The author takes three specific years-1950, 1960 and 1970-and compiles the "agenda" of each through a tabulation of the topics and content of the editorials in Pravda. The exercise tells something about how much conditions changed and how much remained the same from the Stalin to the Khrushchev and then the Brezhnev era; but, as the author recognizes in formulating his conclusions, it is no substitute for other forms of Sovietology in seeking to find out the who's and why's of decision-making.