Word: underlying
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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For Smith, a hardened veteran of Soviet life, such problems are old hat. After returning to the U.S. from three years in Moscow, he authored The Russians in 1974, an exceptionally readable patchwork of anecdotes, interviews and personal experiences of the grey life under Brezhnev.
Life for ordinary Soviets has arguably gotten worse in the 16 years since Smith left, but his new offering is less about the vagaries of life under the nonsensical and stifling regime than a primer on recent changes and their effects on everyday Russians.
It's hardly the author's fault. It was much easier to write about life under Brezhnev without worrying about becoming dated, since virtually nothing ever changed under the dull, hairy Soviet leader. Writing The Russians was akin to painting with a skyscraper as a subject. Speed was not essential...
These were students working under the added burden of studying in a foreign linguistic environment, and yet they had seized the opportunity to broaden their already international experience by entering into a globe-trotting discussion in another language still.
I didn't know that Deli Day existed until I happened upon it in Lowell House a few weeks ago. But, I could hardly complain about missing out on Pioneer Sandwiches and potato coins when Harvard Dining Services was waving lox and cream cheese under my nose.