| Show 2E The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday December f- 21 198b Passing the torch inside the Kremlin Shadows and Whispers — Power Polities Inside the hremhn from Brezhnev to Gorbachev by Dusko Doder Random House 123 pp glossary index $1995 The title and dust jacket photograph of Dusko Doder s new book Shadows and Whispers — Power - Polities Inside the Kremlin from Brezhnev to Gorbachev create a powerful metaphor for the difficulties facing anyone trying to follow political affairs inside the Soviet Union The situation is rather like basing one's know ledge of Kremlin buildings solely on their moonlit silhouettes Shadows like whispers are subject to distortion yet they are the raw material of the foreign correspondent in Moscow because official Soviet information is usually distorted or incomplete Doder reported on the Soviet Union from Moscow for the better part of two decades first for Imted Dress International and later for The v :w v Mikhail Gorbachev Hit Ground Running d man and when he came to power he followed in the line established by his mentor Chernenko on s Washington Post His metaphor provides one focal point for the book which m part is the story of how one reporter attempted to divine the inner workings of the Kremlin during the extraordinary leadership transition that shook the Soviet empire during the early 1980s His second and more important subject is the transition itself Doder's narrative occasionally careens awkwardly back and forth between these two poles but in the main he skillfully develops several themes while tracing the passing of the torch from Brezhnev to Andropov to Chernenko to Gorbachev His major thesis is that the three leadership changes really amounted to one the wresting of power away from the older generation of leaders that had been led by Brezhnev and which was supplanted by a younger more progressive wing of the Communist Party championed by Andropov Gorbachev was Andropov's hand-picke- shadows-and-whisper- the other hand was Brezhnev's closest personal aide and his short reign represented only an interlude m the transition and the last gasp of the old guard Doder charts events beginning in the last months of Brezhnev’s reign 6 late in 1982 His report ends m just short of the high drama in Reykjavik He sums up his major theme during a discussion of Andropov’s brief rule which lasted a mere 15 months beginning with the death of Brezhnev Nov 10 1982 and ending with Andropov’s own demise Feb 10 mid-198- 1984 “What was taking place m the Kremlin during Andropov’s rule was a major battle between two generations and their complex interests between the orthodox dogmatic section of the party with its vast satrapy of bureaucrats and provincial bosses On local color literal and figurative stitutional convention One is left wondering what might happen if an attempt were made to lottery upon impose a church-feare- d the but avaricious good people of Zion' Alas the authur -perhaps fearful of perpetuating a myth or two of his own making can-ml- y refiains from prognosticating 95 pp $34 Containing 86 color photographs of the Colorado Plateau its decpcut d canyons and peaks Blessed By Light Visions of the Colorado River is rather more than the usual coffee table volume of ’glossy overblown color shots of scenes all too familiar to residents of Utah and its neighboring states The editor Stephen Trimble and publisher have provided an introduction by Edward Abbey reminding us that much that was beautiful and good now lies “buried under the sludge and stagnant water of Lake Powell ” Thus as current vernacular would have it you will assuredly know where they are coming from ’’ In addition the book contains excerpts concerning the region culled from the best nature writers of the past century But the obvious attraction of the volume is in its 86 color plates These were not made by "commercial” photographers of note but instead are the works of park rangers members of the new generation of open-eye- d environmentalists who while perhaps not making their living via camera work came to the canyon country for a variety of personal reasons thereby bringing new insights to the fragile threatened plateau The book pairs their photos with the words of earlier out landers concerning this river-cu- t region A fi w of the photo” graphic plates are a bit too or overblown for my own tastes No matter Taken together the filmed record reminds us of the scem-call- y rich land of rock and water canyons mesas and mountains so close to home God-fearin- g snow-thatche- ‘ thought-provokin- g well-matche- d well-chose- n “post-cardy- Drat! My thed Again by Stev e Altair Publishing Co 179 pp $10 95 (Paper) A local newsman blessed with a perverse sense of humor Steve Warren has presented his community with a sharp and saucy look at the ar-rp- n area's foibles fables and follies Alas none of our state’s folks in high places and very few of our institutions come off too well as Warren