Reviews for First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within

The average rating for First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-10-15 00:00:00 Matt Collins A great source of information about the rise, development and collapse of the USSR (1921-1991). I learned so much from reading this work and found Hosking's writing to be generally accessible, and it helps too that he doesn't write like a robot but rather like a human being. He does not shy from expressing sympathy for the victims of the USSR's million atrocities, violations, affronts, and indignities. Hosking does a nice job of smoothly moving us from the macro level to the macro in a few sentences. For example, he might start a paragraph by discussing the general state of Jewish life in Khrushchev's Russia, then discuss the Jews of "the Pale" (far Western Russia) specifically, and then write about the Russian prosecution of synagogues, and follow all that up with one specific bit of evidence maybe- for example- by citing a letter ordering the closing of a single synagogue in Kiev. I believe the book was written with college students in mind, but it's also very accessible- I would argue- to anyone who is interested in history. *** more soon!

Review # 2 was written on 2017-12-06 00:00:00 Jason Navy Pretty great for what it is. Broad easy overview / history of Soviet experiment. a bit too sympathetic I would say, but still well told and well paced.