The Year I Was Peter The Great: 1956 – Khrushchev, Stalin’s Ghost, and a Young American in Russia
by Marvin Kalb
Buy on AmazonRoots -- War, college, and basketball -- Joyce, Teddy, and journalism -- From Kohn to Khrushchev -- "Govorit Moskva, govorit Moskva" ("Moscow calling, Moscow calling") -- Destalinization = Destabilization -- The "thaw"--Zhukov to Poznan -- Into the heartland -- A summertime break in Central Asia -- Where Stalin was still worshipped -- Back to a familiar chill -- "Dark, frightening and tragic days" -- Uvarov, Sasha, and Stalin's ghost -- At the end of the arc -- Postscript : five months later
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"Marvin Kalb, 87, was a Moscow bureau chief and diplomatic correspondent for CBS and NBC, and he has written many books. His latest is a memoir of an especially interesting year: 1956. Kalb was a graduate student doing research in Moscow when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gave a supposedly secret speech denouncing his predecessor, Joseph Stalin, who up to that point had been worshipped as a great leader. The speech sparked a liberalization movement in the country, which Khrushchev mercilessly crushed. By the end of 1956, the premier was once again praising Stalin."
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