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Summary: The definitive account of the collapse of the Soviet Union
Review: "Lenin's Tomb" is the best and most complete account available of the remarkable transformation of Soviet Russia. David Remnick is an insightful reporter and a tremendous writer who witnessed these events first hand. From Remnick's descriptions, you will know what it was like to be a Russian in the heady days that included Glastnost, the conservative backlash, the fateful coup and the final demise of Mikhail Gorbachev. Remnick brings the story to life in a way that does it justice. This is absolutely essential reading.
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Summary: Spine Tingling History!
Review: A spine tingling, firsthand account of the demolition of Communism. In addition to providing vivid descriptions of the final days, Mr. Remnick also provides a concise history of Russia. I read this book nearly three years ago and its impressions remain....
Alan Wright
Orlando, FL
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Summary: Useful history
Review: A useful history of the last days of Soviet rule and the early days of democracy in Russia, told through the stories of several, mostly prominent individuals. It provides a nice portrait of what exists, but lacks deep analysis to answer the question of why.
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Summary: Useful history
Review: A useful history of the last days of Soviet rule and the early days of democracy in Russia, told through the stories of several, mostly prominent individuals. It provides a nice portrait of what exists, but lacks deep analysis to answer the question of why.
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Summary: Cause of Death--An Overdose of GLASNOST
Review: After seventy-four years, the Soviet Union, a decrepit gerontocrat like its former pilots, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, shuffled off its mortal coil. Journalist David Remnick, who spent four years in Moscow, compiled a series of thematic events into Lenin's Tomb, and explained how glasnost, initiated in small doses by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, became GLASNOST that proved too potent for the dilapidated Soviet state, and in the end, the Marxist-Leninist foundation on which the State had been build. An overdose of GLASNOST gave the Soviet Union a fatal political cardiac arrest.However, in his indicting assessment, he notes how the Party and the Soviet Union, like Lenin's mummified husk, was politically, spiritually, and economically bankrupt. "The Soviet Union was an old tyrant slouched in the corner with cataracts and gallstones, his muscles gone slack. He wore plastic shoes and a shiny suit that stank of sweat. He hogged all the food and fouled his pants. Mornings, his tongue was coated with the ash-taste of age. ... The state was senile but still dangerous enough." Nice analogy, huh? Remnick further identifies the cause of that decay with the Party and its failure to keep the promises of socialism to the ordinary Soviets: "The men of the Communist Party, the leaders of the KGB and the military and the millions of provincial functionaries who had grown up on a falsified history, could not bear the truth. Not because they didn't believe it. They knew the facts of the past better than anyone else. But the truth challenged their existence, their comfort and privileges. Their right to a decent office, a cut of meat, the month of vacation in the Crimea--it all depended on a colossal social deception, on the forced ignorance of 280 million people. ... When history was no longer and instrument of the Party, the Party was doomed to failure. For history proved precisely that: that the Party was rotten to the core." And once ordinary Soviets realized they had been lied to, that the socialist utopia was a pipe dream, they wanted the riches and luxuries that only a capitalist system could provide. In short, the Party was over. Gorbachev was willing to give the Soviet people an inch, i.e. glasnost. As the caretaker of History, he was willing to demonize Stalin but not Lenin. Denouncing Lenin would mean denouncing Marx and Communism, and flat out telling the Soviet people that they had lived a lie for seventy-four years. Instead, the Soviet people took their miles, GLASNOST, and ran with it to many finish line; for the Russians, it would be the demonstration in front of the parliament building on 20-21 August 1991. Glasnost had thus led to GLASNOST. The influx of information and culture from the West, formerly forbidden books, had led to the ghosts of the past rising up again, be they formerly independent republics absorbed by Russia, or institutions that had been partially banned, such as the church. Glasnost also revealed the failings of the system, and this was most painfully apparent with the Chernobyl tragedy 26 April 1986. Chernobyl was the epitomy of many things. One, it symbolized "every curse of the Soviet system, the decay and arrogance, the willful ignorance and self-deception." Two, "Chernobyl was not like the Communist system. They were one in the same. ... The system ate into our bones the same way the radiation did, and the powers that be--or the powers that were--did everything they could to cover it all up, to wish it all away" According to Remnick, Gorbachev introduced glasnost and perestroika as a bandage, albeit a piffling one, to the Soviet Union, and he should be credited for that courageous act in face of the opposition he faced. However, he was outshadowed by Andrei Sakharov and Boris Yeltsin, who advocated what the people really wanted, GLASNOST and PERESTROIKA, i.e. open heart surgery. They and the Soviet peoples took GLASNOST to its logical conclusion, chucking the Soviet Union's bones into the dustbins of History. This is a well-detailed critical book that explores the whys and hows of the Soviet Union's collapse, and more interesting for those like me who witnessed the Gorbachev era.
