Reviews

"Based on extensive research in newly opened Russian archives, this careful study is the best analysis to date of the central role of militarization in the development of state, society, and economy in the U.S.S.R. between the end of the 'New Economic Plan' in 1926 and the conclusion of the first 'Five-year Plan in 1933.'"--Publishers Weekly"Makes for indispensable reading. It has relevance for economists, military historians, analysts of civil-military relations, historians of the Soviet Union, students of Stalin and Stalinism, the disclosures from the archives a treasure-trove in their own right."--John Erickson, Journal of Slavic Military Studies

"Based on prodigious research in newly-accessible Russian archives, Stone's landmark book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the advent of the Soviet garrison state. Touching on nearly every significant issue of the period, he deepens, challenges, or modifies many existing interpretations and cuts through the fog of conjecture, theory, and half-truths that still cloaks the era between 1926 and 1933."--Bruce Menning, author of Bayonets before Bullets: The Imperial Russian Army, 1861-1914"An important contribution to the field of Soviet military, economic, and political history."--Steven Miner, author of Between Churchill and Stalin and Stalin's Holy War