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More copies of this ISBNThe Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor Statesby Ronald Grigor Suny
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The West has always had difficulty understanding the Soviet Union. For decades, analyses of America's Cold War foe were clouded by ideological passions and a shear dearth of information. Then came the flood of dramatic revelations under glasnost, followed by the sudden, shocking collapse of the Communist empire. Today, with the stunning secrets of newly opened archives and the excitement of political revolution still fresh in our minds, and we can look back at this remarkable nation and see it whole, see Soviet history as a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. In The Soviet Experiment, Ronald Grigor Suny does just that, in a landmark work that gives us the fullest account yet of the most remarkable story of our century.
With a clear-eyed mastery of the historical issues and literature, Suny combines gripping detail with insightful analysis in a narrative that propels the reader from the last tsar of the Russian empire to the first president of the Russian republic. He focuses in particular on four revolutions, each identified with a single individual: the tumultuous year of 1917, when Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik takeover of the tsarist empire; the 1930s, when Joseph Stalin refashioned the economy, the society, and the state; Mikhail Gorbachev's ambitious, and catastrophic, attempt at sweeping reform and revitalization; and the breakup of the Soviet Union led by Boris Yeltsin. Never have we had a more complete, nuanced, and crystal-clear examination of the complex themes running through Soviet history. Suny confidently moves from party debates and personal rivalries, to centuries-old ethnic tensions, to vast economic and social developments. He unravels tangled issues with ease, explaining deeply contradictory policies toward the various Soviet nationalities; Moscow's ambivalence over its own New Economic Policy of the 1920s; and the attempts at reform that followed Stalin's death. Suny's treatment of the Soviet break-up warrants particular attention, as he details precisely how Gorbachev's program unleashed forces that had built up during the previous decades--particularly the nationalism that had been shaped, ironically, by the Soviet structure of ethnically defined republics. Along the way, he offers a fresh telling of familiar as well as little-known events--capturing, for example, the movement of the crowds on the streets of St. Petersburg in the February revolution; Stalin's collapse into a near-catatonic state after Hitler's much-predicted invasion; or Yeltsin's political maneuvering and public grandstanding as he pushed the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and then faced down his rivals. The Soviet Experiment provides a rich, multilayered, seamlessly woven account of one of the great forces of modern history. With dispassionate insight and human detail, Suny has constructed a masterful work. Synopsis:The West has always had a difficult time understanding the Soviet Union. For decades Americans have known a Soviet Union clouded by ideological passions and a dearth of information. Today, with the revelations under glasnost and the collapse of the Communist empire, Americans are now able to see the former Soviet Union as a whole, and explore the turbulent tale of a Soviet history that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
One of the eminent Soviet historians of our time, Ronald Grigor Suny takes us on a journey that examines the complex themes of Soviet history from the last tsar of the Russian empire to the first president of the Russian republic. He examines the legacies left by former Soviet leaders and explores the successor states and the challenges they now face. Combining gripping detail with insightful analysis, Suny focuses on three revolutions: the tumultuous year of 1917 when Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik takeover of the tsarist empire; the 1930s when Joseph Stalin refashioned the economy, the society, and the state; and the 1980s and 1990s when Mikhail Gorbachev's ambitious and catastrophic attempt at sweeping reform and revitalization resulted in the breakup of the Soviet Union led by Boris Yeltsin. He unravels issues, explaining "deeply contradictory" policies toward the various Soviet nationalities, including Moscow's ambivalence over its own New Economic Policy of the 1920s and the attempts at reform that followed Stalin's death. He captures familiar as well as little-known events, including the movement of the crowds on the streets of St. Petersburg in the February revolution; Stalin's collapse into a near-catatonic state after Hitler's much-predicted invasion; and Yeltsin's political maneuvering and public grandstanding as he pushed the disintegration of the Soviet Union and faced down his rivals. Students and social scientists alike continue to be fascinated by the Soviet experiment and its meaning. The Soviet Experiment recovers the complexities and contradictions of the 70 years of Soviet Power, exploring its real achievements as well as its grotesque failings. Clearly written and well-argued, this narrative is complete with helpful anecdotes and examples that will not only engage students and offer them an opportunity to learn from new material but also afford them the opportunity to form their own opinions by reading the text and looking into the suggested readings. With insight and detail, Suny has constructed a masterful work, providing the fullest account yet of one of the greatest transformations of modern history. Synopsis:Now thoroughly revised in its second edition, The Soviet Experiment examines the complex themes of Soviet history, ranging from the last tsar of the Russian empire to the first president of the Russian republic. Author Ronald Grigor Suny, one of the most eminent Soviet historians of our time, examines the legacies left by former Soviet leaders and explores successor states and the challenges they now face. He captures familiar as well as little-known events--the crowds on the streets during the February Revolution, Stalin's collapse into a near-catatonic state after Hitler's invasion, and Yeltsin's political maneuvering and public grandstanding--combining gripping detail with insightful analysis.
