I recently read through it! I thought it was like, 95% good and neat, especially as planned economies aren't really discussed all that often in most people's socialist dreams but are really interesting. But I deduct a point for the authors then more-or-less saying "I know what you're thinking - the Soviet freaking Union. Time to spend the next umpteen pages describing the inexcusable horrors and authoritarianism of the USSR because we're writing a book for liberals and socdems and you'll call us tankies if we don't."
Like, they try and sneak in some good things the USSR did (like defeating the Nazis, raising the standard of living of hundreds of millions, etc) but it has an equal and opposite "And it was done by the madman dictator Lenin/Stalin/Khrushchev/etc, was it worth the degradation of freedom to have such reductions in poverty?!"
No, no, it's a great book. Can't expect 100% good takes all the time. The Soviet discussion is in chapters 7 and 8, and if you're unfamiliar with some of the economic goings-on of the Soviet Union then it's good information, you just need to be ready to glaze over some of the more lib stuff.
I recently read through it! I thought it was like, 95% good and neat, especially as planned economies aren't really discussed all that often in most people's socialist dreams but are really interesting. But I deduct a point for the authors then more-or-less saying "I know what you're thinking - the Soviet freaking Union. Time to spend the next umpteen pages describing the inexcusable horrors and authoritarianism of the USSR because we're writing a book for liberals and socdems and you'll call us tankies if we don't."
Like, they try and sneak in some good things the USSR did (like defeating the Nazis, raising the standard of living of hundreds of millions, etc) but it has an equal and opposite "And it was done by the madman dictator Lenin/Stalin/Khrushchev/etc, was it worth the degradation of freedom to have such reductions in poverty?!"
Aw shit dude, now I really don't wanna keep reading.
No, no, it's a great book. Can't expect 100% good takes all the time. The Soviet discussion is in chapters 7 and 8, and if you're unfamiliar with some of the economic goings-on of the Soviet Union then it's good information, you just need to be ready to glaze over some of the more lib stuff.