The Czechoslovak Economy 1948–1988: The Battle for Economic Reform. By Martin Myant. Soviet and East European Studies, no. 65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 316p. $54.50. - The Origins of Backwardness in Eastern Europe: Economics and Politics from the Middle Ages until the Early Twentieth Century. Edited by Daniel Chirot. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. 260p. $35.00. - The Hungarian Model: Markets and Planning in a Socialist Economy. By Xavier Richet. Translated by J. C. Whitehouse. Soviet and East European Studies, no. 64. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 211p. $44.50. - The Crisis of Marxist Ideology in Eastern Europe: The Poverty of Utopia. By Vladimir Tismaneanu. London: Routledge, 1988. 232p. $35.00.