Tim G. reviewed on + 2 more book reviews
Hochschild strikes an excellent balance between the historical and personal impacts of Stalin's dictatorship and how it defined Russia's status as a nation for many decades. He moves from the factual to the anecdotal with surprising ease and never gets mired in the historical minutia as so many historians do. For those with an interest in how tyranny and ideology become melded in totalitarian systems, and how human beings are seduced and later make a bitter peace with such systems, this is a worthy read.
