Soviet Power and the Third World

This is a very interesting book on so many levels. It was written before the fall of the Soviet Union and you truly get a sense that scholars really thought the Soviet Union would last forever. Aside from the quaint historical nature of the book the analysis on all parts of the third world is top notch. This covers Latin America, central Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It covers all developing areas and addresses the soviets efforts to ascertain influence there. Recently the question has come up on just how much influence the Soviet Union had and Menon was addressing it years before it was a debate. This is an essential read for anyone who wants to start understanding how the Soviet Unions diplomacy was conducted in the third world.