How did people live during Stalin's reign? This book does a fairly good job of explaining. Hardly an apologetic piece this book talks about nepotism, "connections," cronyism and privilege which were the order of the day, as well as (misplaced) idealism and hero worship. It discusses how the ordinary person got by as well as how the growing class of Communist bureacrat justified their own existence within Soviet society. Societal attitudes and culture are also explored. Not an easy read and if your are not already fairly familiar with the state of affairs in the USSR at this time you will have difficulty following it at times. Still, an excellent book and well worth reading.

在斯大林统治时期，人们是如何生活的？这本书在解释方面做得相当好。这本书并不是一篇道歉文章，它谈到了当时的裙带关系、"关系"、裙带关系和特权，以及（错位的）理想主义和英雄崇拜。书中讨论了普通人是如何过活的，以及日益壮大的共产党官员阶层如何在苏联社会中证明自己的存在。还探讨了社会态度和文化。这本书并不容易读懂，如果你对苏联此时的状况还不太了解，你有时会难以理解。不过，这是一本非常好的书，非常值得一读。