This book is interesting (Russian historian) who starts the narrative with Soviet troops arriving in Germany at the end of World War II and being shocked at Germans' higher standard of living. They had questions. Huge numbers of these unruly troops came back, and Stalin obviously knew this would be a problem so he sent a lot of them to labor camps, and tightened up repression even more. There were also the antisemitic campaigns very late in his life that was very demoralizing and divisive among Soviet elite society. But the system persisted through what the author describes as fear of encirclement and a "revolutionary imperialist" worldview to hold onto Eastern Europe and expand Soviet influence.

Stalin dies. Khrushchev tries to open things up a bit. Soviet citizens (or some of them) come into more contact with foreigners through World Youth-type festivals. They also had questions. The system became softer and more moderate, with goals to improve the standard of living and achieve detente with the West. But the economy couldn't deliver, and by Brezhnev's time the elites didn't really believe in communism outside of a formulaic manner in which it was expressed. Eventually the economy reached a crisis point and Gorbachev rushed the reforms and unintentionally blew up the system, and the elites abandoned it.

>The picture he paints of the USSR is of a shaky edifice with much insecurity and uncertainty amongst its leaders as to where to go and what to do (especially after the Stalin era). This insecurity characterised the leaders themselves and their conduct. During their youth during a trip to Western Europe in the 50s, Raisa Gorbachev asked her husband the painful question why "they" had more than Russians did. Henry Kissinger thought that Brezhnev concealed his insecurity through his boisterousness. This contrasts with the Western image of the USSR as something much stronger and formidable with a clear sense of self and direction.