The Mortal Danger How Misconceptions about Russia Imperil America

"Anyone not hopelessly blinded by his own illusions must recognize that the West today finds itself in a crisis, perhaps even in mortal danger .... All of America's mistakes and misconceptions about Russia might have been purely academic in the past, but not in the swift-moving world of today." These two sentences epitomize the argument in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's powerful new book. He analyzes in detail the persistent misconceptions of Russian history by American historians, diplomats, and journalists and their confusion of "the Russian people" with the Soviet regime. Solzhenitsyn is convinced that these misguided views have led to disastrous mistakes in foreign policy from which Americans must rescue themselves. Few American scholars or statesmen emerge unscathed in Solzhenitsyn's portrait of true Soviet policy and its worldwide intent--a version in striking contrast to the commonly accepted Western analyses. He counsels against any optimism about ďtente or the possibility of accommodation among the Soviet leadership. The viewpoint of The Mortal Danger is bitter and explosive but it originates in a mind which has experienced Soviet Russia from the depths of its harsh interior--and has no illusions about its leadership.-- Back cover.