The Soviet Century

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The ensuing “ Space Race” heated up further in 1961 when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.

El siglo soviético se presenta como un libro que cubre (casi) todos los aspectos de lo que sucedió en la Unión Soviética. No resulta fácil cubrir 70 años de historia (bastante movidita, además) en un país que tiene miles de kilómetros y multitud de etnias. El autor lo repite varias veces a lo largo de la obra.

Daily life

Millions died during the Great Famine of 1932-1933. For many years the USSR denied the Great Famine, keeping secret the results of a 1937 census that would have revealed the extent of loss.

Rich in its insights and original in its perspectives, Moshe Lewin’s superb new book provides a master-class in understanding the structures and intricate workings of the Soviet system. Ian Kershaw During the height of Stalin’s terror campaign, a period between 1936 and 1938 known as the Great Purge, an estimated 600,000 Soviet citizens were executed. Millions more were deported, or imprisoned in forced labor camps known as Gulags. The Cold War Fascinating. . . . The scholarship of the work is evident throughout, but 'The Soviet Century' is both more powerful and more subtle than a typical work of scholarship. At its heart, it’s a gigantic, heartfelt elegy, one of the most stunning tributes ever paid to the Soviet Union."—Steve Donoghue, Big Canoe News U.S. President John F. Kennedy responded to Gagarin’s feat by making the bold claim that the U.S. would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The U.S. succeeded—on July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Mikhail GorbachevInteresting and insightful analysis into the nature and dynamics and history of the Soviet Union. The primary argument that runs throughout the book is that the Soviet government was not a monolithic, unchanging, all-powerful totalitarian state, but one that changed dramatically at different points, and which often was responding (often impotently) to societal changes, rather than imposing its own will on Soviet/Russian society. This may seem like an obvious point, but as the author points out, this is in fact often lost in traditional narratives of the USSR that are overly influenced by the propaganda wars of the Cold War. This is a dense book, which is part of the reason it took me so long to finish - at times it truly is difficult to slog through. At other times, however, it provides a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the Soviet Union. Lewin ultimately concludes that in the post-Stalin era, the USSR was what he terms "bureaucratic-absolutist." "In the Soviet case," he writes, "it was the bureacracy which, in the final analysis, collectively acquired undivided and unchallenged power." Indeed, the book explores numerous moments in which particular individuals saw the flaws in the Soviet system and sought to engage in much-needed reform, but who were ultimately stymied by the conservative nature of the system and the total power of the bureaucracy. This book, however, presumes an extensive pre-existing knowledge of the history of the Russian Revolution, the Stalinist 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War. Lewin sheds light on so many hitherto unknown aspects of the history, he simply doesn't bother to repeat such things as are already fairly common knowledge from a historians perspective - a problem if you are not a historian! A reader looking for a colourful ‘big picture’ description of the Soviet project may well find this book a boring, baffling history of Russian bureaucracy. The most intriguing and exciting elements of The Soviet Century will only be apparent to people with an already good knowledge of the Soviet century. On December 25, Gorbachev resigned as leader of the USSR. The Soviet Union ceased to exist on December 31, 1991. Sources: