Khrushchev: A Political Life

By William J. Tompson

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312163606
• ISBN13: 9780312163600
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Informative political biography

There really isn't an exagerration in the book's title. This is a political biography pure and simple. There is little personnel information on Khrushchev or on his family life. Krushchev, as the author paints him, was a more complicated man than the shoe pounding and Cuban Missile crisis botching buffoon he's remembered as in the West.As an aside, in my time living in Russia I found that Khrushchev is held in somewhat high regard by Russians today [who would back the authors portrait of him as a reformist]. His time as Chairman of the party resulted in relative openness after the oppression of the Stalinist era. Under his direction there was more focus on consumer goods, on housing, a release of political prisoners and more freedom in the arts. As a result of his iniciatives many of the apartments in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities date back to this era. It was he who gave the famous anti-Stalin "secret" [but deliberately leaked] speech to the XXth party congress. [It's ironic that while within the Soviet Union a freer climate was allowed to continue for a time within those countries in the Soviet sphere no anti-communist activities were allowed.]The book functions well as an informative look at the rise of Khruschev through the ranks of the communist party [CPSU]. The purges of the late '30s were his fasttrack to the upper ranks of the CPSU as he took over the positions of the relieved [and usually arrested] former officials. An fact-filled look at Khrushchev's political life, it promises no more than a political biography and on this it delivers. Those looking for personnel information and a gossipy narrative should look elsewhere. Those looking for political biography and insight to the rise of Nikita should be satisfied.

What is this?

This book is required for numerous college courses and is an excellent resource on the Khrushchev years in the Soviet Union, including extensive references to numerous primary sources. However, I am unsure as to the legitimacy of the author. The copy of this book carried by the Colorado State University library lacks a dust jacket. Who is he? Is he a kook? Does he distill vodka in his basement? I just don't know.