"Historians of Russia in Asia have long been familiar with the Buryat scholars of the early 20th century and their pan-Mongolian dreams. Professor Chakars here tells a much less familiar story: how the Buryats, in the aftermath of Stalin's purges, joined the mainstream of Soviet society and became, in effect, Russia's 'model minority.' In this richly documented social history, Professor Chakars shows how Buryats gained leadership in their world and by the 1980s realized they were losing their culture. Scholars of ethnicity and Russia's socialist modernization will find this a fascinating case study of success and its costs."
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