 | | | | The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan |  | Author: Artyom Borovik
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (23 reviews)
Sales Rank: 548127
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
ISBN: 0871132834
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.1045
EAN: 9780871132833
ASIN: 0871132834
Publication Date: December 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Artyom Borovik, who died last year, was considered one of the preeminent journalists in Russia. The first glimpse inside the Soviet military machine, The Hidden War captured the soldiers' terror, helplessness, and despair at waging war in a foreign land against an unseen enemy for unclear purposes. When first published, Borovik's groundbreaking revelations exposed the weaknesses beneath the Soviet Union's aura of military might, creating an enormous controversy both in Russia and around the world. The Hidden War is a vital and fascinating portrait of the Soviet empire at the twilight of its power. "I have read no other account of the war in Afghanistan equal to this.... This is literature, not journalism." -- Graham Greene "Alternately fascinating and horrific ... A fascinating look at the life and death of Soviet soldiers." -- Bill Wallace, San Francisco Chronicle
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
good book. May 26, 2008
I read this book in Husaybah, Iraq on the bloodiest of my three combat tours with Third Battalion, Seventh Marines. The ending is absolutely brutal. It made me question why I was wasting seven months of my life losing the Soviet-Afghan War fifteen years after it'd already ended. Occupations cannot be won. Good book.
2 books and completely different views on the war March 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are actually 2 books combined in "Hidden War". The first is a few years in to the war when the writer a journalist, who has been to the USA several time and knows a bit about the west, writes as a adventure, propaganda piece. He includes the feeling of the soldiers and commanders at the time. Several years pass and the writer has been back to the USA and interviewed several soldiers who have surrendered to the mujahadin and been expatriated to the west. Also Glasnost or Openness is in full force in the USSR. The army is pulling out after 8 years of a war that produced nothing. The change in tone of the second book is sharp when compared to the hope of doing their duty in the first book.
Mistakes are made by people attempting to draw parallels between America's wars in Vietnam or Iraq. This would be a mistake and reading 'Hidden War' would prove this. The United States is not the Soviet Union, decayed and on the brink of collapse. No is the media as tightly controlled as in the first part of this book (the book was written after the Soviet Union imploded, it could not have been published before then). There are no conscripts in the American Army as there is in the Soviet or Russian armies.
This is a good book about a war many in the west have forgotten due to the current war in Afghanistan.
Russia's Vietnam. March 9, 2008
A nice book about the Soviet-Afghan War. The author spent the first 100 pages describing the initial invasion. The last 180 pages was spent on the final two months of the war. This is a great contrast. The initial hope of doing their international duty is followed by the final exit of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
There are a lot of interesting contrasts in this book. First, deserters who end up in America living the good life but looking back at what they lost. Then there are the Soviet troops trying to keep from being the last killed. This followed by Soviet paratroopers going on a murderous binge in the wake of their commander's death. This shows the lack of control after nine painful years of war.
The journalist writes from a Russian perspective. However, he does list some of the problems/issues Russian soldiers created in this country. One wonders whether the West backed the right person in this war as highlighted by subsequent actions. I think this is a great read. The one problem is how the author jumps around in his writing, leading the reader to wonder where the author is in the story.
 Personal reflections March 8, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book differs from many wartime narratives in that the author focuses upon the individuals that he meets, instead of the strategic and tactital campaigns that are usually covered. The author is very descriptive with his accounts, but he often leaves the reader the task of determining the competence of persons being interviewed.
This is not a preachy book, but it still comes across as very intelligent. The only thing left to say is that, This is a good read.
Very easy to read, and strikingly similiar to Vietnam War October 2, 2002
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Very interesting book, it was amazing how similiar the experience sounded to America in Vietnam.
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