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Overview
Christopher Read takes students through the history of the Stalin years, covering the key points of his rule from the late 1920s to the post-war years, using post-Soviet articles which provide more balanced and scholarly assessments of the leader's time in power. Taken together with Read's own contributions, which include an up-to-date historiographic survey, they constitute a complex and dynamic history of the central features of a terrible era.
Synopsis
Read (history, U. of Warwick, UK) presents 10 essays, drawn from recent historical research journals and monographs, as an introduction to the new Soviet historiography and a survey of the major events of Stalin's tenure. Attempting to strike a balance between the machinations of central politics and their impact on the day-to-day lives of ordinary Russians, the papers discuss the "cultural revolution" of the early years, industrialization and collectivization, the objectives and realities of the Great Terror of 1937, Soviet women during World War II, and political and ideological currents during the onset of the Cold War and Stalin's final years. An introductory essays sketches a portrait of the main currents of interpretation of Stalin's years as head of the Soviet Union. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Editorials
From the Publisher
"This is a very welcome, interesting, and useful addition to the literature on Stalin and the Stalinist system. It will make available a diverse selection of material. The material contributed by the editor is also very useful: clearly written, balanced and yet also provocative in places. It provides an excellent introduction to the historiography, and importantly locates it in the wider historical, cultural, and political context of its time." -- Mark Sandle, De Montfort University