punctures hot air balloons and puffery concerning THE church Brigham Young University local and state governments and all manner of men — and women These include in no precise order of stature or LaVell Edwards Melvin (remember him9) Dummar ET Benson J Bracken lee Cal Rampton John Mooney Frances Farley Ted Wilson and even Danny Ainge and Ted Bundy He reports the evaporation of the Great Salt Lake and the Mormon Church the bright predictions for the future of Geneva Steel and for Utah as a site for the Winter Olympiads and notes that our local newspapers and television pundits have perpetrated a myth or two or even two hundred n Some two dozen cartoons will help the reader get the picture — although pictures are seldom d Warneeded to enhance ren’s "Second Thoughts” on the state of our state and city Is restoration of the Building really in the cat ds as a fact or myth9 When and at what price9 Did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daSaints indeed provide the necessities of life for the faithful during the Great Depression9 When and at what price9 Sorry to say the fact is restoration efforts seem to prove the possibility of perpetual motion And "Utah would have blown away except for federal relief one in four Utahns was on direct relief ’’ Currently there’s a myth that Utah’s alcohol consumption is high another that we have a high per capita rate of drug abuse and an ultra-hig- h divorce rate Not so says Warren — you’ve been mythed again and again well-chose- tart-tongue- City-Coun- y much-believe- d Utah s drug abuse is about half the national average alcohol consumption (based on per capita sales) has been the lowest in the nation the state's divorce rate is only slightly above the national norm Much that the author helps us recall will produce a wry chuckle or two or even a flushed face or three Remember when BYU President Dallin Oaks insisted Henry Kissinger would not be invited to speak at the Y because of his "playboy reputation9” He was not and did not But he spoke Mormon Tabernato the clean-livin- g cle Choir a few years later — after first making sure to aid and abet his reputation and cleanse his skirts by winning the Nobel Peace Prize and partaking in lawfully wedded bliss Many matters spotlighted in this course in are of a nature One of BYU’s Theodore Roosevelt: Wilderness Writings edited by Paul Schullery Peregrine Smith Books 291 pp $595 (Paper) For hiking enthusiasts this smallish volume might just be the ticket Lest you’ve forgotten our 26th President was one of the leading avant-gard- e forward-lookinexponents of the great outdoors in his own generation Thus Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness Writings reflects his interests but times change for Teddy Roosevelt simultaneously was one of the foremost big game hunters of that same generation It was this same Roosevelt of course who urged us as a national practice to speak softly and carry a Big Stick He is also remembered by those of us who visited the American Museum of Natural History when animals were stuffed mounted and fearsomely displayed in dusty glass cages as the bespectacled buckskin-garbe- d chap whose prowess filled many of our favorite display cases In this book we follow Roosevelt on his mountain pack trips jungle g myth-smashin- g semi-academ- early presidents Karl Maeser viewed football as a “barbarous brutal exercise not to be dignified by the title of a game ” That was in the long long ago of course As for more modern soothsayers author Warren aptly notes that The Salt Lake Tribune's John Mooney asserted in November of 1984 "even if BYU winds up the regular season unbeaten and untied and beats a good opponent in the Holiday Bowl the chance of BYU being recognized as the national cham" pion is slim As for the myth that the LDS Church presidency unduly influences Utah voters what must one make of the facts cited by our local sage that President Heber J Grant proclaimed that he was supporting Senator Reed in 1932 Grant Smoot for likewise endorsed Herbert Hoover Smoot lost Hoover lost Utah as well as the nation Oh yes President Grant likewise urged Utahns to retain Prohibition But the Beehive State became the 36th and deciding state to vote for liquid refreshment in its Con buck-touthe- d d antelope called the saddle-ba- i ked Lechwi existed on the White Nile9 Of course some crossword puzzle addicts call it a Kob and others a Water Buck Or perhaps you’d like to know more about tne greenish bodied bat a possessor of’ slate-blu- e wings which resides in mid Africa Roosevelt tells us ' It was not nocturnal it was hardly even crepuscular” Now that s my sort of gift for the environmentalist-hike- r who has everything — Jack Goodman white-withere- O o o "A FESTIVAL OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS" t n innsruinin sm nut dijmK riMdm ‘'nin’un m ru in n v 'h' -- t tr ulit hs d ot S"" y So- - 0: S re ? r m r smms j i h h Ihuihh —f CP k H M k-- k 1 AJ I it t v it hntm i irolis - n d t il In il n onti CfLxWotC SS H ‘Cr- 1 ui hafunpi in mm hs 3 1 tor di iwn In i m r" throughout tin sm rid Irom tr idition d UmMmis muii j r t sunlv tlu and tourtit n i hotr it siN t n tr i It 1 h It undt n r tdu iti art n m nt d h n u mi't r ot It i C mihndt it inmuni'v u I tlu u f “u t u cv Mi i hu i iji In and r i tii trom tu - i nt nt Uai ih to tlu U vt i I M ot tl i Old i kt 1 a in t nt in tin i ti It a:SJt I i lb i K: I iiu t fv vmiiuiui I’uHu w IU mu ion iK In It w i vsons jrui Caul" m iwnuti pun rim mH K In lrj on KM l M H ill u min r 2 t inu ai m tin K i! lMMm tlu prttvr ini un C host m J" d Radio Because of Andropov's groundwork Gorbachev was able to hit the giound running when he assumed power in March 1985 If anything he is even more pragmatic than his mentor a doer rather than a theorist according to Doder He faces a hercu- lean task however that amounts to nothing less than a reshaping of deeply held Russian attitudes are the Andropov and Gorbachev Yuri Andropov Changed Kremlin Course heroes of this drama and Doder sketches both men deftly presenting portraits of figures who were and are little known in the West There are holes in these sketches because basic information simply is not available but to his credit Doder acknowledges the shortcomings and doesn’t attempt to gloss over them That is true of this book as a whole Its subtitle "Power Politics Inside the Kremlin” is somewhat misleading because only a handful of men the members of the Politburo itself could ever write a genuine insider's account of the maneuvers within the Soviet inner sanctum What Doder does accomplish is a broad outline of the power struggles and alliances He is often forced to extrapolate to fill m blanks m the image but such is the nature of reporting from the realm of shadows and whispers — Paul Wetzel Journey through Chaco Canyon People of Chaco a Canyon and its Culture by Kendrick Frazier Norton 224 pp $1995 In the American Southwest there exists an ancient memorial to architectural and agricultural engineering excellence called Chaco To many of today's Rio Grande and Western Pueblo Indians Chaco is considered the home of their prehistoric predecessors To scores of modern archeologists Chaco remains an enigma In this volume Kendrick Frazier has combined scientific and ethnographic data with Native American oral history to develop a concise account of this national monument in northern New Mexico Earliest evidence of human occupation in the Southwest has been dated at 12000 years ago It is estimated that the Chaco area was first inhabited about 7000 years ago However it wasn't until AD 700 that the people began to erect permanent village tlements New York Time Service be'ow are based on computer saes f'yures from 2 000 bookstores n everv Un ed S’ates Fiction Te stog Frazier's writing clearly shows that he (along with archeologists biologists astronomers and ecologists) is in awe of what was created at Chaco and what is yet to be learned from sifting through the remains — llprt-ma- n Lomawaima Los Angeles Times processed won set- Frazier takes the reader on a journey from what he imagines prehistoric life in Chaco was like to the ethnographic present His profiles of some of the archeologists who worked in the area are certain to be of interest to young students of the field Best Sellers and arduous hunts The reader can also learn a lot Did you know for instance that a river fJ O reformist elements between the Brezhnev establishment which had strong regional bases of power and Andropov’s men who were younger and had no similar regional bases but were given strong positions in Moscow and were backed up by the KGB and the military high command By moving these younger men from the provinces into the centers of power in the Kremlin Andropov not only gave his administration an infusion of energy but also formed the kernel of the future leadership Mikhail Gorbachev and his new team” Doder echoes other observers when he argues that the focus of the reform is doAndropov-Gorbachemestic policy and the Soviet economy in particular During the last years of the Brezhnev administration the economic system inherited from Stalin had ground gradually to a crawl Andropov challenged not only the Stalinist system but some of the assumptions that lie near the heart of traditional communist economic theory He attempted to replace dogma with pragmatic experimentation to push Soviet industry and agriculture into the age of modern consumerism and high technology Besides positioning his heirs to carry out his program Andropov’s “bold decision to give the country a candid appraisal of its ailments to confront both the people and the party with reality” is cited by Doder as the leader's greatest accomplisnment v iBooks about wilderness Colorado River Utah myths Blessed B Light: isions of the Colorado River edited by Stephen Trimble Peregrine Smith Books 76 and their followers and the party s of tne S fiett v Crocker's Cookbook COPS' |
