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Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization
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Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization Paperback - 1997

by Stephen Kotkin

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From the publisher

This study is the first of its kind: a street-level inside account of what Stalinism meant to the masses of ordinary people who lived it. Stephen Kotkin was the first American in 45 years to be allowed into Magnitogorsk, a city built in response to Stalin's decision to transform the predominantly agricultural nation into a "country of metal." With unique access to previously untapped archives and interviews, Kotkin forges a vivid and compelling account of the impact of industrialization on a single urban community.

Kotkin argues that Stalinism offered itself as an opportunity for enlightenment. The utopia it proffered, socialism, would be a new civilization based on the repudiation of capitalism. The extent to which the citizenry participated in this scheme and the relationship of the state's ambitions to the dreams of ordinary people form the substance of this fascinating story. Kotkin tells it deftly, with a remarkable understanding of the social and political system, as well as a keen instinct for the details of everyday life.

Kotkin depicts a whole range of life: from the blast furnace workers who labored in the enormous iron and steel plant, to the families who struggled with the shortage of housing and services. Thematically organized and closely focused, Magnetic Mountain signals the beginning of a new stage in the writing of Soviet social history.

First line

Stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean, Russia's steppe frontier through the centuries beckoned the afflicted and the adventurous alike.

From the rear cover

A kind of archaeological analysis of Soviet life during the momentous years of Stalinist industrialization.--Lewis Siegelbaum, Michigan State University

Details

  • Title Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization
  • Author Stephen Kotkin
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Paperback
  • Pages 728
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 1997-02-27
  • Features Bibliography
  • ISBN 9780520208230 / 0520208234
  • Weight 2.27 lbs (1.03 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.01 x 5.98 x 1.63 in (22.89 x 15.19 x 4.14 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Eastern Europe
    • Cultural Region: Russian
  • Category History - General History
  • Library of Congress subjects Soviet Union - Politics and government -, Communism - Soviet Union - Case studies
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 94011839
  • Dewey Decimal Code 947.87

Media reviews

Citations

  • New York Times, 08/03/1997, Page 24

About the author

Stephen Kotkin is the John P. Birkelund '52 Professor in History and International Affairs at Princeton University, where he is also Co-Director of the Program in History and the Practice of Diplomacy and the Director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. He is the author of Steeltown, USSR (California, 1991).
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Magnetic Mountain

by Stephen Kotkin

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Paperback / softback. New. New Book; Fast Shipping from UK; Not signed; Not First Edition; An account of what Stalinism meant to the masses of ordinary people who lived it. It argues that Stalinism offered itself as an opportunity for enlightenment. It depicts a whole range of life: from the blast furnace workers who labored
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Magnetic Mountain – Stalin as a Civilisation (Paper)
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