Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State

by David Satter

Book Overview

Anticipating a new dawn of freedom after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russians could hardly have foreseen the reality of their future a decade later: a country impoverished and controlled... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300098928
• ISBN13: 9780300098921
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 314 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Russian Capitalism At Its Worst--Great Book!

I am an American who speaks Russian and lived in Russia in 1997, part of the time discussed in this book. I must say it was fascinating to read about the time when I was there. I knew Yeltsin was corrupt but I did not realize how much. I also know quite a bit about the Russian mafia but I did not know precisely how they had been screwing the Russian people. After this book, I know. This is an excellent read in that it shows you what has become of a country that went Capitalist without a government to regulate it. If you ever hear any folks in the US pining for a country without regulation, tell them to move to Russia. They would then see how important our government is and the effect it has when the central government chooses to allow bandits and mafiosas to go wild. while reading the various accounts in this book of thievery, you find it breathtaking the way some people--such as the directors of factories--who refused to pay their workers for the things they produced. It just stunned and shocked me that people could be so evil. This book is full of examples of people who were evil. Many of them were later killed for their behavior. Still, I now totally understand why so many people have been selling their very souls to get out of Russia. This is an outstanding book and the only regret that could be made about it is the lack of a conclusion or resolution. The stories of fraud and abuse keep coming and there never is a payback...

Outstanding account of Russia!

After reading several other books on the state of Russia, I stumbled across Mr. Satter's book. Satter gives a direct account of the state of today's Russia, from the perspective of ordinary Russians. I think that any reader will definitely be shocked by the level of corruption and deceit by almost all levels of government. I second his acknowledgement to the Russian people!

Social Justice Obliterated in Today's Russia

David Satter has done a masterful job of exposing the horrifying, pervasive dark side of life in Russia today. The distinctions to be made between politicians, business executives, law enforcement officials and gangsters are often blurred, thanks to a virtual absence of rule of law. The average Russian citizen cannot even afford to trust the cop who walks past him down the street, lest he be shaken down then and there, or taken to jail and held until willing to pay a large bribe to be released. The author explains that, as the Iron Curtain fell, the powers that be, who had a strong systems orientation (the Communist system was the Russians' diet for seven decades), maintained that systems orientation when they embraced capitalism. Leaders of the post-Gorbachev reform movement blindly assumed that all that was needed to introduce free market mechanisms was to ensure that all property and assets got into private hands. The huge weakness in this approach was the failure to understand the importance of first introducing rule of law. As a result, former Communist Party bigwigs and factory owners set up shadow "daughter" companies to acquire vast business empires for next to nothing; they then funneled profits into offshore bank accounts. Gangs then moved in and extorted protection money from businesses large and small... from large aluminum smelters, down to corner kiosks selling cigarettes. These gangs served as the "roof" to thousands of businesses. With cash flow drained off to Switzerland, employees of these enterprises then went weeks, if not months, without pay. Living conditions fell below even the grim levels experienced during the Second World War: malnutrition skyrocketed and life expectancy dwindled to Third World levels. Each of the book's thirteen chapters can be read on its own, as if it were an essay. Most chapters relate the chilling, hard facts as Satter has been able to assemble them, while a couple of chapters present the author's opinions and theories on how this dreadful situation could have evolved. Together, the chapters represent a fast-moving, balanced portrayal of the civil chaos in Russia in the past fifteen years. Chapter one relates the shameful story of the "Kursk" submarine disaster, in which over 100 Russian sailors lost their lives while British and Norwegian offers of help were turned down. Other chapters relate additional stories in which Russian officials treat their own citizens with callous indifference. Chapter two, for example, lays out the compelling evidence that successful and attempted bombings of innocent civilians in their apartments in the 1990s were carried out not by Chechen rebels, as Russian government authorities suggested, but rather by the country's own Federal Security Service (FSB). The FSB allegedly did this to serve as a pretext for Russia's military actions in Chechnya, and to distract the populace from the myriad of banking and financial scandals that bilked thousands of citizens out of billi

Life in Russia pales by comparison with Western standards

A very well-documented book, which I think it had to be in order to convince someone like me (a California native) that life is so poor for 75% of Russians. Not poor as in "my rent just went up and the refridgerator is on the blink" but poor as in close to death, as in you collapse at work from no food and no medicine and you haven't received a paycheck in over 4 months even though you have this job and do it well.I had no idea the quality of life is so poor there, that the establishment really protects itself, and the cops are more likely to shake you down for a bribe than arrest a crook who stole from you. Further, most all the government assets were, I'm struggling for words here, turned into cash for the corrupt people who were running them before the fall of communism. Everything the countrymen worked their lives for to build up was converted into cash, given to those with connections, and massive debt was then given back to the countrymen.In closing, a very dark book. Perhaps a foreshadowing of what is to come in Iraq.

An insider tells about Russia

Daid Satter is obviously one of the few American journalists who knows the Russian people and their history intimately. I was struck by his compassion for the citizens of Russia and his empathy with their complex history. He brings these people to life in Darkness at Dawn by examining every layer of society. Consequently, we learn so much about the heart of these people and their challenges to do more than merely survive.While Satter does not paint a pretty picture of life under communism, he certainly tells a powerful story of people whose country continues to undergo major metamorphoses. This is a wonderful book; I highly recommended that every American read it, especially those who want to learn more about our newest ally.