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.
I read this book recently and I strongly recommend it to all who are interested Soviet history. The book of Professor Figes is interesting, well written and well documented.
ReplyDeleteLudwik Kowalski (a retired physics teacher, Ph.D. 1964)
P.S. I also wrote a book about Stalinism, as one can see at:
html://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/excerpts.html
My short and easy-to read book is likely to be appropriate for those who know very little about Soviet history, especially students. It introduces many sociological topics worth discussing. How suitable is it for a classroom?
kowalskiL@mail.montclair.edu
Great book! An insight as much into the adaptability of the human psyche as into Stalinist Russia. Interesting details about communal apartments too. One negative thing to say would be that perhaps Figes focuses too much on urban life and not enough on Kolkoz life. Still though, recommended!
ReplyDelete