Once the hub of the tsarist state, later Brezhnev's "model
Communist city"--home of the Kremlin, Red Square, and St. Basil's
Cathedral--Moscow is for many the quintessence of everything
Russian. Timothy Colton's sweeping biography of this city at the
center of Soviet life reveals what such a position has meant to
Moscow and ultimately to Russia itself.
Linchpin of the Soviet system and exemplar of its ideology,
Moscow was nonetheless instrumental in the Soviet Union's demise.
It was in this metropolis of nine million people that Boris
Yeltsin, during two frustrating years as the city's party boss,
began his move away from Communist orthodoxy. Colton charts the
general course of events that led to this move, tracing the
political and social developments that have given the city its
modern character. He shows how the monolith of Soviet power broke
down in the process of metropolitan governance, where the
constraints of censorship and party oversight could not keep up
with proliferating points of view, haphazard integration, and
recurrent deviation from approved rules and goals. Everything that
goes into making a city--from town planning, housing, and retail
services to environmental and architectural concerns--figures in
Colton's account of what makes Moscow unique. He shows us how these
aspects of the city's organization, and the actions of leaders and
elite groups within them, coordinated or conflicted with the
overall power structure and policy imperatives of the Soviet Union.
Against this background, Colton explores the growth of the
anti-Communist revolution in Moscow politics, as well as fledgling
attempts to establish democratic institutions and a market
economy.
As it answers persistent questions about Soviet political
history, this lavishly illustrated volume may also point the way to
understanding Russia's future.
General
Imprint: |
Harvard University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Russian Research Center Studies, 88 |
Release date: |
December 1995 |
First published: |
February 1995 |
Authors: |
Timothy J. Colton
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156 x 51mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Sewn / Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
955 |
Edition: |
Reprint 2013 ed. |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-674-28371-8 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
European history >
General
Books >
History >
European history >
General
|
LSN: |
0-674-28371-6 |
Barcode: |
9780674283718 |
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