Letters to the Editor

To the Editors:

I just received my first issue of Russian Life. I read with great interest the comments by Alex Gordeuk [Letters, Oct/Nov 1999], and I could not disagree more.

Your articles are not too long.  They are as long as is needed to tell the reader what needs being said. I, too, used to subscribe to Soviet Life and disagree that it was a more informative and entertaining magazine.  For example, I would compare what was being said about Soviet agriculture with my personal experiences at various Sovkhoz’s and Kolkhoz’s as part of an agricultural delegation, and would observe substantial cognitive dissonance between what Soviet Life said and what I observed.  Enough said.  SL was better than nothing, but it falls far short of RL.