this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
265 points (100.0% liked)
chat
8137 readers
195 users here now
Chat is a text only community for casual conversation, please keep shitposting to the absolute minimum. This is intended to be a separate space from c/chapotraphouse or the daily megathread. Chat does this by being a long-form community where topics will remain from day to day unlike the megathread, and it is distinct from c/chapotraphouse in that we ask you to engage in this community in a genuine way. Please keep shitposting, bits, and irony to a minimum.
As with all communities posts need to abide by the code of conduct, additionally moderators will remove any posts or comments deemed to be inappropriate.
Thank you and happy chatting!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I really like The Soviet Century by Moshe Lewin. Anything by J Arch Getty. Trotsky’s history of the revolution is pretty great. Sheila Fitzpatrick wrote a good history of the revolution + years after too (she’s a good revisionist historian and was instrumental in pushing back against the Cold War idea that the Nazis and Soviets were the same… but she does kinda have some anti-communist brainworms sometimes). Carlos Martinez has a really nice multi-part mega essay on the collapse of the USSR on the Invent The Future website. I haven’t read Losurdo’s book on Stalin but I will soon.
And most of what I’ve cited above (Lewin, Getty, Fitzpatrick, at least) are from historians who have the respect of the academic history profession, not Soviet apologists or anything.
have you read anything by stephen kotkin? i heard that his biography of stalin was good so I read the first few chapters but didn't end up continuing (edit: not because I had any problem with the book, I just didnt think i wanted to commit to a 1000 page biography right now). I'd like to know something about stalin that isnt from american high school textbooks or internet memes.
I appreciate the recommendations, I'll look into them and add them to my list
I've not read it yet, but people around here were pretty excited about the recent official translation of Domenico Losurdo's Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend.
I'll look into it, thanks. Losurdo looks very interesting just from his wikipedia page.
Welcome!