A Crime Against the World

Until his defection from the Soviet Union in 1975, Lysenko served as a captain in that country's fishing fleet for 17 years and then in the merchant marine. In this bookas much argument as memoirhe accuses the U.S.S.R. of depleting the oceans of the world by overfishing; having by now ruined many of its own territorial waters, he charges, the Soviet fleet is turning to other areas. The nations involved, asserts Lysenko, must face down the Soviets before their fishing grounds, too, are destroyed. In addition, he paints a depressing picture of the lives of Russian sailors, seen as wretchedly paid and brutally overworked. Indeed, readers come away with a strongly negative view of Soviet life, with suspicion, paranoia, oppression and gloom pervasive. (April)