Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism
Complexities, Contradictions, and Controversies
Published on 12. November 2020
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-1-350-12294-9 (ISBN)
Description
This thought-provoking collection of essays analyses the complex, multi-faceted, and even contradictory nature of Stalinism and its representations.
Stalinism was an extraordinarily repressive and violent political model, and yet it was led by ideologues committed to a vision of socialism and international harmony. The essays in this volume stress the complex, multi-faceted, and often contradictory nature of Stalin, Stalinism, and Stalinist-style leadership, and. explore the complex picture that emerges. Broadly speaking, three important areas of debate are examined, united by a focus on political leadership:
* The key controversies surrounding Stalin's leadership role
* A reconsideration of Stalin and the Cold War
* New perspectives on the cult of personality
Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism is a crucial volume for all students and scholars of Stalin's Russia and Cold War Europe.
Stalinism was an extraordinarily repressive and violent political model, and yet it was led by ideologues committed to a vision of socialism and international harmony. The essays in this volume stress the complex, multi-faceted, and often contradictory nature of Stalin, Stalinism, and Stalinist-style leadership, and. explore the complex picture that emerges. Broadly speaking, three important areas of debate are examined, united by a focus on political leadership:
* The key controversies surrounding Stalin's leadership role
* A reconsideration of Stalin and the Cold War
* New perspectives on the cult of personality
Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism is a crucial volume for all students and scholars of Stalin's Russia and Cold War Europe.
Reviews / Votes
This useful volume makes a small step toward filling in some of the blanks of a particularly obscure and gruesome period in human history. * The Russian Review * Scholars of Stalinism will find much of value in this collection of articles. Addressing topics from the Stalin cult to Red Army purges to the Cold War, the contributors add significantly to our understanding of this critical period in Soviet history. * David L. Hoffmann, Distinguished Professor of History, Ohio State University, USA * This edited volume offers a remarkably stimulating and comprehensive discussion of Joseph Stalin's style of political leadership. Without in any way playing down Stalin's role as one of history's great mass murderers, the cast of leading scholars in the field brought together in this volume focus on other elements of his leadership, such as his revolutionary motives and administrative qualities and effectiveness, thus helping us to acquire a more balanced reading of the dictator. * Erik van Ree, Research Associate of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
553 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-12294-9 (9781350122949)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
James Ryan | Susan Grant
Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism
Complexities, Contradictions, and Controversies
E-Book
11/2020
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€35.49
Available for download
Persons
James Ryan is Senior Lecturer in Modern European (Russian) History at Cardiff University, UK. He is the author of Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence (2012), and his articles have appeared in journals such as Slavic Review, Europe-Asia Studies, and Historical Research.
Susan Grant is Reader in Modern European History at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. She is the author of Physical Culture and Sport in Soviet Society (2013), and articles in journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, Medical History, and Revolutionary Russia.
Susan Grant is Reader in Modern European History at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. She is the author of Physical Culture and Sport in Soviet Society (2013), and articles in journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, Medical History, and Revolutionary Russia.
Content
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism, James Ryan (Cardiff University, UK) and Susan Grant (Liverpool John Moores University, UK)
Part I. The Controversial Vozhd': Stalin as Leader and Statesman
1. The Many Lives of Joseph Stalin: Writing the Biography of a 'Monster', Christopher Read (Warwick University, UK)
2. Stalin's Purge of the Red Army and Misperception of Security Threats, Peter Whitewood (York St. John University, UK)
3. Stalin and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939: The New Historiography, Daniel Kowalsky (Queen's University Belfast, UK)
4. Brute Force and Genius: Stalin as War Leader, Chris Bellamy (University of Greenwich, UK)
Part II. Challenging Stalinist Models: Cults of Personality
5. The Stalin Cult in Comparative Context, Judith Devlin (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
6. From Heroic Lion to Streetfighter: Historical Legacies and the Leader Cult in 20th Century Hungary, Balazs Apor (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Part III. New Ways of Understanding the Stalinist System: The Cold War
7. Revisioning Stalin's Cold War, Caroline Kennedy-Pipe (Loughborough University, UK)
8. Working Towards the Vozhd'? Stalin and the Peace Movement, Geoffrey Roberts (University College Cork, Ireland)
9. Construction of a Confession: The Language and Psychology of Interrogations in Stalinist Czechoslovakia, Molly Pucci (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Part IV. In Lieu of an Epilogue
10. Reckoning with the Past: Stalin and Stalinism in Putin's Russia, James Ryan (Cardiff University, UK)
Select Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism, James Ryan (Cardiff University, UK) and Susan Grant (Liverpool John Moores University, UK)
Part I. The Controversial Vozhd': Stalin as Leader and Statesman
1. The Many Lives of Joseph Stalin: Writing the Biography of a 'Monster', Christopher Read (Warwick University, UK)
2. Stalin's Purge of the Red Army and Misperception of Security Threats, Peter Whitewood (York St. John University, UK)
3. Stalin and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939: The New Historiography, Daniel Kowalsky (Queen's University Belfast, UK)
4. Brute Force and Genius: Stalin as War Leader, Chris Bellamy (University of Greenwich, UK)
Part II. Challenging Stalinist Models: Cults of Personality
5. The Stalin Cult in Comparative Context, Judith Devlin (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
6. From Heroic Lion to Streetfighter: Historical Legacies and the Leader Cult in 20th Century Hungary, Balazs Apor (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Part III. New Ways of Understanding the Stalinist System: The Cold War
7. Revisioning Stalin's Cold War, Caroline Kennedy-Pipe (Loughborough University, UK)
8. Working Towards the Vozhd'? Stalin and the Peace Movement, Geoffrey Roberts (University College Cork, Ireland)
9. Construction of a Confession: The Language and Psychology of Interrogations in Stalinist Czechoslovakia, Molly Pucci (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Part IV. In Lieu of an Epilogue
10. Reckoning with the Past: Stalin and Stalinism in Putin's Russia, James Ryan (Cardiff University, UK)
Select Bibliography
Index