The Shortest History of the Soviet Union

THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF THE SOVIET UNION SHEILA FITZPATRICK

Close to a miracle ... an immensely readable overview ... full of anecdotes and lively detail, but also meeting the highest academic standards’ – SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK A concise and essential history of the Soviet Union, including chapters on Russia and Vladimir Putin, and its impact on the future of the world. The Soviet Union arrived in the world accidentally and departed unexpectedly. More than a hundred years after the Russian Revolution, its tumultuous history continues to captivate us and influence global politics today. From the Revolution and Lenin to Stalin’s Terror, from the Great Patriotic War to Gorbachev, The Shortest History of the Soviet Union is a lively and authoritative distillation of 75 years of communist rule, written by one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject. Sheila Fitzpatrick explores the fate of non-Russian republics often left out of the history books, gives portraits of key figures and traces the aftermath of the regime’s sudden collapse, including the rise of Vladimir Putin, a product of the Soviet system if not quite the Soviet nostalgic he is sometimes claimed to be. Colourful asides on everything from ‘Red Moscow’ (‘the Soviet Chanel No. 5’) to Soviet jazz provide a fascinating backdrop to the main narrative. This is a small masterpiece of history writing – essential reading for anyone who wants to understand this century as well as the last.

SHEILA FITZPATRICK

Sheila Fitzpatrick is Professor of History at the University of Sydney and Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of History at the University of Chicago. She is considered to be the founder of the field of Soviet history. She regularly contributes to the London Review of Books, and is the multi-award winning author of numerous titles including Everyday Stalinism, The Russian Revolution and A Spy in the Archives