This text tells the story of Western governments' attempts to aid the former Soviet block. Janine Wedel uncovers how the arrival of a Western armada of ill informed consultants was soon followed by the subversion of funds by some Eastern politicians and bureaucrats for their own purposes.

The text explains where the Western dollars intended to aid Eastern Europe went, and why they did so little to help. Taking a hard, behind the scenes look at the bureaucrats, politicians, and consultants who worked to set up Western economic and political systems in Eastern Europe, the author details the extraordinary costs of institutional ignorance, cultural misunderstanding, and unrealistic expectations.

Preface: Some Enchanted Era - East Meets West: A New Order for the Second World - The Aid Machine: A New Mission for Old Bureaucracies - Consultants for Capitalism: Conflicts and Company Towns - A Few Favored Groups: Greed and the Green Jet Set - A Few Good Reformers: The St. Petersburg Clan, Harvard, and U.S. Economic Aid - A Few Good Financiers: Wall Street Bankers and Biznesmeni - Seven Years Later: Second Thoughts from the Second World - Appendix: An Anthropologist's Approach - Notes - Index