German scholar Jörg Baberowski is one of the world’s leading experts on the Stalin era; but his work has seldom been translated into English. This book; an unremitting indictment of the mad violence with which Stalin ruled the Soviet Union; depicts Stalinism as a cruel and deliberate attack on Russian society; driven by “totalitarian ambitions†and the goal of modernizing and rationalizing a backward people. Baberowski takes a twofold approach; emphasizing Stalin’s personal role and responsibility as well as the continuity he sees in Communist aims and ideology since 1917. Unlike recent apologist accounts that focus on the challenges of modernization or on the operational complexities of managing the Soviet state; this hard-hitting analysis unequivocally locates the origins of the terror in the culture of violence and the techniques of power. Detailed; well-documented; and including many new details on the workings of the Stalinist state; this powerful work encompasses the dictator’s brutal reign from his achievement of total power in 1929 to his death in 1953.
#981022 in Books 2007-05-22Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x .81 x 6.12l; 1.27 #File Name: 0300115938416 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The emergence of civic activism in North AmericaBy C. ReaderThis monograph contains a series of essays which consider the transatlantic (France; Germany; England; Canada and the United States) antislavery movement from numerous different perspectives (theories; individuals; women's rights; and suffrage) and trans-historically. Abolitionists' collaboration across race; class; gender; and nationality is an under-explored aspect of the movement which resulted in very different effects in British North America versus the United States. The focus of the monograph is weighted towards the North American experience. The essays are well written and could be enjoyed by academic and non-academic audiences alike. Leading historians combined with literary; legal; and gender scholars have produced an engaging work which I strongly recommend to anyone interested in the emergence of civic activism in the nineteenth century.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A good textbook.By CustomerThis was an okay book for a textbook in my history class that is for women. I learned about the slavery movement while reading it.
