---
product_id: 8522530
title: "Red Plenty"
price: "367 kr"
currency: NOK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.no/products/8522530-red-plenty
store_origin: NO
region: Norway
---

# Red Plenty

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Red Plenty [Spufford, Francis] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Red Plenty

Review: astonishing writing, deep insights into a planned economy - I started reading this book, not really knowing what to expect. it's basically fictionalized accounts / snapshots of different lives in the communist USSR, set typically around 1960s. the stories seem initially a bit disconnected. the writing and phrasing was very elegant so i kept going. Wow, as i got into it, the overall narrative blew my mind. The stories are actually connected in a powerful way. they take you from a grad student looking at a new life with a new wife, up to (middle of the book) riots caused by food prices and a subsequent massacre by the army. Each story involves a different person, but they reference either the job function described in previous stories, or the actual characters themselves. So, i'm half way through the book, and i realize that the overall narrative is one that examines how a planned economy approach of a communist country works, implicitly comparing and contrasting to a market approach. The logical thinking is impeccable - after the first few chapters I was thinking that a planned approach has to work by default, there are too many advantages related to system optimizations. Towards the middle, it's all falling apart and you realize that the micro optimizations and redundancy created by a market economy are major strengths that have to be handled with such an administrative overhead in a planned economy that it is ridiculous. It's a very powerful way to explain how the system worked, how the good intentions eventually filter down into some crazy actions, some bizarre checks and balances. Hats off to the author, the writing is superb. I have no idea if this is what the USSR was actually like, but this has given me much more of a human connection to the types of things i think people dealt with on a daily basis. I now intuitively "feel" the weight of the planned system, and have new respect for both the planned approach (good intentions, far too many limitations both human and academic) and the market approach (duplication, survival of the fittest). I'm currently working for one of the largest organizations in the world, and many of the details of the Gosplan planning process have analogs in my company. I'd rate this as one of the best books I have ever read. It has expanded my mind in many ways, and I find myself just zoning out thinking about the implications.
Review: To the Glorious Future, Comrades! - This is an unusual and very enjoyable book about the utopian fantasies that underpinned Soviet economic thinking in the 50s and 60s. Spufford writes with verve and an authentic sense of place, and has digested a small mountain of research material to give a vivid picture of aspects of life in the Soviet Union of the period. Let's be clear, however, about what the book is *not.* First of all, it's not really non-fiction at all. It's fiction, through and through. As the 70 pages of notes and bibliography attest, it's *extensively researched* fiction, based on real situations and often real people...but all the best historical fiction generally is extensively researched, based on real situations and real people. If Patrick O'Brian had ever seen fit to provide the sources consulted for his Aubrey/Maturin series, I have little doubt but that it would run to hundreds of pages. The mere fact that there are six short explanatory essays in the book does not, in fact, make the book some kind of non-fiction / fiction hybrid. Secondly, those looking for a comprehensive explanation of Soviet economic planning are barking up the wrong tree. Some of the interrelated stories in the book concern the thinking that spurred the failed Kosygin Reform of 1965, and others demonstrate the contradictions, corruption and compromises inherent in centrally planned economies. However, other chapters are only tangentially related to this theme. Some focus on the emergence of the USSR's elite science cities in the 60s, Soviet computer science, Komsomol propagandists, and Soviet maternity hospitals, among other things. This scattershot approach will vex some readers, particularly those under the misimpression that the book is a "history" rather than historical fiction. Fiction readers are likely to be more tolerant...particularly readers who realize that Spufford's episodic style is mimicking the style the Russian greats Vasily Grossman and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Spufford is using the economic theories of Leonid Kantorovich as a launching pad for a broader exploration of what the experience of living in the Soviet Union during the short-lived optimism of the Khruschev Thaw might have been like, when for a brief time the idea a Communist utopia seemed plausible to many. This is an ambitious agenda, and the extent to which Spufford succeeds is remarkable. There are a couple things, though, that keep Red Plenty from being truly outstanding. First, Spufford isn't a Russian speaker, so his characters strike the occasional false note. Second, the transition from irrational optimism to hopeless disillusionment is abrupt. For instance, we see the (fictional) economist Emil Shailludin at the very beginning of his career when he is filled with idealism and (somewhat improbably) shocked by conditions outside of Moscow, and then many years later when he is he thrown into despair by the illogical half-measures that constituted Soviet economic reform. The progression is from A immediately to Z, with no sense of what might have happened in the intervening years. It's not often that I lament that a book is too short, but I really do feel Spufford's thematic concerns demanded an even broader canvas than the one he's provided. These are quibbles, however, and don't detract much from one what was one of the more original and enjoyable books I've read this year.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #165,381 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #95 in Communism & Socialism (Books) #1,383 in Historical British & Irish Literature #10,082 in Historical Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (732) |
| Dimensions  | 5.5 x 1.3 x 8.2 inches |
| Edition  | Original |
| ISBN-10  | 1555976042 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1555976040 |
| Item Weight  | 1.25 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 448 pages |
| Publication date  | February 14, 2012 |
| Publisher  | Graywolf Press |

## Images

![Red Plenty - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71NdOLa+1WL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ astonishing writing, deep insights into a planned economy
*by A***H on July 29, 2021*

