#By Vladislav M. Zubok

[lilyblisslys]

Preparing for a 10 hour road trip by picking up a cute little farming/life sim with Pokémon elements and also a book about the collapse of the Soviet Union

[qqueenofhades]

do you think you could write something going over marxism's issues? i struggle putting things into words myself, and you write things very well

This is the kind of question where, while I don't want to send you away totally empty-handed, is also something that I can't possibly answer, because "issues with Marxism" could be defined so broadly and in so many different contexts that there's not a lot for me to offer in terms of a cogent or helpful explanation. (Besides, this is obviously a LOT of work to ask of me.... so, yes.)

I am happy to point you in the direction of some reading, since that's always the best way to learn things the best and retain them the most deeply. If you want to learn about the issues with communism, particularly the old-school twentieth-century unreconstructed version as it was embedded and practiced in actual historical settings, the one that I know most about is Russia/the USSR. Here are some books that could help you explore the history, methods, human damage, and eventual collapse of the USSR/Eastern Bloc, and how that related to its implementation and practice of a communist/Marxist ideology:

Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav M. Zubok

Gulag: A History, by Anne Applebaum

The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union, by Serhii Plokhy

Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe, by Serhii Plokhy

1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe, by Mary Elizabeth Sarotte

If you want a more philosophical critique of Marxism or to better understand what Marxism actually is, that's the sort of question where it would be helpful to hit up Wikipedia and check out the debates, issues, recommended reading, further references, and so on. There are plenty of research tools for you to start exploring for yourself, so that's the best advice I can presently give you.

[mariacallous]

M. E. Sarotte, a leading expert on foreign policy, has won the annual Pushkin House Book Prize of £10,000 for Not One Inch: America, Russia, and The Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate (YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS).

Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate is a revealing account of America’s relations with the new post-Cold War democracies of East and Central Europe, with its older European allies, and, in particular with Russia – a relationship that went so badly awry and sowed the seeds of the tensions that shape today's world. 

The judges praised all the shortlisted works and especially highly commended Maria Stepanova, author of In Memory of Memory, a beautifully written reflection on the Soviet experience of individual families, powerfully translated by Sasha Dugdale.

The tenth anniversary year of the Pushkin House Book Prize takes place at a time of seismic shifts that have changed attitudes in and towards Russia. The Prize was created to highlight, reward and encourage public understanding and intelligent writing about history, societal developments and culture within and beyond Russia. 

Pushkin House feels that it is our responsibility to support all thinkers and creatives who are able to contribute to our shared understanding of the world in which we have found ourselves after 24 February 2022. 

To mark the Prize this year, and recognising the importance of the valuable insights that research and academics offer to study Russia at this pivotal moment in history, the judges exceptionally shortlisted ten books rather than the usual six. The decision reflects on the importance of discussion around all the complexities and contradictions of Russia’s complicated history and culture. 

The 2022 shortlisted titles were: 

In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale  

On the Edge: Life Along the Russia-China Border by Franck Billé and Caroline Humphrey 

Navalny: Putin’s Nemesis, Russia’s Future? by Jan Matti Dollbaum, Morvan Lallouet and Ben Noble 

Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia by Timothy Frye 

Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change by Thane Gustafson

Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate by M. E. Sarotte

Stalin’s Architect: Power and Survival in Moscow by Deyan Sudjic

The Empress and the English Doctor: How Catherine the Great Defied a Deadly Virus by Lucy Ward 

Playing with Fire: The Story of Maria Yudina, Pianist in Stalin’s Russia by Elizabeth Wilson 

Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav Zubok

Ekaterina Schulmann, spokesperson for the 2022 judges, said: "Mary Sarotte's book presents an in-depth documentation and compelling narrative of East-West diplomacy and relationships. The story that she tells is at once historically significant and uncomfortably near. In 2022, it sometimes reads like one of those works that describe the events preceding World War I. Sarotte bravely underlines possible key historical figures and moments when history might have evolved towards another reality. The significance of Sarotte's voice and her careful analysis gives us, readers, an opportunity to at least begin to understand how we got to where we find ourselves now."

Marc Polonsky, managing trustee of The Polonsky Foundation, co-funder of the prize, said: “At this time, a deep understanding and proper analysis of Russia in all its complexity – both its past and present – are more crucial than ever. The Pushkin House Book Prize has again brought to the fore books that shed important light on this. Congratulations to the worthy winner selected from such a competitive field."

Douglas Smith, who with his wife Stephanie Ellis-Smith, helps fund the prize, said: “Mary Sarotte’s Not One Inch is not only the book for our turbulent times, but will be long read by everyone seeking to understand the origins of the post-Cold War world. It's irreplaceable work.”

Andrew Jack, founder of the prize, said “Never in the history of the prize has high quality writing to understand Russia been more important – or better supplied than in this year’s offerings.”

[volumeofvalue]

Collapse

BOOK REVIEWCollapse – The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav M. Zubok 2021 About the AuthorVladislav M. Zubok is professor of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author of A Failed Empire, Zhivago’s Children, and The Idea of Russia. He is a finalist for the 2022 Cundill History Prize. About the BookA major study of the collapse of the Soviet…

[worldservicedirectory]

The Reading Room: Seven experts on the best books on Russian foreign policy

The Reading Room: Seven experts on the best books on Russian foreign policy

Russia by Dmitry Trenin (Polity, 2019). (Picture: Amazon.com) Why? They say about Russia that everything changes in 20 years and nothing changes in 200. Dramatic changes amid furrows of deep continuity — over the past century, Russia has seen revolution and state collapse twice, in 1917 and 1991; mass heroism and mass crime, ambition and despair. Each time it has risen from the ashes to find its…

[gracegrath]

[Download] Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union - Vladislav M. Zubok

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 A major study of the collapse of the Soviet Union?showing how Gorbachev?s misguided reforms led to its demise In 1945 the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four-million strong, five-thousand nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the twentieth century. ? Thirty years on, Vladislav Zubok offers a major reinterpretation of the final years of the USSR, refuting the notion that the breakup of the Soviet order was inevitable. Instead, Zubok reveals how Gorbachev?s misguided reforms, intended to modernize and democratize the Soviet Union, deprived the government of resources and empowered separatism. Collapse sheds new light on Russian democratic populism, the Baltic struggle for independence, the crisis of Soviet

[pterryy]

Download PDF Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union BY Vladislav M. Zubok

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  [*] Download PDF Here => Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union

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[dino66p]

[PDF] Download Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union BY Vladislav M. Zubok

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  [*] Download PDF Here => Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union

[*] Read PDF Here => Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union