Opposing Viewpoints Series - Russia (paperback edition)

From School Library Journal Grade 10 Up-Articles or excerpts written between 1996 and 1999 are divided into four chapters dealing with sources of Russia's domestic problems, prospects for democracy, Russia as a threat to the rest of the world, and U.S. foreign policy toward that country. Each article has a short introduction that includes three questions to consider, and each section concludes with a periodical bibliography. Most of the articles assume a working knowledge of recent Soviet and Russian history, and there is no glossary. In some cases, articles cited in the bibliographies might have been better choices. For example, it seems odd to have Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who never endorsed Western-style democracy, claiming that Russia has no democracy. Some of the articles seem to have been selected precisely for their extreme points of view, and these tend to be the weakest. However, they might help young people develop critical-reading skills. Under the guidance of a journalism teacher, students could be led to recognize overblown language, the setting up of "straw men," biases, etc. For this purpose Russia is excellent. For teaching about Russia, however, the recently updated Russia's Uncertain Transition: Challenges for U.S. Policy (Brown Univ.) provides accurate historical background in addition to well-reasoned options for dealing with Russia, and all of the material is designed to be photocopied for classroom use.