Stalin's Great Purge

by Noah Berlatsky (Editor)

Overview

This book provides historical background on Stalin's purges and explores controversies surrounding the purges. It offers first hand accounts from those who experienced the effects of Stalin's purges. One account describes a Ukrainian childhood during the famine while another essayist recalls childhood under Stalin's terror. Nikita Khruschev decries Stalin and the purges. A young Russian woman remembers the Gulag. Your readers will be forever changed by this compelling book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780737763713
Publisher:	Greenhaven Publishing LLC
Publication date:	10/20/2012
Series:	Perspectives on Modern World History Series
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	15 - 17 Years

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Introduction 4

World Map 10

Chapter 1 Historical Background on Stalin's Great Purge

1 Overview of the Great Purge Hiroaki Kuromiya 13

2 Stalin's Five-Year Plan Created Hardship Gareth Jones 25

3 Interrogations During the Purges Involved Torture Bill James 30

4 Doctors Are Put on Trial for an Alleged Plot Pravda 38

5 Stalin's Successor Denounces Stalin and the Purges Nikita Khrushchev 46

Chapter 2 Controversies Surrounding Stalin's Great Purge

1 The Purge Was a Rational Response to Corruption in the Communist Party Mário Sousa 54

2 The Purge Was a Means for Stalin to Ruthlessly Solidify Power Rob Sewell 65

3 The Purge Was an Irrational Result of Stalin's Paranoia Robert S. Robins Jerrold M. Post 72

4 The Death Tolls of Stalin's Reign Are Underestimated R.J. Rummel 83

5 The Death Tolls of Stalin's Reign Have Been Overestimated Timothy Snyder 89

6 Stalin's Atrocities Were as Great as Hitler's Ron Rosenbaum 96

7 Stalin Was Not as Evil as Hitler Avishai Margalit 107

8 Stalin Remains Popular in Russia Today Adrian Blomfield 117

9 Stalin Is Not Popular in Russia Today Thomas Sherlock 121

Chapter 3 Personal Narratives

1 Recalling Stalin's Soviet Russia Owen Matthews 130

2 A Russian Remembers Childhood During Stalin's Terror Nina Markovna 137

3 Nikita Khrushchev Decries Stalin and the Purges Nikita Khrushchev 149

4 The Slánský Trial George H. Hodos 154

5 A Young Russian Woman Remembers the Gulag Tamara Petkevich 160

Glossary 172

Chronology 176

For Further Reading 179

Index 182