Khrushchev

Description

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award The definitive biography of the mercurial Soviet leader who succeeded and denounced Stalin. Nikita Khrushchev was one of the most complex and important political figures of the twentieth century. Ruler of the Soviet Union during the first decade after Stalin's death, Khrushchev left a contradictory stamp on his country and on the world. His life and career mirror the Soviet experience: revolution, civil war, famine, collectivization, industrialization, terror, world war, cold war, Stalinism, post-Stalinism. Complicit in terrible Stalinist crimes, Khrushchev nevertheless retained his humanity: his daring attempt to reform communism prepared the ground for its eventual collapse; and his awkward efforts to ease the cold war triggered its most dangerous crises. This is the first comprehensive biography of Khrushchev and the first of any Soviet leader to reflect the full range of sources that have become available since the USSR collapsed. Combining a page-turning historical narrative with penetrating political and psychological analysis, this book brims with the life and excitement of a man whose story personified his era. CONTENTS Note on Russian and Ukrainian Usage Preface Introduction 1. The Fall: October 1964 2. Kalinovka’s Own: 1894–1908 3. Making It as a Metalworker: 1908–1917 4. To Be or Not to Be an Apparatchik: 1918–1929 5. Stalin’s Pet: 1929–1937 6. Stalin’s Viceroy: 1938–1941 7. Khrushchev at War: 1941–1944 8. Ukrainian Viceroy Again: 1944–1949 9. The Heir Nonapparent: 1949–1953 10. Almost Triumphant: 1953–1955 11. From the Secret Speech to the Hungarian Revolution: 1956 12. The Jaws of Victory: 1956–1957 13. The Wider World: 1917–1957 14. Alone at the Top: 1957–1960 15. The Berlin Crisis and the American Trip: 1958–1959 16. From the U-2 to the UN Shoe: April–September 1960 17. Khrushchev and Kennedy: 1960–1961 18. “A Communist Society Will Be Just about Built by 1980”: 1961–1962 19. The Cuban Cure-all: 1962 20. The Unraveling: 1962–1964 21. After the Fall: 1964–1971 Epilogue Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Glossary Acknowledgments Index Illustrations