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Summary: YOU'LL NEVER LOOK AT HISTORY THE SAME WAY AGAIN...
Review: David Remnick has given us two things: a chilling historical account of the tremendous fall of the Soviet Union, and the loss of hope of its terrorized people, ...and a beautifully written detective story, a very personal touch that reflects a deep understanding of humanity; an authenticity only available through hundreds of interviews. It's meeting history face to face with all its cruelty and abuse jump out at you ever so subtly. It is almost reminiscent of that simplicity that was once bestowed to us through Tolstoy's humble genius. It is a story unlike any other, taking place all over the Soviet Empire. And best of all, Remnick has given the reader a chance to ride in the shoes of the actual Soviet people, ...indeed recreating history yet so much more. The condition that these people lived in is comparable to the Nazi Holocaust. The periodic discovery of mass murder sites keeps contributing to this effect. The Shoah makes an effort "to never forget," and yet in the Soviet years, many more innocent people were killed and tortured than Hitler's Armada ever would during the Nazi era. In this way, Mr. Remnick has also made an effort to capture his experience and knowledge for all to not only vividly read through, but to live through as well. I sincerely applaud Mr. Remnick. He has created something that should stand the test of time...by way of engraving it in our minds. You will never look at history the same way again.
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Summary: A Fascinating Look at a Crumbling Empire
Review: David Remnick in "Lenin's Tomb" writes a fascinating book on the demise of the Soviet Union. Remnick manages to convey the views of the liberals who want to democratize the country and the neo-Stalinist conservatives who want to turn the clock back to the repression of life under Stalin.
The author has little sympathy for Mikhail Gorbachev who once he launched "perestroika" could not make the final commitment to democracy and republicanism and remained trapped in the dying and corrupt Communist Party. Yet, Gorbachev's half-hearted attempts at reform nearly ended in a disasterous rigt-wing coup. Only, the incompetence of the plotters and will of the people not to turn back to a corrupt failed system prevented the USSR in falling back into despotism.
Because of "glasnost and perestroika" Remnick was able to obtain candid views from everyone he interviewed during his stay in the Soviet Union. Miners, dissident and even communist party apparatchiks spoke freely about the good and bad of Russia. Nearly, 50 years after his death, Stalin's shadow still hovered over everything and everyone in the nation. Liberals such as Andrei Sakharov wanted the government and the party to fully acknowledge the heinous attrocities of mass murder and imprisonments committed during Stalin's reign, Khrukhschev made a tentative start at 20th party congress in denouncing Stalin but failed to follow through with real reform. During the Brezhnev years the country lurched backwards thast by the time Gorbachev came to power the Soviet Union was totally morally, politically and economically bankrupt. Remnick also does a fine job showing the first hesitant steps toward capitalism yet evenn today 10 years after the Soviet Union collapsed Russia still refuses to make the fundamental changes to bring a market economy fully to fruition. Under the Communists there was "equity in poverty" today in Russia you see the extremes of rich and poor. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the demise of the Soviet Union, but it needs an update to encompass the last decade.
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Summary: Remnick's master work
Review: David Remnick's "King of the World" is one of my favorite books, and it encouraged me to take on this meaty Pulitzer Prize winner. Remnick was on the ground as The Washington Post's Moscow bureau chief, and in this work he strings together all of his exhaustive reporting for a compelling account of the collapse of the Soviet Empire.
If you're running a mock U.N. at your school, I'd rate "Lenin's Tomb" as mandatory reading.
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Summary: Fantastic Account of The Soviet Union
Review: Highly recommended. This book not only gives a stunning history of the Soviet Union but also a much more personal account of the people who live there. This is truly a must read for anyone interested in Russia and the problems it faces today
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Summary: Still vital
Review: I bought this when it was originally published but it got lost in the shuffle of other quotidian matters. Picked it up last week and couldn't put it down. I thought it would be dated but it was a mesmerizing read. The definitive account of the fall of the USSR. Emotionally engaging as well as hard-nose reporting. Still works after all these years..............Five stars is not high enough.
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