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Twilight of the Soviet Union: Memoirs of a Moscow Correspondent
This book tells of the immense changes begun then, setting in train centrifugal forces which became uncontrollable, leading in six short years to the dissolution of that once powerful country - the USSR.
How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was it inevitable? As a journalist, Kate witnessed it all from the very beginning to the end and tells her story here. Alongside documenting the country's momentous political and social changes, Kate gives a vivid picture of her family's life among Russians.
How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was it inevitable? As a journalist, Kate witnessed it all from the very beginning to the end and tells her story here. Alongside documenting the country's momentous political and social changes, Kate gives a vivid picture of her family's life among Russians.
370 pages, Paperback
Published November 18, 2023
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July 6, 2024
Written chronologically from diary extracts, journalist Kate Clark writes an account of living in Russia with her family during the years of Glasnost and Perestroika from 1985 to 1991. She combines a fascinating account of her extensive travels around the different Soviet Republics at this time of turmoil and change, commenting on the many admirable aspects of Soviet life she observed, which she felt were often overlooked by the western media. She provides a thought-provoking analysis on the failure of a seventy year political experiment, which led to the eventual break up of the USSR.
Kate Clark also explains how her three young children had to adapt to a system so different to the life they had experienced in the West, having to learn to speak the language and fit in to their new schools as quickly as possible. Her portrait of family life and a description of the gruelling schedule Kate Clark undertook as a very active journalist, added a dimension that at first I found a bit annoying but then came to appreciate. As a working mother, she was attending some of the most important political Soviet conferences of the day along with dealing with the daily minutiae concerning the children's welfare. She was required to send daily dispatches back to her editorial team at the Morning Star as well as others to The Scotsman, interpreting all the national events as they unfolded, no mean challenge.
Looking back over thirty years later, Kate Clark points out how life in Moscow was a wonderful if sometimes frustrating place to live. I learned a great deal from her account and gained a better understanding of the current Ukraine conflict in the process.
Kate Clark also explains how her three young children had to adapt to a system so different to the life they had experienced in the West, having to learn to speak the language and fit in to their new schools as quickly as possible. Her portrait of family life and a description of the gruelling schedule Kate Clark undertook as a very active journalist, added a dimension that at first I found a bit annoying but then came to appreciate. As a working mother, she was attending some of the most important political Soviet conferences of the day along with dealing with the daily minutiae concerning the children's welfare. She was required to send daily dispatches back to her editorial team at the Morning Star as well as others to The Scotsman, interpreting all the national events as they unfolded, no mean challenge.
Looking back over thirty years later, Kate Clark points out how life in Moscow was a wonderful if sometimes frustrating place to live. I learned a great deal from her account and gained a better understanding of the current Ukraine conflict in the process.
Displaying 1 of 1 review