“Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets,” by Svetlana Alexievich, translated by Bela Shayevich. New York: Random House, 2016. 498 pp. ISBN: 9780399. $30 (Amazon: $16.34; e-book $15.99) Over the decades I’ve read many books, before and after the collapse of the USSR. These books would describe the great events, the leaders, the wars, the...