A review by miguelf
The Russian Job: The Forgotten Story of How America Saved the Soviet Union from Ruin by Douglas Smith

4.0

I had vague notions of mass starvation in early 20th century Russia, but the Russian Job puts into focus their first major incident of famine in the early 1920’s (not to be confused with the later actions a decade later centered mostly in Ukraine that is painstakingly detailed in Anne Applebaum’s Red Famine). What’s even less known is the US involvement in famine relief during the 20’s, which was largely led by Herbert Hoover prior to his presidential term later in the decade. It contains accounts of the Americans who went over to Russia and what they did and saw while there from the mundane (Yanks falling in love with Russian) to the heartbreaking (the accounts of the extent of the starvation).