As Moscow Sees Us American Politics and Society in the Soviet Mindset [Hardcover]

This work explores how Soviet analysts interpret American domestic politics and social movements by examining their answers to such questions as: Who rules America? How do these rulers stay in power? and How do the major classes interact in the American social and political arenas? Mills demonstrates that, despite growing Soviet understanding of the American political system and their increasing interpretive emphasis on elites rather than classes, Soviet analysis continues to be constrained by an intricate mindset that resists modification. An intimate look at Soviet political thinking, this study also considers recent changes, and the prospects for the evolution of a more refined framework underperestroika.

Mills has provided both the scholarly and policy-making community with an excellent treatment of Soviet elite perceptions of the United States....Has advanced significantly the state of knowledge on Soviet elite attitudes of American politics and society, the reasons for their persistence and their possible future direction. --Russian Review

The book is liberally sprinkled with thoughts and quotes from other prominent players in the drama that has played--and played out--in the years since its publication. It is a well documented scholarly account of most scholarly sources that informed Soviet opinion and policy about U.S. politics and society....[A] useful synthesis. --Slavic Review

The most comprehensive treatment I have seen on Soviet analyses of the United States. A significant contribution to the field...the scholarship is prodigiously sound. --Mark N. Katz,George Mason University