What you must do in this unit
- Read the textbook chapters 37 and 39.
- Read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
- Check the remarks by Professor Blois and Professor Evans on the Thaw, and my notes on Andrei Sakharov.
- Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the Unit.
- Submit the Solzhenitsyn paper.
Some videos that you can watch for this unit
- Khrushchev Resigns! 1964/10/15
- Khrushchev Threatens Hammarskjöld & UN 1960/10/3
- The Kitchen Debate (Nixon and Khrushchev, 1959) Part I of II
- Czechoslovakia Invasion Documentary part 1 Cold War
- Czechoslovakia 1968 Part 1
- The Prague Spring of 1968 (Czech uprising against the Soviets)
- The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn 1/19
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the URL and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.
Extra Credit Options
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, watch Letyat zhuravli (Cranes are Flying) and explain the purpose of the film in a one-page paper.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit--maybe more--watch Sibiriada (Siberiade) and explain why your professor finds this film so fascinating in a one-page paper.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, watch Moskva Slezam ne Verit (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears) and assess the movie's portrayal of Russian society in the 1970s in a one-page paper.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Vladimir Voinovich, Ivankiad and, in a one-page paper, comment upon the author's portrayal of Soviet society under Brezhnev.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Ilya Ehrenburg, The Thaw (1955) and write a one-page paper explaining what the "Thaw" was.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971), Khrushchev Remembers (1970) and also Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament (1974) and Khrushchev Remembers: The Glasnost Tapes (1990)--any of these--and assess the content and accuracy of what Khrushchev had to say in a one-page paper.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Roy Medvedev, Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism (1971)--a very important and interesting work--and write a one-page paper in which you explain Medvedev's analysis of Stalinism.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), My Country and the World (1975) and write a one-page paper in which you explain Sakharov's political ideas.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Letter to Soviet Leaders (1974) and write a one-page paper assessing what Solzhenitsyn wrote in his letter.
- For up to 5 points of extra credit, submit the answers to the Solzhenitsyn study questions.
Unit Learning Objectives
- Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to (1) demonstrate the importance of the efforts of Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev in stabilizing Russian society after the death of Stalin, (2) identify some of the key developments in Russian culture since 1945 and (3) analyze a historical primary source.