1190 ISSN 1064-2293, Eurasian Soil Science, 2009, Vol. 42, No. 10, pp. 1190–1192. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2009. Original Russian Text © F.N. Lisetskii, 2009, published in Pochvovedenie, 2009, No. 10, pp. 1278–1280. 1 In 2008, Head Researcher of the Dimo Institute of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Merited Sci- entific Worker, and Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Prof. I.A. Krupenikov cele- brated his 96th birthday and the 75th anniversary of his fruitful scientific, pedagogical, and public career. For more than 50 years, Krupenikov has been involved in the study of chernozems; he is the author of numerous papers and books about these soils. At the age of 95, he prepared a generalizing monograph on chernozems, their history, and their future. His latest book is devoted to the memory of Krupenikov’s teach- ers and friends V.A. Kovda and I.P. Gerasimov. In its contents, this is a purely scientific monograph. In its style, it is also a journalistic essay. In 2006, M.I. Gerasimova in her review of the previous book by Krupenikov (Eurasian Soil Science, vol. 39, no. 3) called it “a new type of popular scientific literature.” The new book is written in the same manner. The author does not restrict himself to the classical scien- tific style of writing. He complements the scientific dis- cussion with relevant examples from his personal expe- rience and memoir pieces; the author clearly expresses his attitude towards the problems under discussion. Krupenikov explains the reasons for this style of writ- ing, and one cannot but agree with him. Indeed, the lively style and relatively simple lan- guage allows Krupenikov to suppose that this book should attract the attention of a broad circle of readers. The emotional richness of the writing is intended to convey the concern of the author about the fate of cher- nozems and other soils to the reader. The following excerpt from the book illustrates this concern in an eloquent way: {My scientific life, partic- ularly since the mid 1950s, has been tightly linked with chernozems. I have been examining this soil in different parts of Eurasia and, especially, in Moldova for nearly 70 years, and I have to admit with pity that chernozems have lost a lot of their magnificent power and beauty 1 Krupenikov, I.A., Chernozems. Vozniknovenie, sovershenstvo, tragediya degradatsii, puti okhrany i vozrozhdeniya (Cher- nozems: Their Origin and Perfection, the Tragedy of their Degra- dation, and the Ways of Their Conservation and Revival), Chi- sinau: Pontos, 2008, 284 pp. over those years. Many chernozems have ceased to pro- vide generous rewards for a farmer’s labor, and their economic and ecological power have been depleted. It will make me cry if people destroy this inimitable won- der of nature—chernozems (the eternal breadwin- ners)—by the end of our century.} The author tries to understand the consequences of the radical changes in land ownership rights within the former Soviet empire and to outline the main tenden- cies related to the changing attitude toward soil as a means of production. He argues that it is vitally impor- tant to overcome the indifferent attitude of landowners and official authorities toward the fate of chernozems. We should admit that his reproach to soil scientists for being insufficiently active and insistent in their advo- cacy in favor of soil care policies is quite fair. Krupenikov considers the problem of the degrada- tion of chernozems from the historical point of view. He reminds us of the past of these soils (with due reference to Dokuchaev’s works), analyzes their present state on the basis of extensive factual data, and calls for urgent measures to avoid the loss of chernozems in the future. As an expert, Krupenikov is rather pessimistic about the future: “By the end of the 21st century, chernozems may disappear almost completely if extraordinary mea- sures for their conservation are not undertaken on a large scale.” The book has an usual structure, though its logic is quite reasonable. An important scientific problem—the problem of chernozems' degradation—is discussed in the first part of the book from the viewpoint of a well- known pedologist with exceptionally rich experience (the reader may judge about this from the autobiogra- phy of Krupenikov and from the impressive list of Kru- penikov’s works that are included in the third part of the book). In the second part of the book, Krupenikov pays due tribute to V.V. Dokuchaev and to his direct “teacher, advisor, and friend” N.A. Dimo. Half of the book (its first part) can be considered a separate monograph on the degradation of chernozems. The first attempt of Krupenikov to classify different kinds of soil degradation was made in 1990 and only concerned water erosion. In the new monograph, Kru- penikov analyzes previous attempts to classify soil deg- BOOK REVIEWS The Degradation and Fate of Chernozems 1 F. N. Lisetskii Belgorod State University, ul. Pobedy 85, Belgorod, 308015 Russia Received January 13, 2009 DOI: 10.1134/S1064229309100147