This should be a great deal more interesting than it is. In Conquest's defence, the book appears extremely well researched and it's clearly the result of immense time and study. The subject, too, is one that is genuinely compelling - it's basically a how-to of propaganda and agitprop in moulding a society's perception of itself. The writing itself, however, is dull as ditch-water. It actively sucks the interest out of the political and literary train wreck that was freedom of speech in the USSR, which is really rather disappointing as the subject could certainly bear a more lively approach.