New to this Edition * Offers expanded coverage of imperial Russia and non-Russian Soviet republics * New scholarship on Stalin and the post-Stalin decades to the final years of the Soviet Union * A new concluding chapter brings the story up to the Putin-Medvedev years About the AuthorRonald Grigor Suny is currently Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He was previously Alex Manoogian Professor of Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Utopia and its Discontents
Part I: Crisis and Revolution 1. The Imperial Legacy Land and People Autocracy, Nobility, and Bureaucracy The Coming of Capitalism The Russian Intelligentsia Marx, Lenin, and the Case of Russia Empire and Nation in Tsarist Russia The Final Crisis of Tsarism The Tsar's Last War Suggestions for Further Reading 2. The Double Revolution The February Revolution and the End of Romanov Rule Overlapping Revolutions, Dual Power The Revolution Deepens On the Road to October The October Insurrection Suggestions for Further Reading 3. Socialism and Civil War On the Road from Democracy to Dictatorship After October Socialism, What's in a Name? Building State Capitalism Building the State: War, Peace, and Terror Intervention and the Civil War in the South Civil War in Siberia and the Volga Russia on its Own Waiting for the International Revolution Where Have All the Workers Gone? The Peasant Revolution Why the Bolsheviks Won the Civil War Suggestions for Further Reading 4. Nationalism and Revolution South Caucasia Ukrainians and Belorussians Poland and the Russo-Polish War The Baltic Peoples Finns Jews Islam and the Peoples of the East Nationalist and Class Struggles Suggestions for Further Reading Part II: Retreat and Rebuilding 5. Evolution of a Dictatorship Five Easy Steps One-Party Government The Emasculation of the Soviets The Party/State Opposition Within the Party Resistance, Rebellion, and Mutiny "A Retreat to State Capitalism" Suggestions for Further Reading 6. Socialism in One Country The Nationality Question The General Secretary Lenin's Mantle Early Crises of the NEP Economy Socialism in One Country The Final Crisis of NEP Retreat and Retrenchment Soviet Union Isolated Continuing Revolution in Asia The War Scare of 1927 Stalin and the Comintern Balance and Power Stalin's Path to Power Suggestions for Further Reading 7. NEP Society Cultures and Classes Workers under State Capitalism Peasant Russia Nepmen The Red Army The New Soviet Man and Woman Religious Wars Building Legitimate Authority Suggestions for Further Reading 8. Culture Wars Intelligentsia and Revolution Fellow-Travelers and Proletarian Writers Film and Popular Culture Soviet School Days Cultural Revolution Suggestions for Further Reading
Part III: Stalinism 9. The Stalin Revolution Revolution from Above War on the Peasants and the Final Opposition Collectivization and Dekulakization Famine in Ukraine The Countryside After the Storm Suggestions for Further Reading 10. Stalin's Industrial Revolution Industrialization Stalin-Style Class War on the "Specialists" Extension and Centralization Stalin's Working Class The New Class of Bosses The Second Five-Year Plan and Stakhanovism Making the Socialist City Suggestions for Further Reading 11. Building Stalinism Politics and the Party Retreat The Great Purges Suggestions for Further Reading 12. Culture and Society in the Socialist Motherland Socialist Realism Going to the Movies with Stalin Disciplining the Intelligentsia Women and the Family Mind, Body, and Soul Indestructible Union Suggestions for Further Reading 13. Collective Security and the Soviet State The Fascist Menace The Popular Front and Collective Security War in Europe. Suggestions for Further Reading 14. The Great Fatherland War Invasion From Blitzkrieg to War of Attrition The Supreme Commander and the Road to Stalingrad War and Diplomacy, at Home and Abroad Endgame Suggestions for Further Reading 15. The Big Chill: The Cold War Begins Historians Look at the Cold War Diplomacy and the War Effort Yalta and its Aftermath Atomic Diplomacy A New World Order The Left in Europe The Soviets in Eastern Europe Perceptions and Misperceptions The Division of Europe Poland Czechoslovakia Yugoslavia The Finnish Exception The German Question Suggestions for Further Reading 16. Late Stalinism at Home and Abroad From under the Rubble Reconstructing Hearts and Minds Stalinizing Eastern Europe Cold War and Hot War High Politics in the Kremlin Court Suggestions for Further Reading Part IV: Reform and Stagnation 17. From Autocracy to Oligarchy. Khrushchev and the Politics of Reform
The Several Deaths of Stalin The Man The Soviets Enter the Nuclear Age "Peaceful Coexistence" and its Set-Backs Khrushchev in Crisis The "Thaw" and Destalinization Farm, Factory, and School Coexistence Rift with China Crises in the West Kennedy and Khrushchev Khrushchev's Gamble: The Cuban Missile Crisis The Fall of Khrushchev Suggestions for Further Reading 18. The Paradoxes of Brezhnev's Long Reign The Leadership Meeting the American Challenge: Vietnam The Defeat of Reforms Crushing the Prague Spring Public Opinion and Dissent Agriculture Brezhnev Ascendant Social Changes in the Era of Stagnation Détente and the Arms Race Two Crises: Afghanistan and Poland Suggestions for Further Reading Part V: Reform and Revolution. 19. Reform and the Road to Revolution. The Brief Reign of Iurii Andropov The Briefer Reign of Konstantin Chernenko The Road to Radical Reform Glasnost and the Erosion of Authority The "New Thinking and the End of the Cold War Politics in a New Idiom The "Awakening" of Nations From Reform to Revolution The Unraveling of the Empire at Home Surrendering Stalin's Empire Power to the People The Final Crisis Coup and Collapse Suggestions for Further Reading 20. The Second Russian Republic and the "Near Abroad" The Shock of Therapy Constitutional Crisis Russia, the Near Abroad, and Beyond The War in Chechnya Treading Water The Decline and Abdication Reviving Russia The World Outside Suggestions for Further Reading Chronology Index What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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