The Whisperers

Some of the more remarkable books on Russia in recent years have come from Orlando Figes (who is, coincidentally, based at my alma mater Birkbeck). Figes' A People's Tragedy is an epic survey of the revolution; Natasha's Dance is a fascinating sweep through Russian culture and history. His most recent book, The Whisperers, is a book about the impact of Stalinism and the Stalinist terror in particular upon ordinary people. It is based upon a remarkble project, combining the use of family archives and a rigorous approach to oral history. You can find out about it on Figes' site here.

On this site are buried a number of treasures, including four of the origiunal interviews translated into English (see the site's sidebar under English) and a fascinating article about the methodology involved here. The site also features two Radio 4 Archive Hour broadcasts here based upon some interviews here, which make for fascinating listening.

Figes' site, through his links page, also sends us to a number of archives, including the organisation resposible for gathering many of these archives, Memorial. Recently, their St Petersburg offices were raided by Russian police, who siezed the whole archive (read about it here and here).

Especially in light of the above the book should be read by everyone interested in Stalinism, the terror, or Russia in general; or, indeed, in humanity. There's a copy in the library (as ther are of the others). Read.

Tudor Who's Who

For those of you getting to grips with the Tudors, there can sometimes be problems with knowing who's who, especially as they have a tendency to change names at half time. Fear not, help is at hand and it comes in two forms. There's a Who's Who on the website Tudor History, and there is a small downloadable one here (just click).



There's nothing wrong with some darn good popular history meanwhile. I'm a longtime fan of David Starkey's The Reign of Henry VIII, I know many who are very into Alison Wier. As for fiction, you really could do far worse than CJ Sansom's brilliant Shardlake novels, kind of Tudor dectective fiction featuring a hunchbacked London lawyer: start with Dissolution. The female part of the family love Philippa Gregory's novels.



A few weeks ago a few of us went round the National Portrait Gallery's Tudor collection: if you get the chance, it gives a fantastic insight and the chance to see some great paintings. You can get a hint via their website here.

Cold War Corner

Following logically from Stalin, Dan sent me across to the Cold War thanks to a fantastic youtube clip of the great American satirist Tom Lehrer. In this one, Lehrer celebrated, as it were, the announcement of the fact that China had developed the bomb: Who's Next.



While we're at it, this led me to Lehrer's famous Cold War Classic We'll All Go Together When We Go.


Let's connect it back to the Soviet Union, Red Square 1968. Note the reverence for Mr Personality himself, Brezhnev.


A last bit of media fun. If you've never heard of the great American singer and songwriter Randy Newman, here's his take on the good ole boys and the bomb:

mp3 Randy Newman: Political Science

Jesus, it could be Bush. It's magnificent, give it a go.

Meanwhile, the best general tomes on the Cold War I've read are by Martin Walker (to tell the story) and John Lewis Gaddis We Know Now; not to neglect a certain O Edwards (who he?). But I don't know much, any great reads out there? Any suggestions? Why not send a potted review? A cover? A song... ok. I'm rambling now.

Remember, click profile and the email link. Go on.... pretty please.

Evening All: Stalin wasn't Stallin'

Some of us will be spending quite a bit of this term with Uncle Joe Stalin and his band of comrades. Amongst all the stuff, there are two good podcasts on the National Archive's site by Dr Jane McDermid, in two parts here and here (right click to download the mp3). The Learning Curve here has some good documents on industrialisation and related matters.

Here's some applause; yes, for the man himself following his 1937 speech on the new Stalion constitution.



Once, famously, a whole side of a 78 rpm record (ask your grandparents) in a set covering Stalin speaking was devoted to applause. I know dear, let's listen to this...

The personality cult permeated abroad, even in the '30s the likes of HG WElls or Shaw visited Russia and lauded it (I think the same's true for Paul Robeson). By the '50s. tunes like this were doing the rounds.

mp3 Robert Wyatt: Stalin wasn't Stallin' (just click to download via host).

Last week, a Russian TV poll named Stalin as the third greatest Russian, after Alexander Nevsky and Pushkin (here).

Most of all though, read...