Reviews

Terry Cox and Gary Littlejohn, eds., Kritsman and the Agrarian Marxists. (Library of Peasant Studies, No. 7), London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1984, 149 pp., £18.50.

S. G. Wheatcroft and R. W. Davies eds., Materials for a balance of the Soviet national economy 1928–1930 (with foreword by Richard Stone). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, xxiv + 467 pp., £35.00, $59.50.

I. Birman, Ekonomika nedostach. New York: Chalidze Publications, 1983, 470 pp.

Richard F. Staar, USSR Foreign Policies After Detente. Stanford, Ca: Hoover Institution Press, 1985, xxvii + 300 pp., h/b $26.95, p/b $10.95.

John J. Maresca, To Helsinki: The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe 1973–1975. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1985, xiii + 292 pp., £47.50.

Mark V. Kauppi and R. Craig Nation eds., The Soviet Union and the Middle East in the 1980s. Lexington, Mass, and Toronto: Lexington Books, D.C. Heath and Company, 1983, ix + 293 pp., £25.00.

Jonathan Haslam, The Soviet Union and the Struggle for Collective Security in Europe, 1933–1939. New York: St. Martin's, 1984, xii + 310 pp., $29.95.

Alfred L. Monks, Soviet Military Doctrine: 1960 to the Present. New York: Irvington Publishers, 1985, xii + 351 pp., $34.50.

Jeffrey D. Boutwell, Paul Doty, and Gregory F. Treverton eds., The Nuclear Confrontation in Europe. London: Croom Helm, 1985, 247 pp., £22.50.

Condoleezza Rice, The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army, 1948–1983: Uncertain Allegiance. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984, xiv + 303 pp. Tables. £40.40.

Vitaly Rapoport and Yuri Alexeev, High Treason: Essays on the History of the Red Army, 1918–1938. Translated by Bruce Adams. Durham: Duke University Press, 1985, xvii + 436 pp., £35.00.

Robert Conquest, Inside Stalin's Secret Police. NKVD Politics 1936–1939. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1985, ix + 222 pp., $22.95.

Jeffrey T. Richelson, Sword and Shield. The Soviet Intelligence and Security Apparatus. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1986, xix + 279 pp., $39.95 h/b, $16.95 p/b.

P. Marer, Dollar GNPs of the USSR and Eastern Europe. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London: For the World Bank. 1985, xiii + 241 pp., £20.00.

Moshe Lewin, The Making of the Soviet System: Essays in the Social History of Interwar Russia. London: Methuen, 1985, viii + 354 pp., £19.00 h/b, £8.95 p/b.

Eric P. Hoffmann and Robbin F. Laird, Technocratic Socialism: the Soviet Union in the Advanced Industrial Era. Durham: Duke University Press, 1985, viii + 228 pp. h/b £37.50, p/b £12.50.

Robert Cassen ed., Soviet Interests in the Third World. London: Sage Publications, 1985, xi + 329 pp., h/b £27.50, p/b £10.50.

Václav Havel et al., The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central‐Eastern Europe, Ed. John Keane, Introduction by Steven Lukes. London, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Johannesburg: Hutchinson, 1985, 228 pp., £16.95.

Michael M. Boll, Cold War in the Balkans: American Foreign Policy and the Emergence of Communist Bulgaria, 1943–1947. Lexington, Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky, 1984, ix + 250 pp., £27.50.

Edward R. Girardet, Afghanistan: The Soviet War. London: Croom Helm, 1985, 259 pp., £17.95.

Henry S. Bradsher, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Durham: Duke University Press, 1985, viii + 384 pp., £12.95.

David W. Lovell, Trotsky's Analysis of Soviet Bureaucratization. London: Croom Helm, 1985, ix + 82 pp., £7.95.

Katerina Clark and Michael Holquist, Mikhail Bakhtin. Cambridge, Mass, and London: Harvard University Press, 1984, xi + 398 pp., £19.95.

Hans‐Georg Heinrich, Hungary. Politics, Economics and Society. London: Frances Pinter, 1986, xviii + 198 pp., £17.50.

Henry Rollet, La Pologne au XX^e Siècle. Paris: éditions A. Pedone, 1985, 603 pp., 240F.

Mieczyslaw F. Rakowski, Ein schwieriger Dialog. Aufzeichnungen zu Ereignissen in Polen 1981–1984. Mit einem Vorwort von Peter Bender. Econ Verlag. Düsseldorf‐Wien 1985. 269 pp. Index. DM. 38,00.

John Ambler, Denis J. B. Shaw and Leslie Symons eds., Soviet and East European Transport Problems. London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1985, xix + 260 pp., £19.95.

Joan de Bardeleben, The Environment and Marxism‐Leninism: The Soviet and East German Experience. Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1985, xi + 338 pp., no price quoted.

John R. Lampe, The Bulgarian Economy in the Twentieth Century. London: Croom Helm, 1986 x + 245 pp., £25.00.

Pedro Ramet, Nationalism and Federalism in Yugoslavia, 1963–1983. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984, xviii + 299 pp., $27.50.

Boris Meissner, Partei, Staat und Nation in der Sowjetunion. Ausgewdhlte Beitrage. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1985, 544 pp., DM148.00.

Jiri Hochman, The Soviet Union and the Failure of Collective Security, 1934–1938. Cornell Studies in Security Affairs. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1984. 253 pp. $32.95.     

Unusual hanging deaths

Four unrelated hanging deaths involving young white males, all in enlisted status in the United States military, are presented. Taken in a military context, one scene served as a suicide note equivalent with the unmistakable message of extreme defiance toward military regulations. In two cases, the elaborate attire of the decedents could have lead to the misclassification of the manner of death if investigative information had not been considered. Extensive background investigation and review of medical records in the fourth case disclosed that the victim had an eight- to ten-year history of compressing his neck to cause unconsciousness. He left an extensive suicide note in which he concluded that "hanging would be good." Each case has certain unique features, as a group, the cases all demonstrate a continuum from obvious suicide to cases where the manner of death is, at first, equivocal.     

The impact of health maintenance organizations and competition on hospitals in Minneapolis/St. Paul

The Healthcare Educational and Research Foundation (HERF) in Minneapolis undertook a two-year research project to study the effects of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and competition on the hospital industry in Minneapolis/St. Paul. This article summarizes HERF's major findings surrounding three key questions: (1) do the HMOs in Minneapolis/St. Paul use fewer hospital resources relative to conventional payers?; (2) do recent overall community trends in inpatient use suggest evidence of hospital utilization-reducing effects attributable to HMOs?; and (3) given the highly visible competitive process among Minneapolis/St. Paul providers, do hospital cost and revenue data suggest any evidence of cost-containment? The findings (based on data through 1982) indicate that for comparable patients, Twin Cities HMOs appear to use fewer medical care resources per hospitalized patient. There was, however, no clear evidence of community-wide, utilization-reducing effects directly attributable to the "competitive effect" of HMO introduction and development in the market. In addition, there was no empirical evidence that HMOs (which had enrolled 25 percent of the consumer market by 1982), or other large buyers of inpatient services, have selected hospitals on the basis of price as hypothesized by competition advocates.     

Non-commercial, accidental water transport (boating) fatalities

A study of non-commercial accidental water transport (boating) fatalities was performed on the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Fla., during the years 1980-1984. A total of 23 cases were collected and analyzed as to the age, race, sex, and the cause of death of the victim along with the blood alcohol content and the Urine EMIT drug screen at autopsy. Furthermore, the type of boat involved, the geographic locale, the time of the incident, the reason or risk factor for the incident, and the scene circumstances were also noted. Commonly, one is dealing with a male population below the age of 30 years who die of drowning. In approximately half of the cases alcohol is detected. The scenario involves "small" boats or canoes in the Atlantic Ocean or in canals in the afternoon or evening. Inexperience in boating/or stupidity plays a key role. A discussion ensues concerning recommendations designed to avoid such tragedies.     

Therapists' obligations to report their patients' criminal acts

The law governing the obligation of therapists to report their patients' previous criminal acts was reviewed. Most often, discussions of this subject fall under the general category of "misprison of a felony," that is, the presumed general obligation of all citizens to report felonies that come to their attention. Review of federal law revealed that the courts have consistently interpreted the federal misprision statute as requiring active concealment of a crime, not a mere failure to report, in order to convict for the offense. State law is more diverse. Only one state has a general misprison statute labeled as such, and several states have recently repealed such statutes. The strong trend in states without statutes is to reject misprison as a common law crime, because of its incompatibility with modern notions of justice. Most states, however, have limited reporting statutes, such as for child abuse or gunshot wounds, that impose similar obligations. Therapists' reporting of past crimes may be affected by clinical and ethical concerns, as well as by obligations to protect future victims. In almost all jurisdictions, however, the fear of prosecution for failure to report a past crime should not be a factor in deciding on a course of action.     

Legalization of consensual unions in Mexico

Data examined in this study are from the 1976 Mexican Fertility Survey. The authors review previous findings and compare information from this survey with data from the 1969 PECFAL Survey. They then examine the types of consensual union and factors such as women's age, educational status, occupation, premarital fertility, and rural or urban residence. The focus of the study is on the extent to which consensual unions eventually become legal marriages. The authors also investigate the increasing probability of termination of marriage through divorce or separation, especially in urban areas.     

Book reviews

Handbook of Legal Information Retrieval Edited by J Bing, Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law, Oslo, in co‐operation with T Fjeldvig, T Harvold and R Svoboda North‐Holland 1984, US $96.25

Information Technology: The Challenge to Copyright. James Lahore, Gerald Dworkin and Yvonne Smyth Sweet & Maxwell and The Centre for Commercial Law Studies 1984, £12.00

Data Processing and the Law Edited by Colin Campbell Sweet and Maxwell 1984, £20.00

Le droit des Contrats Informatiques — Principes — Applications Centre de Recherches informatique et droit des Facultes Universitaires de Namur Maison Ferdinand Larder (Brussels), 1983, 45 FB

Computer Insecurity Adrian R.D. Norman Chapman and Hall 1983, £14.95

The Data Protection Act Richard Sizer and Philip Newman Gower Publishing, 1984, £16.95

The Data Protection Act 1984 Professor Bryan Niblett Oyez Longman Publishing, 1984, £18.00

The Data Protection Act 1984 — A Guide to the New Legislation J. A. L. Sterling CCH Editions, 1984, £15.00

Privacy and Data Protection — An International Bibliography Professor David H. Flaherty Mansell Publishing, 1984, £23.50

Computer Contracts R Morgan & G Stedman Oyez Longman Publishing 1984, 2nd Edition, £27.50

Computer Contracts Handbook Michele Rennie Sweet & Maxwell 1984, £15.00

Computer Contracts — An International Guide to Agreements and Software Protection Hilary Pearson Financial training 1984, £14.95