Product Description

The turbulent tale of twentieth-century Russia now has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Though the Soviet Union may be gone, its effects remain - in the new Russia and the successor states that emerged from the failed Soviet Experiment. This book is an attempt to deal fairly and compassionately with a complex history that has divided friend from foe, East from West, Left from Right - not with the vain hope of reconciling irreconcileable differences, but with the expectation that an analytic and interpretive narrative will add to our understanding if not complete agreement. This book covers the history of the Soviet Union from the waning days of Czarist Russia to the present day.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #295276 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

About the Author
About the Author:
Ronald Grigor Suny is currently Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He was previously Alex Manoogian Professor of Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Good overview over Russian history
Suny's overview over Russian and Soviet history makes it a very ambitious project. Not only does he, as a native Armenian, have a personal connection to the Soviet Union, but he also writes from the perspective of an emigre, someone who has found a new home in the USA. Thus, Suny is to be met with a certain criticism to start with.

Suny does not dive right into the (hi)story of the Soviet Union, but also goes to great lengths to explain its origins. He goes back to the beginnings of Nicolas II's reign to analyse how and why Communism found such a broad base of support in tsarist Russia. After a short overview of the general Russian history, he provides a short analysis of Russian social and plitical structures, brushing over the 1905 peasant revolt before finally coming up to Russia's invovement in the First World War, which would cost Nicolas II his life and create the Soviet Union. The only criticism one might bring in here is that Lenin's personal background, which contributed largely to his determination in setting up the Soviet Union, is widely left alone.

However, Suny's detailed analysis of the events in 1917 makes up for this. From that point on, SUny takes the reader by the hand and guides him/her through the maze that Soviet history is for a lot of people. From the 1920 Civil War to the 1930s purges up to Gorbachev's Glasnost and Perstroika reforms and his ultimate downfall, Suny documents everything with an eye for the detail. I would however advise beginners in the subject to keep a critical distance. Suny is very much engaged in the topic, and he does not leave much room for debate. He advertises to be dealing "dispassionately" with the topic, and his style mirrors this claim. However, Suny sows himself very critical of a lot of policies implemented in the 1930s through to the 1980s, and while some of these policies contributed doubtlessly towards the Soviet Union's final fall, Suny shows a certain amount of irony in dealing with the topic. Far from being a "bad" thing to do, the average reader would be advised to take this into account.

Finally, Suny's book is one of the best overviews in existence over Soviet history. However, for those wishing to concentrate more on the Cold War era, it should be pointed out that the whole of that era covers approximately 150 pages, compared to about 300 about the Lenin-Stalin era. Nevertheless, even for students with a focus on more recent events in Russia, Suny still presents a credible pre-history, explaining not only Soviet paranoia and the origins of the hope for a world Revolution, but also the reasons behind Soviet and Russian foreign policy from Yalta to the Chechen War. This text is a set text at the University Centre of Luxembourg for a course entitled "The Russian Revolution and the evolution of the Soviet Union 1917-1953" (translated from French).

All in all, a history book worth buying. A detailed history, competently narrated by someone who knows what they are doing.
o_brien@vo.lu

Good overview over Russian history in the Twentieth Century
Suny's overview over Russian and Soviet history makes it a very ambitious project. Not only does he, as a native Armenian, have a personal connection to the Soviet Union, but he also writes from the perspective of an emigre, someone who has found a new home in the USA. Thus, Suny is to be met with a certain criticism to start with.

Suny does not dive right into the (hi)story of the Soviet Union, but also goes to great lengths to explain its origins. He goes back to the beginnings of Nicolas II's reign to analyse how and why Communism found such a broad base of support in tsarist Russia. After a short overview of the general Russian history, he provides a short analysis of Russian social and plitical structures, brushing over the 1905 peasant revolt before finally coming up to Russia's invovement in the First World War, which would cost Nicolas II his life and create the Soviet Union. The only criticism one might bring in here is that Lenin's personal background, which contributed largely to his determination in setting up the Soviet Union, is widely left alone.

However, Suny's detailed analysis of the events in 1917 makes up for this. From that point on, SUny takes the reader by the hand and guides him/her through the maze that Soviet history is for a lot of people. From the 1920 Civil War to the 1930s purges up to Gorbachev's Glasnost and Perstroika reforms and his ultimate downfall, Suny documents everything with an eye for the detail. I would however advise beginners in the subject to keep a critical distance. Suny is very much engaged in the topic, and he does not leave much room for debate. He advertises to be dealing "dispassionately" with the topic, and his style mirrors this claim. However, Suny sows himself very critical of a lot of policies implemented in the 1930s through to the 1980s, and while some of these policies contributed doubtlessly towards the Soviet Union's final fall, Suny shows a certain amount of irony in dealing with the topic. Far from being a "bad" thing to do, the average reader would be advised to take this into account.

Finally, Suny's book is one of the best overviews in existence over Soviet history. However, for those wishing to concentrate more on the Cold War era, it should be pointed out that the whole of that era covers approximately 150 pages, compared to about 300 about the Lenin-Stalin era. Nevertheless, even for students with a focus on more recent events in Russia, Suny still presents a credible pre-history, explaining not only Soviet paranoia and the origins of the hope for a world Revolution, but also the reasons behind Soviet and Russian foreign policy from Yalta to the Chechen War. This text is a set text at the University Centre of Luxembourg for a course entitled "The Russian Revolution and the evolution of the Soviet Union 1917-1953" (translated from French).

All in all, a history book worth buying. A detailed history, competently narrated by someone who knows what they are doing.