War and Revolution: The United States and Russia, 1914-1921 by Norman E. s> Saul (review)

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REVIEWS 753 (also known as the Dostoevskii scholar, Vladimir Seduro), Kastus' Akula's Zmaharnyia darohi,and Auihien Kalubovich's Na kgyzhovai daroze;Akula's wartime trilogy, Haravatka; the life and fate of Mikola Tselesh; the prose of outstanding poet Masiei Siadniou-; and, finally, the creative writing of memoiristAliaksandraSakovich. A third, far shorter section treats two examples of satirical prose: the 'diaries'of Liavon Savionak,and the story'Tryvoha'by the leading criticand scholarAnton (Anthony)Adamovich. In his conclusion, Ales' Pashkevich rightly asserts the position of emigre Belarusianprose as a fittingand necessarycomponent of the general literary context of his country. In producing this thoroughly researched and well organized study he deserves congratulations on having performed an undoubtedlyworthwhiletask.The book will be of value to all concerned with Belarusianculturalhistoryand, indeed, those with a more general interestin the troubledliteraryprocess of EasternEurope and its emigration duringthe troubled last century. It deserves a place in all libraries with Slavonic collections. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ARNOLD MCMILLIN University College London Saul, Norman E. WarandRevolution. TheUnitedStatesandRussia,1914-I92 I. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 200I. xx + 483 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Maps. Photographs. Index. $45.00. IN thisvolume of Norman E. Saul'shistoryof United States-Russianrelations, the pace slows down. Whereas the previousvolumes dealt, respectively,with over a centuryand nearlyfiftyyears,thislargebook coverslessthan a decade. Indeed, the pace slowsdown even within it since at leastfour-fifthsof itspages are devoted to 1917-I9I9. This concentration is justified, given both the complex variety of interactions between the two countries in these years of revolution, civil war and outside military intervention, and the significance that these interactions have generally been assumed to have for subsequent history. Indeed, during the Cold War the study of these interactions became a historiographical battleground. Amid the ideologically-driven controversy, some outstanding works were produced, notably George F. Kennan's two volumes, RussiaLeaves theWar(Princeton,NJ, I956) and TheDecision toIntervene (Princeton, NJ, 1958). Saul does not refer directly to previous historians or engage at length with what have been the central issues of contention. He criticizes American actions in I9I 7- I9I8 as 'too little and too late' (p. I65) without committing himself to the view that it was within the power of the United Statesto averteitherthe Bolshevikrevolutionor the separatepeace at Brest-Litovsk. The strength of this account, however, lies less in its re-telling of the diplomatic moves of these years than in its broadening of the canvas, and the freshmaterialthat Saul has drawnfromthe Iso manuscriptcollections he has consulted. (The book is based almost exclusively on primarysources.)These 754 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 include the records of the leading American businesses in Russia in 1914, Singerand InternationalHarvester,and one of Saul'smostinterestingfindings is how far their operations managed to keep going even in the most difficult times. Singer, despite having sufferedfrom being widely seen in Russia as a German company, still sold over six thousand sewing machines in the winter of I9I8-I9I9, while the Harvester factory outside Moscow continued to produce mowers and reapers in substantial numbers throughout. Also remarkableis the extent of medical and other relief provided by American agencies to German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war in Russia in 1914-19 I7. Although financed by Germany, this programme was overseen by the American embassy, and no doubt gave the Red Cross and YMCA valuable experience for their later efforts in Russia in the more chaotic circumstancesof I917-1919. Quotations from the diariesand lettersof those involved in these later efforts,and in the militaryexpeditions to North Russia and Siberia, give a vividness and concreteness to Saul's review of these enterprises,as do the many and well-chosen photographs. At times, the reader gains the impression that Saul became somewhat overwhelmed by the mass of detailed informnation he had accumulated. The organization of the book, with many short subsections, is not as clear as it might be, and involves some jumbling of chronology. Some facts and quotationsare repeated, and one quotation is attributedwithin a few pages to an 'anonymous officer' and to an identified individual (pp. 372, 375) because it survivesin two differentcollections. There is a casual reference to 'Francis'(p. 39) before the American ambassador has been introduced. In suchways, the...