This is a history of the fringe right in Russia. Laqueur sketches out some nineteenth Century background but then digs in deep for the period around 1905. He then skips pretty much from 1915 to 1985. A bit about Solzhenitzyn in the 60s and 70s and a few other biographical sketches through those years in between. But then he dives in again with considerable detail, up until 1992. He sketches some possibilities for the future, seen from that time when he wrote this book.

I am far from any kind of scholar of Russian history. My knowledge is pretty much high school level. There are a lot of Russian names in this book! I looked up on-line where the Don River flows! Certainly I am in no position to guess what Laqueur might have skipped over or distorted. I will say, he goes through the history in a way that he doesn't leave behind even a rather thorough ignoramus such as myself. This is a pretty interesting perspective from which to catch up on a bit more world history than a person probably learns in a high school in the USA!

Vladimir Putin does not appear in the book, but Alexander Dugin does several times.

Laqueur doesn't quite foresee the rising tide of authoritarianism around the world, and the spread of fringe thinking. Well, the world wide web hardly existed in 1993. But the political dynamics in the USA today does eerily echo that of Russia around 1990. Anybody interested in exploring the parallels sketched by Dmitri Orlov would do well to look at this book. I just saw some comments by Peter Turchin on current events - things can get a lot worse! History may not repeat - actually Laqueur discusses how Russian will have developed some immunity to any attraction to e.g. Nazi memorabilia... but history sure can rhyme! ( )