Khrushchev: the Man and his Era.William Taubman. 2003. Read by Michael Prichard. 24--1.5 hour tapes. Books on Tape. $152.00. 0-7366-9650-4. Vinyl; content notes. A Most Americans remember Khrushchev as a crude man who banged his shoe on a UN desk, promising to bury the West. But Taubman provides a more complete understanding of the man who, from 1958-64, ruled the USSR USSR: see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. as head of both the Communist Party and the govern-" merit. Taubman draws from documents, speech texts, public accounts, the memoir Khrushchev Remembers, and from the writings of contemporaries, including his son and daughter. A man with but two years of education jolted his country with deStalinization de·sta·lin·i·za·tion n. The process of discrediting and eliminating the political policies, methods, and personal image of Joseph Stalin. Noun 1. and the rehabilitation of millions executed or imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- under Stalin. Khrushchev warred against legitimate science and the intelligentsia; he micromanaged industry and agriculture, mostly to the detriment of all. He also shook the world when he built the Berlin Wall, brought rebellious Hungary to heel, precipitated the disastrous Cuban missile crisis Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, major cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the USSR increased its support of Fidel Castro's Cuban regime, and in the summer of 1962, Nikita Khrushchev secretly decided to , and presided over Russia's space program. Taubman describes him as blustering blus·ter v. blus·tered, blus·ter·ing, blus·ters v.intr. 1. To blow in loud, violent gusts, as the wind during a storm. 2. a. To speak in a loudly arrogant or bullying manner. , erratic, impulsive, cunning, and secretive, but also as a man who set the stage for changes to come. Events look a bit different when filtered through the eyes of Khrushchev. Narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. Prichard, whose resonant voice retains quality throughout the 36 hours of reading, pronounces the Russian names without hesitation, which makes listening to this book preferable to reading the print version. Excellent choice. Edna Boardman, Bismarck, ND |
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