The Structure of Soviet History: Essays and Documents

by Ronald Grigor Suny (Editor)

The Structure of Soviet History is a unique collection of primary documents and important scholarly articles that tell the fascinating and tragic story of Russia's twentieth century. Ronald Grigor Suny, an eminent historian and political scientist, has compiled pieces that illustrate the
revolutionary changes as well as the broad continuities in Soviet History. Not only does he tell the story of Russian people but also of the other Soviet peoples, the nationalities that also made up the tsarist and Soviet empires and formed independent states in the early 1990s. Students can use
this volume to delve beyond the usual stories of Russian and Soviet history to look at the building blocks of history - archival documents, memoirs, and interpretive essays by the leading experts in the field. Readers will learn about the fall of the tsarist empire, the hopes, and aspirations of the
revolutionary years, the brutalities of the Stalin years, the attempts to reform the country in the last decades of Soviet power, and finally the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of fifteen fragile republics. Rather than imposing a single view on the reader, this book allows students to use a
variety of materials to come up with their own, fresh interpretation of a controversial and often misunderstood experience. The selections will cover political, social, and cultural history from a variety of official pronouncements, dissident manifestos, memoirs, letters and
literature. Organized chronologically, these documents and essays will cover all the major events and principal interpretations of Soviet history. An introductory essay will provide the broad outlines of Soviet history and the book's framework, while the chapter introductions will summarize the main
features of each period . Each document will be prefaced by headnotes that identify the author and place the work in context. Explanatory notes will also be included, wherever necessary, to define words and events that may not be familiar to readers.

Genres: History, Russian History, Soviet Union, Russia, Nonfiction, College, Politics

592 pages, Hardcover

First published August 17, 2002

About the author

Ronald Grigor Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan and professor emeritus of political science and history at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome collection of primary sources from the Soviet era. Accompany it with a great history book on the Soviet Union, and you could practically teach a class on it yourself. It's really interesting to read Lenin and Stalin's official documents and see how they helped shape the course of 20th century history.