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(Re)writing Russian History

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 June 2012
Date01 June 2012
DOI10.1177/002070201206700217
Subject MatterBlasts from the Past
| International Journal | Spring 2012 | 497 |
December 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet
Union. The “evil empire” and the Cold War disappeared, not with civil strife
or the long-feared global conf‌lagration, but suddenly and almost bloodlessly.
As the nemesis and mirror of the west, the USSR had acted as a polestar for
everything from foreign policy to weapons systems to popular culture, one
that could divide as much as it united. Soviet history itself was contested
ground, as it could be made to speak to everything from the general validity
of socialism (and therefore capitalism) or to the nature of Russia (and
therefore, the “west”). Twenty years on, this political valence has ebbed but
has not disappeared entirely.
Michael Kort’s The Soviet Colossus, a classic survey of modern Russian
history, is emblematic of the debates surrounding the Soviet past and how
perspectives have changed—or, in some cases, stayed the same—as we move
away from the Cold War.1 Colossus remains among the most widely used texts
on the USSR, and for good reason; it is accessible, well written, and covers a
Mark Sokolsky is a PhD candidate in the department of history at Ohio State
University.
1 Michael Kort, The Soviet Colossus: A History of the USSR (New York: Charles Scribner’s
Sons, 1985).
BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Mark Sokolsky
(Re)writing Russian
history
The Soviet Colossus in retrospect

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