The Red Machine: the Soviet Quest to Dominate Canada's Game

by Lawrence Martin

Genres: Hockey, Sports, Nonfiction, History, Soviet Union, Russia

293 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. This is Lawrence^^Martin.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the authoritative account of Soviet hockey. Martin worked in Moscow in the latter half of the 1980s as a reporter for the Globe and Mail, and covered hockey while there. He chronicles the rise, and nearly the fall (seeing how it was published a year before the USSR collapsed) of the Soviet hockey system. Focusing on the players and coaches of the national team, and not the political aspects, he gives an incredibly detailed account of how the Soviets established a dominate hockey program in the span of several years, and kept it going almost until the very end. There has not been another book written on the subject in English that is as comprehensive as this, largely because Martin has the definitive account here.

[EJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started this OVER two months ago and just...........have been the slowest reader of all time, but thanks to it being an ILL and due today and unrenewable: we FINISHED it (insert praise emojis here).
Anyway despite taking forever, this is a VERY good book and a very worthwhile read if you're into a. hockey and b. deep-dives into the history and praxis of ur latest obsessions.

[AskHistorians]

Considered by far the most authoritative work on Soviet hockey history, it unfortunately only had a limited print run and copies are hard to come by. However anyone who wants to study Soviet hockey should try and read it, as it is unparalleled in English.

[riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book as a reference in a history paper on Soviet hockey and nationalistic propaganda. It was a fascinating read and had me hooked! It tells the story of Soviet hockey, from its bandy roots to its downfall as players move to the NHL. Martin also focuses on individual players and coaches, memorably Anatoly Tarasov and Valeri Kharlamov.
Martin did a great job telling the story of Soviet hockey, but it’s clear that it’s coming from an outsider’s perspective (Martin is Canadian). The book mainly focuses on the game and doesn’t delve too deeply into the political side of Soviet hockey, which you could take as a good or bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for.
Some of the anglicized names are off, but it was easy for me to shrug off while reading. On the history side of things, the book was published before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. That makes the book an interesting source; it both suffers and benefits from the lack of hindsight, again, depending on what you’re looking for in the book.
The book is hard to come by, and I was lucky enough to get it through my school library. It’s a must read for anyone interested in hockey history, if they can get their hands on it.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for a hockey obsessive doing a deep dive on Soviet hockey, I've yet to find anything else as comprehensive as this. I will say it's not written in a super engaging way, so unless you're very interested in the subject matter, don't pick this up.