The author takes eight leading composers of the Soviet Union (Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Khachaturyan, Knipper, Shebalin, Shaporin, Kabalevsky and Dzerzhinsky) and describes their artistic careers - mainly from a purely musical standpoint, though at the same time showing how, in some cases (above all, that of Shostakovich), they have been affected by changes in the artistic policy of the Soviet Government. As a non-communist the author takes a detached, though sympathetic, view of Soviet musical culture. His aim is less to criticize than to give information, though criticism is by no means evaded. Although the book does not pretend to describe the whole vast field of Russian music since the Revolution, its account of representative figures and important compositions (with plentiful music-type examples) conveys, perhaps, a clearer picture of what Soviet musicians are aiming at, and achieving, than could be obtained from a full and detailed survey involving a discussion of numerous minor figures.