Thompson J.M. Russia and the Soviet Union. An Historical Introduction from the Kievan State to the Present

Boulder, USA: Westview Press, 2009. — xvi, 415 p. — ISBN: 978-08133-4395-2.This lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from ancient Kievan Rus' to Vladimir Putin's presidency of the twenty-first century. Now thoroughly revised and updated, Russia and the Soviet Union does not shy away from controversial topics, including the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the “inevitability” of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. The sixth edition includes a new chapter on Vladimir Putin, additional treatment of social and foreign policy issues, and an updated chapter on post-Soviet Russia and the Yeltsin era. Distinguished by its brevity and amply supplemented with useful maps, illustrations, photos, and suggested readings, this essential text provides balanced coverage of all periods of Russian history and incorporates economic, social, and cultural developments as well as politics and foreign policy.Ancient Russia and the Kievan State
The Russian Land
The Peoples of Russia
The Slavs Come to Russia
The Formation of the Kievan State
How Did Kievan Russians Make a Living?
Kievan Society
Religion and Culture in Kievan Russia
Power and Politics in Kievan Russia
The Fall and Significance of Kievan Russia
Further Reading
Russia Divided and Conquered, 1054 — 1462
Russia Divided
The Mongol Scourge
The Impact of the Mongols
The Decline of Mongol PowerFurther Reading
Moscow and «the Gathering of the Russian Lands», 1328 — 1533
The Odds Against Moscow
Moscow’s Advantages
The Unification of Russia, 1328 — 1533Further Reading
Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles, 1533 — 1618
The Personality and Character of Ivan the Terrible
The Reforms of Ivan IV
Ivan Versus the Aristocracy
The Time of Troubles, 1598 — 1613Further Reading
The Molding of Russian Society, 1613 — 1689
Serfdom
The Autocracy
The Orthodox Church
The Expansion of Russia
Relations with the WestFurther Reading
Peter the Great and Westernization, 1689 — 1725
Peter’s Coming of Age
Peter’s Personality and Character
Peter in War and Diplomacy
Peter’s Reforms
Resistance to Peter
Significance of Peter the Great
Further Reading
Change and Continuity, 1725 — 1801
Peter’s Successors, 1725 — 1762
Catherine the Great, 1762 — 1796
Russian Expansion and Colonization
Economic and Social Development
The Changing Role of the Nobility
Education and Culture
The Reign of Paul I, 1796 — 1801Further Reading
Power, Backwardness, and Creativity, 1801 — 1855
The Serf Economy
Russia Unchanged
Creativity and Dissent
Russia: Arbiter of Europe, Colonizer of Asia and AmericaFurther Reading
Reform, Reaction, and Modernization, 1855 — 1904
The Era of the Great Reforms, 1855 — 1881
Terror and Reaction
Economic and Social Modernization, 1861 — 1905
Competing IdeologiesFurther Reading
Revolution, Reform, and War, 1904 — 1917
The Revolution of 1905
The Duma Period, 1906 — 1914
The Silver Age: Russian Culture, 1890 — 1917
Russian Involvement in World War I, 1914 — 1917Further Reading
Revolution, Civil War, and the Founding of Soviet Society, 1917 — 1928
The February Revolution: The Collapse of the Tsarist System
The Bolsheviks Come to Power
Civil War and Foreign Intervention, 1918 — 1921
The New Economic Policy and Coexistence, 1921 — 1928
The Struggle for PowerFurther Reading
The Second Revolution, the Stalinist System, and World War II, 1928 — 1946
The Revolution from Above: Industrialization and Collectivization
The Stalinist System
Soviet Culture, 1917 — 1953
Stalin and the World, 1928 — 1946Further Reading
The Soviet Union as a Superpower: Change, Stagnation, and «Cold War», 1946 — 1984
Reconstruction and Renewed Stalinism
The Cold War
Ideological Rigidity and Repression
The Succession to Stalin and the Rise of Khrushchev
Peaceful Coexistence and Troubles in Eastern Europe
Origins of the Sino-Soviet Split
Ups and Downs in Soviet-Western Relations
Khrushchev: Reformer or Repairman?
Bureaucratic Stability Under Brezhnev and His Successors
Détente and Its Erosion
The Changing Soviet SocietyFurther Reading
The Gorbachev «Revolution» and the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1983 — 1991
The Origins of the Gorbachev Reforms
Efforts to Rejuvenate the Economy
«New Thinking» in Foreign Policy
Glasnost’
Democratization
Gorbachev’s Downfall
The Attempted Coup of August 1991Further Reading
The «New» Russia in the Post-Soviet Era 1991 — 2000
The Quadruple Revolution
On the High Road to Capitalism
What Is a «Normal» Life?
The Rocky Road to Democracy
Russia, Its Neighbors, and the WorldFurther Reading
Putin’s Paradoxes
The Meteoric Rise of Vladimir Putin
Good Times
Now, the Bad News
Consumerism
Nationalism
Crises
«Sovereign Democracy»
Elections
The Challenge of Chechnya
Putin’s Assertive Foreign Policy
Russia and Its Neighbors
Russia and the European Union