All That the Rain Promises and More...: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms

Bocharov, a Soviet journalist who covered the war in Afghanistan from 1980 to 1988, here relates experiences of its combat participants. One story is about a wounded soldier who saved himself by parachuting from a chopper hit by ground fire; another recounts the ordeal of the sole survivor of an ambush; another is about a My Lai-like incident in which seven civilians riding in a car were massacred because they did not stop at a Soviet checkpoint. The material fails to convey whatever was unique about this particular war, and each ``Soldier's Tale'' is followed by a uniformly disappointing chapter called ``The Journalist's Story.'' Readers will find the book too broadly general, such as Bocharov's observation that the war in Afghanistan ``brought out marvellous human qualities . . . such as generosity, willpower, humility, sense of duty, and amazing courage.'' (Sept.)