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Khrushchev: A Political Life traces the rise and fall of the late Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Drawing on newly available archival materials and a wealth of recently published Russian and Ukrainian sources, this standard biography provides much new information on Khrushchev's life and career. Khrushchev's ultimate failure to realise his vision of the Soviet future is linked to the unrealistic optimism of that vision as well as to the contradictions inherent in Khrushchev's views and policies.
List of contents
Acknowledgements - The Donbass Bolshevik: Southern Russia and Ukraine, 1894-1929 - The City Father: Moscow, 1929-37 - The Viceroy: Kiev, 1938-44 - The Counter-heir: Kiev and Moscow, 1944-53 - First Among Equals: Struggles within the Presidium, 1953-55 - Dethroning Stalin: The Secret Speech and its Aftermath, 1955-57 - Khrushchev Triumphant: The Drive for Supremacy, 1957-59 - Frustration: High Hopes and Bitter Disappointments, 1959-60 - From Crisis to Crisis: The Cold War Renewed, 1960-62 - The Fall: Removal and Retirement, 1962-71 - Notes - Bibliography - Index
Summary
Khrushchev: A Political Life traces the rise and fall of the late Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev's ultimate failure to realise his vision of the Soviet future is linked to the unrealistic optimism of that vision as well as to the contradictions inherent in Khrushchev's views and policies.
Report
'a vivid startling biography ... drawing on a wealth of untapped material from Moscow archives ... This reassessment makes a cogent case for Khrushchev's regime as a harbinger of Gorbachev's perestroika' - Publishers Weekly
