New York: St. Martin's press, 1976. — 369 p. — ISBN 0-312-15751-7.The purpose of this Guide to the Soviet Union is to cover all those parts of the country which are open to foreigners. There are already a number of books written by those who have some experience of travelling in the country and have used their knowledge in general and usually subjective descriptions of the Soviet Union At the other end of the scale are the guidebooks put out by each town and city and by each museum and picture gallery. We have tried to find the golden mean between these two, keeping our personal feelings from intruding but attempting to provide practical advice and interesting information on the widely differing areas within the competence of this book.
Omitted are the detailed descriptions which will be given by the local guides concerning factory production, farm statistics or information about places of specific interest such as research institutes, universities, etc.
The towns and cities are listed alphabetically, with out-of-town places of interest within easy driving distance entered under the name of the relevant city. The description of each town falls roughly into three sections: (a) facts—general description, history, geographical location, population, etc.; (b) places of interest— churches, museums, theatres, parks, etc.; and (c) information—hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. Several motor trips are described with all the places of interest included as they occur along the route. They include the Caucasian Coastal Road, the Crimean Circular Route and the Georgian Military Highway.
We would strongly recommend that you keep a firm hold on this book while you are touring the Soviet Union; very often it will prove to be the only source of information at all. The guidebooks which appear in different cities from time to time are in very limited editions and soon disappear from the bookstalls. In Leningrad and Moscow, on the other hand, there will be additional material printed in foreign languages, particularly French, English and German, concerning the museums.
