9:30-10:45A     TR     BH217

A portion of the above section reserved for majors
Above section carries culture studies credit

A portion of the above section reserved for majors
Above section carries culture studies credit

This course focuses upon the Gorbachev Revolution and the Collapse of
the Soviet Empire in 1991.  There are three parts to the course: The
Tsarist and Soviet Legacy; the Gorbachev Revolution [1985-1991]; and
the New Russia [1991 to the present].  We will look first at the
cultural and political legacy of Imperial Russia and the impact of the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, as well as at "Stalinism" as a way of
life encompassing politics, economics and culture.  We will look at
how the Soviet Union changed after Stalin in the period between 1953
and 1985, and at daily life in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, when the
teacher of this course lived in Russia.  Part II will look at the life
of Mikhail Gorbachev, who rose from humble beginnings to a position of
enormous power and international fame: what was his upbringing and
education like, what events and people shaped his views?  Why did he
decide to initiate a revolution in his own country, what were his
goals, who supported and opposed him, and why did perestroika
ultimately fail?  We also consider his far more successful effort to
end the Cold War, and the contradictory impact his foreign policy
triumphs had on his popularity at home.  We look carefully at the
dramatic events of 1985-91, and examine the era of perestroika both
from above [high politics] and below [daily life, how common people
experienced these events].  A concluding section will look at Russia
after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Readings will include [this list is tentative and incomplete]:

Mark Galeotti, Gorbachev and his Revolution
Adam Hochschild, The UnQuiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin
Svetlana Boym, Common Places: Mythologies of Everyday Life in Russia
"The New Russians" A Film Series by Hedrick Smith
Requirements:  Two Exams [midterm and Final] and weekly one page
written responses to the reading.