The Soviet Colossus

by Michael Kort

The twentieth century was not kind to Russia. Despite its great potential and remarkable achievements, the country also bore the weight of two world wars, a revolution and civil war, totalitarian tyranny, famine and ecological destruction, economic ruin, and imperial decline. Will Russia ever be prosperous, peaceful, and free? Seeking clues in the past, Michael Kort revisits earlier turning points in Russia's history--from the fall of the old regime to the establishment of the Bolshevik dictatorship and Stalinist totalitarianism; from the reforms and counter-reforms of Khrushchev and Brezhnev to the tumultuous years of change under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Which strands of Russia's past is their successor, Vladimir Putin, weaving into the fabric of the present, and which are being allowed to fade, for better or worse? This new edition of The Soviet Colossus brings the story up through the first decade of the twenty-first century. Distinctively readable, judicious, and focused on critical events and questions, it integrates new revelations about the Soviet past and ongoing debates about the Soviet regime as well as its successor. It is the ideal text for as one semester history course or background for a political science course.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

520 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

There appear to be several editions of this book, but the one I read was the original, published in 1985, a curious year to be trying to formulate a history of the Soviet Union from. If this book had been published just a few years later, I think Kort would have selected a different title.

It's a book written for a popular audience. It covers the time span beginning way back in the pre-history of the Russian state and ends with Chernenko, prior to Gorbachev's time as leader. However, the bulk of the text is devoted to the Lenin/Stalin period, as you might expect. The post-Stalin era is treated as a sort of afterthought in the last few chapters of the book.

Kort seems to give a generally evenhanded history of events, though he does tend to moralize from time to time, reminding the reader it is bad when millions of people die from starvation or purges. Though the scale of the mass deaths is truly hard to comprehend and Kort certainly brings it home.

In the end, again writing from just before the break-up of the Soviet Union, he suggests that the Soviet system is likely to continue into the future; that it has demonstrated durability and major, sudden changes are unlikely. It does go to show that the past does not always predict the future, and the course of human society is often not obvious.

[Guðmundur Arnlaugsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ég las aðra útgáfu þessarar bókar, sem kom út 1990. Kaflinn um Gorbachov var þ.a.l. mjög áhugaverður, en líka nokkuð góður. Eins og þessi bók heilt á litið. Helsti gallinn var of mikil áhersla á utanríkisstefnu Sovétríkjanna á Brezhnev tímanum, á kostnað innanríkisathugunna. En Andropov og Chernenko kaflinn, aftur á móti, var virkilega fín samantekt um allt það sem amaði að Sovétinu á undan Gorba. Mæli með, ef þið komist í þessa einhvers staðar.