
man-power
resources
at
the
disposal
of
the
Soviet
government.
The
U.S.S.R.
"takes
first
place
in
world wheat
production
(30
per
cent.
of
world
production),
rye
(50
per
cent.),
oats
(33
per cent.),
barley
(19
per
cent.), potatoes
(33
per
cent.),
beet
sugar
(25
per
cent.),
flax
(80
per
cent.),
hemp
(40
per
cent.),
manganese
(40
per cent.),
horses
and
timber;
second place
in
sheep,
platinum
(40
per
cent.),
mineral
oil
(13
to
15
per
cent.),
and
gold;
third
place
in
cotton
(10
per
cent.),
iron
ore
(14
per
cent.),
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