The Unknown Stalin
By Roy & Zhores Medvedev
The Overlook Press, Feb. 2004 ($29.95)
It hardly seems possible that there is anything about Stalin that remains “unknown.” The spate of books (and videos, novels and magazine articles) published over the past half-century on this psychopathic architect of the Soviet Terror Machine would seem to offer a fairly exhaustive portrait.
Indeed, as the Medvedevs write, there have been over a hundred biographies of Stalin, plus countless books on every aspect of his public and private life, to say nothing of those on the politicians and personalities that surrounded him. But, the authors aver, history is riddled with mistakes borne of “conventional wisdom.” At the risk of sounding Rumsfeldian, sometimes the things we think we know are not all that well-known.
Take the mystery surrounding Stalin’s death. There have been some rather compelling and fascinating explanations that range from outright murder by poisoning to murder by act of omission (purposely failing to summon the doctors fast enough) to simple death by natural causes. The Medvedevs offer a take on events that rings truest of any to date, by virtue of its recognition of the complex range of psychological, political and human factors in play. We won’t give the ending away, except to say that Beria didn’t do it.
This same subtle eye is turned to other aspects of Stalin’s life, from the fate of his archives to his “secret heir,” his role in the H-bomb, the outbreak of WWII and more.
The portrait that emerges of Stalin does not detract any from our understanding of him as a ruthless and cunning tyrant, but it does help us see certain (unknown) human aspects of this complex individual, and help us understand how they affected history.
The Siberian Curse
By Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy
Brookings, 2003 ($39.95)
It is quite common (including in the pages of this magazine) for observers to tout the riches of Russia, entreating the uninformed to simply cast their gaze toward Siberia: “there lie untold riches, the world’s greatest natural resource base ... the source of Russia’s future power.”
But, what if ... what if that which is often cited as the source of Russia’s great wealth – Siberia – is actually an economic albatross dangling around its neck?
What if indeed. Hill and Gaddy make a rather convincing case for this very thing, grounded on two facts we all know: Russia is huge and Russia is very cold. And what was good for holding off Napoleon is not what is good for building a prosperous, sustainable modern economy.
Economic planners in the Soviet era forced the economic development of Siberia (which, by many economic and geographic standards, here presented in fascinating tables, charts and sidebars, is simply not fit for mass urban development). This legacy is holding Russia back. Witness the inability of many eastern cities to pay their electric or heating bills. Note the lack of sustainable local industries in Siberia’s million-weak cities. See the concentration of foreign investment and new economic wealth in the “natural” cities of European Russia and the growing poverty of Siberia and the North.
The authors’ diagnosis is sound and their prognosis grim. But, assert Hill and Gaddy, recovery is possible. Russia must downsize its cold cities and encourage a mass migration of the population westward, to concentrate the country’s workforce and brainpower in European Russia.
Sounds like a job for some out of work economic planners.
The Diary of a Soviet Schoolgirl, 1932-1937
By Nina Lugovskaya
Glas ($17.95)
Nine of Russia’s Foremost Women Writers
Glas has done it again. With Diary, it presents an astonishing view into the life of a nonconformist teenager at the height of the Great Terror. The diary, recently unearthed in an NKVD archive, is under-lined where the investi-gators (Lugovskaya was arrested and imprisoned, along with the rest of her family) underlined it, offering a revealing look at the Chekist mindset.
Comparisons with Anne Frank’s diary are inevit-able, but this is a very different work, except insofar as it shows the ability of a young observer to see and say things that adults dared not.
Nine is an admirable appetizer of the works of some of Russia’s best women writers, from Ulitskaya to Petrushev-skaya, some published in English for the first time in this volume. This is an ideal volume for non-Russian speakers, and for those interested in finding other contemporary authors they might be interested in reading more of.
Rising Tide: The Untold Story of Russian Submarines that Fought the Cold War
By Gary E. Weir and
Walter J. Boyne
Basic Books ($26)
You don’t have to be a fan of Tom Clancy novels or military history to be sucked in by this fasci-nating work, based on first-hand Russian accounts of submarine “warfare” during the Cold War. Full of chilling revelations about this most secret front in the US’ 40 year war with the Soviet Union.
The Death of a Poet:
The Last Days of Marina Tsvetaeva
By Irina Kudrova
Overlook Press ($29.95)
Tsvetaeva’s life is so unbelievably tragic that, at times, one thinks it must be fiction. But no. Unknowingly betrayed by her husband, she lived in exile for nearly two decades. Then, when she came back to Russia, she watched her daughter be arrested along with her husband, then suffered persecution and internal exile. Finally, almost inevitably, she was devoured by the Revo-lution and committed suicide.
Kudrova offers a touching and almost poetic look at Tsvetaeva’s infamous life, enriched by unprecedented access to KGB archives.
St. Petersburg
By Arthur George with Elena George
Taylor Trade ($35)
Often, St. Petersburg is treated like a sideshow in the larger sweep of Russian history – an invented city that does not fit the Russian paradigm. In this loving and detailed biography, the Georges turn the conventional lens end for end, offering a look at Russian history as seen from the perspective of its Second City.
This work is particularly strong in the lattermost chapters, recounting the late Soviet and early post-Soviet years. But it will be a valued reference work on early periods as well.
— PR
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