I started reading this book, not really knowing what to expect. it's basically fictionalized accounts / snapshots of different lives in the communist USSR, set typically around 1960s. the stories seem initially a bit disconnected. the writing and phrasing was very elegant so i kept going. Wow, as i got into it, the overall narrative blew my mind. The stories are actually connected in a powerful way. they take you from a grad student looking at a new life with a new wife, up to (middle of the book) riots caused by food prices and a subsequent massacre by the army. Each story involves a different person, but they reference either the job function described in previous stories, or the actual characters themselves. So, i'm half way through the book, and i realize that the overall narrative is one that examines how a planned economy approach of a communist country works, implicitly comparing and contrasting to a market approach. The logical thinking is impeccable - after the first few chapters I was thinking that a planned approach has to work by default, there are too many advantages related to system optimizations. Towards the middle, it's all falling apart and you realize that the micro optimizations and redundancy created by a market economy are major strengths that have to be handled with such an administrative overhead in a planned economy that it is ridiculous. It's a very powerful way to explain how the system worked, how the good intentions eventually filter down into some crazy actions, some bizarre checks and balances. Hats off to the author, the writing is superb. I have no idea if this is what the USSR was actually like, but this has given me much more of a human connection to the types of things i think people dealt with on a daily basis. I now intuitively "feel" the weight of the planned system, and have new respect for both the planned approach (good intentions, far too many limitations both human and academic) and the market approach (duplication, survival of the fittest). I'm currently working for one of the largest organizations in the world, and many of the details of the Gosplan planning process have analogs in my company. I'd rate this as one of the best books I have ever read. It has expanded my mind in many ways, and I find myself just zoning out thinking about the implications.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ To the Glorious Future, Comrades!
*by Z***S on August 6, 2012*

This is an unusual and very enjoyable book about the utopian fantasies that underpinned Soviet economic thinking in the 50s and 60s. Spufford writes with verve and an authentic sense of place, and has digested a small mountain of research material to give a vivid picture of aspects of life in the Soviet Union of the period. Let's be clear, however, about what the book is *not.* First of all, it's not really non-fiction at all. It's fiction, through and through. As the 70 pages of notes and bibliography attest, it's *extensively researched* fiction, based on real situations and often real people...but all the best historical fiction generally is extensively researched, based on real situations and real people. If Patrick O'Brian had ever seen fit to provide the sources consulted for his Aubrey/Maturin series, I have little doubt but that it would run to hundreds of pages. The mere fact that there are six short explanatory essays in the book does not, in fact, make the book some kind of non-fiction / fiction hybrid. Secondly, those looking for a comprehensive explanation of Soviet economic planning are barking up the wrong tree. Some of the interrelated stories in the book concern the thinking that spurred the failed Kosygin Reform of 1965, and others demonstrate the contradictions, corruption and compromises inherent in centrally planned economies. However, other chapters are only tangentially related to this theme. Some focus on the emergence of the USSR's elite science cities in the 60s, Soviet computer science, Komsomol propagandists, and Soviet maternity hospitals, among other things. This scattershot approach will vex some readers, particularly those under the misimpression that the book is a "history" rather than historical fiction. Fiction readers are likely to be more tolerant...particularly readers who realize that Spufford's episodic style is mimicking the style the Russian greats Vasily Grossman and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Spufford is using the economic theories of Leonid Kantorovich as a launching pad for a broader exploration of what the experience of living in the Soviet Union during the short-lived optimism of the Khruschev Thaw might have been like, when for a brief time the idea a Communist utopia seemed plausible to many. This is an ambitious agenda, and the extent to which Spufford succeeds is remarkable. There are a couple things, though, that keep Red Plenty from being truly outstanding. First, Spufford isn't a Russian speaker, so his characters strike the occasional false note. Second, the transition from irrational optimism to hopeless disillusionment is abrupt. For instance, we see the (fictional) economist Emil Shailludin at the very beginning of his career when he is filled with idealism and (somewhat improbably) shocked by conditions outside of Moscow, and then many years later when he is he thrown into despair by the illogical half-measures that constituted Soviet economic reform. The progression is from A immediately to Z, with no sense of what might have happened in the intervening years. It's not often that I lament that a book is too short, but I really do feel Spufford's thematic concerns demanded an even broader canvas than the one he's provided. These are quibbles, however, and don't detract much from one what was one of the more original and enjoyable books I've read this year.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A very clever book
*by R***R on August 2, 2013*

It's difficult to review this book. It's written like a novel but is very much based in real historical events and people. It's a great read but what I really liked about it was the way it gave me a view of what it was like for ordinary Russians during the cold war period; how they lived, their hardships, their philosophy and what they believed. It can be difficult for us in the West to understand how they could accept such terrible hardship as the norm without rebelling against it. The book brilliantly shows how the ideal of communism managed to remain a pure and sought after thing while the awful reality bore no resemblance. The belief in the general populace that this was just a phase on the way to utopia is wonderfully brought to life. Their belief was that it had to be true that when everybody worked together for the same goal with total efficiency it was a better system than the west where everybody competed and tried to trip each other up. This book is certainly no fan of communism but it does brilliantly in showing how you can get sucked in to the kool-aid. It really made me look at things differently and I feel I have a far greater understanding of what was a bizarre social experiment. It gives you how the whole thing set off on the wrong track from the beginning with a naive faith and it does all this while reading like a great novel. I wish I could articulate my review better as this book deserves it but it is a great read, hugely informative and very though provoking.

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