<DIV> If ibo readers are interested in how the Soviet experience is remembered in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, I HIGHLY recommend Svetlana Boym’s “The Future of Nostalgia”.  I am a bibliophile like many on this list - Boym clearly will have me going back to her work for a while. Simply one of the best monographs I have read in years. She looks inside out, without all the bullshit rhetoric those of us 40-something (on both sides of the Wall) remember so well. Peter Lavelle <untimely_thoughts@yahoo.com> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> <DIV> Actually, I think the Brezhnev “cult” has to do with something very different. Everybody knew of his appreciation for drink and women. The corruption during his rein was not a secret either. (When Andropov was head of the KGB he had film and even distributed in video of his lifestyle to discredit Brezhnev – Andropov very much regretted few Soviets had a VCR!). However, Brezhnev accomplished something few leaders in history can lay claim to: he exceeded the expectations of the population. I doubt Putin will ever come close to meeting the expectations of today’s <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of Brezhnev, but then again I didn’t live here when he was General Party Secretary.   </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><hr SIZE=1> Do you Yahoo!? <a href="http://shopping.yahoo.com/?__yltc=s%3A150000443%2Cd%3A22708228%2Cslk%3Atext%2Csec%3Amail">The New Yahoo! Shopping</a> - with improved product search