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The unquiet ghost : Russians remember Stalin / Adam Hochschild.

By:

Hochschild, Adam

Publication details: New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Viking , 1994.Description: xxvii, 304 p. : ill., map ; 24 cmISBN:

9780618257478

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

947.084 HOC

LOC classification:

DK267 .H597 1994

Summary: Hochschild spent the first half of 1991 in the former Soviet Union interviewing gulag survivors, former camp guards and members of the secret police, writers, artists, human rights activists, neo-Stalinists and ordinary citizens about their opinions of Stalin. This haunting and powerful report reveals that the dictator's legacy persists in widespread denial, amnesia, numbness, and pervasive fear among people whose lives were scarred by mass arrests, killings and Stalin's spy network. Hochschild traveled to Kolyma, site of the deadliest camps; he interviewed Valentin Berezhkov, who was Stalin's English-language interpreter and privy to the regime's inner circle; he visited Moscow's KGB archives and was given files of American victims of the gulag. Comparing Stalin's purges to the witch craze of early medieval Europe, Hochschild attributes this ``self-inflicted genocide'' partly to Russians' age-old habits of scapegoating and passive obedience.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Libro - Monografía	Biblioteca Pública de San Miguel de Allende, A.C. Sala Ingles	947.084 HOC (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		036933

Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-296) and index.

Hochschild spent the first half of 1991 in the former Soviet Union interviewing gulag survivors, former camp guards and members of the secret police, writers, artists, human rights activists, neo-Stalinists and ordinary citizens about their opinions of Stalin. This haunting and powerful report reveals that the dictator's legacy persists in widespread denial, amnesia, numbness, and pervasive fear among people whose lives were scarred by mass arrests, killings and Stalin's spy network. Hochschild traveled to Kolyma, site of the deadliest camps; he interviewed Valentin Berezhkov, who was Stalin's English-language interpreter and privy to the regime's inner circle; he visited Moscow's KGB archives and was given files of American victims of the gulag. Comparing Stalin's purges to the witch craze of early medieval Europe, Hochschild attributes this ``self-inflicted genocide'' partly to Russians' age-old habits of scapegoating and passive obedience.

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