Khrushchev: The Man and His Era

Written by William Taubman

Narrated by David Stifel

The definitive biography of the mercurial Soviet leader who succeeded and denounced Stalin. Nikita Khrushchev was one of the most complex and important political figures of the twentieth century. Ruler of the Soviet Union during the first decade after Stalin's death, Khrushchev left a contradictory stamp on his country and on the world. His life and career mirror the Soviet experience: revolution, civil war, famine, collectivization, industrialization, terror, world war, cold war, Stalinism, post-Stalinism. Complicit in terrible Stalinist crimes, Khrushchev nevertheless retained his humanity: his daring attempt to reform communism prepared the ground for its eventual collapse; and his awkward efforts to ease the cold war triggered its most dangerous crises.

This is the first comprehensive biography of Khrushchev and the first of any Soviet leader to reflect the full range of sources that have become available since the USSR collapsed. Combining historical narrative with penetrating political and psychological analysis, this book brims with the life and excitement of a man whose story personified his era.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Dec 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9798765062180

William Taubman

William Taubman is Bertrand Snell Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Amherst College.  His 2003 book, Khrushchev: The  Man and his Era, won both the Pulitzer Prize for biography and the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography in 2004.  Taubman has been the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, and chairs the Advisory Committee of the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington.