Synopses & Reviews
Assessing the legacy of the USSR and the changes that have been wrought over the last decade, this is the most complete history to date of the rise and fall of a great superpower.
- 20th century Russia is a colorful and dynamic story from Lenin's Revolution, the murder of the Romanovs and Stalin's gulags through to perestroika and glasnost.
- Russia is still in confusing state of flux, politically and economically, and this book unravels the chaos
- Offers particularly strong and original sections on nationalism and ethnicity, focuses on psychological indoctrination and how a country can become a cult, and provides the background to the events that we saw and read about, like the Chechen War and Yeltsin turning back the tanks outside the Russian parliament.
Assessing the legacy of the USSR and the changes in the last decade, this is a history of the rise and fall of a great superpower. At the core is the overarching idea of the Motherland, which fused two passionately held beliefs and identities, the Soviet and the Russian society. Other key themes focus on the triumphs and the failures, New Soviet Man, and the contrasts between Moscow at the center and the rest of the sprawling empire, including the national problem. Set to become the most popular and debated book on twentieth-century Russia, it will completely change the way the Soviet Union is understood.
David Marples is Professor of History at the University of Alberta. He is the author of eight previous books on Russia and the Soviet Union and has a particular interest in the issue of nationalities. He served as a regular consultant on Soviet issues to the governments of Canada and theUSA and is uniquely placed to write the definitive account of modern Russia.