A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to its Legacy
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 3, 10/24/2016
EAN 9781316506233, ISBN10: 1316506231
Paperback, 388 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
Language: English
This concise yet comprehensive textbook examines political, social, and cultural developments in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet period. It begins by identifying the social tensions and political inconsistencies that spurred radical change in Russia's government, from the turn of the century to the revolution of 1917. Peter Kenez presents this revolution as a crisis of authority that the creation of the Soviet Union resolved. The text traces the progress of the Soviet Union through the 1920s, the years of the New Economic Policies, and into the Stalinist order. It illustrates how post-Stalin Soviet leaders struggled to find ways to rule the country without using Stalin's methods - but also without openly repudiating the past - and to negotiate a peaceful but antipathetic coexistence with the capitalist West. This updated third edition includes substantial new material, discussing the challenges Russia currently faces in the era of Putin.
1. Introduction
2. The revolution, 1917–21
3. New Economic Policies, 1921–9
4. The first five-year plan
5. High Stalinism
6. A great and patriotic war
7. The nadir
1945–53
8. The age of Khrushchev
9. Real, existing socialism
10. Failed reforms
11. Leap into the unknown
12. Illiberal democracy
13. Putin returns.