Category Archives: Stalinism
Gulag Town, Company Town: A Blog Conversation
We are excited to be trying something new with the latest in our series of blog conversations. We are co-hosting this blog conversation in conjunction with the Second World Urbanity Project blog. You can follow part of the conversation here … Continue reading
The 1936 Guide Book of the Soviet Union
A few years ago Steve Barnes was visiting Hawaii to give a talk on his work on campus here at UH. He spent a bit of time at our Library, and came across an unusual find in our special collections, … Continue reading
Myth, Memory, Trauma: A Blog Conversation
For this edition of Russian History Blog’s “Blog Conversations,” we have gathered a distinguished group of scholars to discuss Polly Jones’s new book, Myth, Memory, Trauma: Rethinking the Stalinist Past in the Soviet Union, 1953-1970 (Yale University Press, 2013). Having devoted … Continue reading
“Under the beneficent rays of Soviet national policy…”
I spent some time this past week preparing for my fall class on the Soviet Union. Each time I’ve taught it here at Hawai’i, I’ve made use of an unique resource at our Library, the “Social Movements Collection,” which is … Continue reading
Death and Redemption – On Images
First, I must thank my colleague and co-blogger Andrew Jenks for setting up this blog conversation here at Russian History Blog. As an academic author, I have found the wait for journal reviews of my book to be excruciating. The … Continue reading
Death and Redemption—Theory and Practice
Though still a relatively young scholar (nine years since receiving his Ph.D.), Steve Barnes can rightfully be considered the dean of Gulag studies in the United States. From his provocative 2003 dissertation, to his Gulag: Many Days Many Lives website, … Continue reading
Posted in Death and Redemption, Gulag, Soviet Era 1917-1991, Stalinism
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The Stalin Cult – More (Clearly, I hope) on Thinking Visually
I hope I made it clear that I consider The Stalin Cult an excellent work of political and institutional history, from which I learned a great deal about a subject I care about. But my objections to its treatment of … Continue reading
The Stalin Cult: Painting and Socialist Realism
As a historian interested in visuality in general and Soviet visual culture in particular, I read Jan Plamper’s book with great interest and benefit, but with some perplexity. The book offers us an excellent survey of the production of some … Continue reading
Posted in Russian and Soviet Art, Stalinism, The Stalin Cult
Tagged "Socialist Realism", painting
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The Stalin Cult – A Blog Conversation
Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong, Kim Jong-Il, Joseph Stalin. The mere sound of these names conjures up mental images of the personality cult–films, monuments, renamed cities, prose, poetry, and, perhaps most of all, portraiture all designed to raise a … Continue reading
Stalin’s Daughter
The death of Svetlana Alliluyeva in a nursing home in Wisconsin brings to a close a fascinating and tragic life. The documentary film maker Lana Parshina in 2007 had the good luck of landing one of the few extensive interviews … Continue reading
Posted in Cold War, Films, Stalinism, Teaching Russian History
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