The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States

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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. Download The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States Author Ronald Grigor Suny – kino-fada.fr This book is probably the most concise and detailed book on Soviet history there is out there, chronicling an immense amount of change, progress and growth in Russia in the past century or so However, at over 400 pages in length, it s incredibly dry, difficult to follow along with and it slike a list of facts without much context into how this affected the world and society at large or how things have changed since As a university textbook it s not terrible it s better than my political This book is probably the most concise and detailed book on Soviet history there is out there, chronicling an immense amount of change, progress and growth in Russia in the past century or so However, at over 400 pages in length, it s incredibly dry, difficult to follow along with and it slike a list of facts without much context into how this affected the world and society at large or how things have changed since As...This is a sweeping history of the Soviet Union, from its origins to approximately 1996 there is an updated edition that brings the reader nearly up to the present, but that s not the version I saw The book emphasizes the early USSR and the Stalinist period, giving each of these portions around 40% of the text each especially the Revolution itself , whereas the USSR after 1953 is only given 20% of the space Although I understand these decisions, I wishspace was given to the later peri This is a sweeping history of the Soviet Union, from its origins to approximately 1996 there is an updated edition that brings the reader nearly up to the present, but that s not the version I saw The book emphasizes the early USSR and...Ronald Grigor Suny is a name alot of folks flock to for information on the Soviet Union, particularly its pre revolutionary scope and design post revolution Russia has always been a curious phenomenon to those of us here in the West, since its history and motives are so alien to our own that sheer curiousity can t help but erupt.Soviet Russia was a curiousity of mine during college, and I spent a good chunk of my courses on Russian history, from the Medieval period to the Imperialist era, to th Ronald Grigor Suny is a name alot of folks flock to for information on the Soviet Union, particularly its pre revolutionary scope and design post revolution Russia has always been a curious phenomenon to those of us here in the West, since its history and motives are so alien to our own that sheer curiousity can t help but erupt.Soviet Russia was a curiousity of mine during college, and I spent a good chunk of my courses on Russian history, from the Medieval period to the Imperialist era...This book was required reading for my Modern Russia course For someone completely uninformed about the formation of the USSR, it is an interesting read, and I enjoyed it Of course, my background is English, so perhaps thethematic approach to issues that The Soviet Experiment Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States took maybe be confusing to some By that I mean, although Suny did go chronologically, using a timeline of events from the Tsars actions that influenced the eventual revol This book was required reading for my Modern Russia course For someone complet...Writing a historical survey must be like trying to fit an elephant in a jar It s an impossible feat but Suny does a pretty great job in pulling it off Suny emphasizes a number of different lenses for approaching Soviet history, including economic, political, cultural, social and gender In the introduction, Suny mentions how he wishes to take an objective approach to Soviet history and he pretty consistently adheres to objectivity He stumbles during the absurdity of early Stalinisms push fo Writing a historical survey must be like trying to fit an elephant in a jar It s an impossible feat but Suny does a pretty great job in pulling it off Suny emphasizes a number of different lenses for approaching Soviet history, including economic, political, cultural, social and gender In the introduction, Suny mentions how he wishes to take an objective approach to Soviet history and he pretty consistently adheres to objectivity He stumbles during the absurdity of early Stalinisms push for industrialization I appreciated his attempts at objectivity, to often in non academic approaches to Soviet history, I find the idea that the USSR was doomed to fail because it was communist and that cynicism often drips into the author s narrative One of the books greatest strengths is the focus on the non Russian Soviet repub...Probably the definitive modern account of Russian and Soviet history from just before the fall of the Tsar to the era of Dimtri Medvedev.I read this book for an exam but would have happily have read for pleasure, it is that good.It is written in a way that feels like a grand narrative, but it does require your attention to overcome some of theacademic parts that can make the work loose some it its momentum.This book is also fairly easy to dip in an out of The the chapters are short can ca Probably the definitive modern account of Russian and Soviet history from just before the fall of the Tsar to the era of Dimtri Medvedev.I read this book for an exam but would have happily have read for pleasure, it is that good.It is written in a way that feels ...a good soviet history it doesn t quite leap off the page at you, but it s quite readable, and seems to provide a reasonable and balanced account of the history of the soviet union, unlike some of thelamentable entries on this topic probably not appropriate as a casual read, b...I learned a lot about Russian history from this book I would want to consult multiple versions of Russian history before coming to too many conclusions though My favorite quote, I declare war to the death on dom...As a Soviet Historian, this text along with The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick are my go to reference works for secondary research material Not only does Suny seamlessly present a complex history, he references many helpful and authoritati...The other book for my Government and Politics of Russia class Again, some chapters wereinteresting than others, but the chapter lengths in this book was a lot better than the other book I had to read for class.

The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States
  • English
  • 05 August 2018
  • Paperback
  • 560 pages
  • 0195081056
  • Ronald Grigor Suny
  • The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States