Brezhnev : the making of a statesman / Susanne Schattenberg ; translated by John Heath.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schattenberg, Susanne, author.

Contributor:

Heath, John, translator.

Standardized Title:

Leonid Breschnew, Staatsmann und Schauspieler im Schatten Stalins. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Brezhnev, Leonid Ilʹich, 1906-1982.

Brezhnev, Leonid Ilʹich.

Brezhnev, Leonid Ilʹich, 1906-1982.

Heads of state--Soviet Union--Biography.

Heads of state.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--Politics and government--1953-1985.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 484 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Making of a statesman

Place of Publication:

London, UK ; New York, NY : I.B. Tauris, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2022.

Language Note:

Translated from the German.

Summary:

"Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for eighteen years, a term of leadership second only in length to that of Stalin. He presided over the Brezhnev Doctrine, which accelerated the Cold War, and led the Soviet Union through catastrophic foreign policy decisions such as the invasion of Afghanistan. To many in the West, he is responsible for the stagnation (and to some even collapse) of the Soviet Union. But much of this history has been based on the only two English-language biographies (both published before Brezhnev's death and without access to archival sources) and Brezhnev's own astonishingly untrue memoirs--written for propaganda purposes. Newly translated from German, Schattenberg's magisterial book systematically dismantles the stereotypical and one-dimensional view of Brezhnev as the stagnating Stalinist by drawing on a wealth of archival research and documents not previously studied in English. The Brezhnev that emerges is a complex one, from his early apolitical years, when he dreamed of becoming an actor, through his swift and surprising rise through the Party ranks. From his hitherto misunderstood role in Khrushchev's ousting and appointment as his successor, to his somewhat pro-Western foreign policy aims, deft consolidation and management of power, and ultimate descent into addiction and untimely death. For Schattenberg, this is the story of a flawed and ineffectual idealist--for the West, this biography makes a convincing case that Brezhnev should be reappraised as one of the most interesting and important political figures of the twentieth century"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: A man without a biography

Archives and files

Brezhnev's `memoirs'

Brezhnev's `diaries' and his photographer

1. Dreams of the Stage, or an Ordinary Soviet Man

Striving for education and bourgeois prosperity

Time out of joint: revolution and civil war, 1917-1920

Land manager in turbulent times, 1927-1930

Evening classes and activism, 1931-1935

Shock worker-engineer and director again, 1935/36

2. `How the Steel was Tempered', or a Career Amidst Terror and War

Rise during the Great Terror

The `Great Patriotic War'

In the Carpathians

3. In Stalin's Shadow, or a General Secretary's Apprenticeship I

Patronage

Zaporozhye

Dnepropetrovsk

In Moldavia

Stalin's extra in Moscow

4. Under Khrushchev, or a General Secretary's Apprenticeship II

Virgin lands under the plough

Khrushchev's right-hand man

President of the Soviet Union

Khrushchev ousted

5. The Caring General Secretary, or Collective Leadership as Theatre

Trust and care: Brezhnev's scenario of power

Familiarity in the Politburo, or Lenya, Kostya and Andryusha

Male bonding

6. Live and Let Live, or `Everyone should be able to live and work in peace'

Benefactor and carer

The consumption course

Brezhnev versus Kosygin and Gosplan

`The cadres decide everything'

7. `Developed Socialism', or Re-launching the Soviet Project?

`Developed socialism'

Re-Stalinization?

`We are heroes': the cult of the Second World War

The BAM - the last of the Mohicans

8. Emotions and Pills in the Cold War, or How to Play the Western Statesman

Concordia domi... or consensus in the East...

... Foris pax, or peace with the West

The return to mistrust

Faltering foreign policy

9. Craving Glory and Physical Decline, or the Loneliness of the General Secretary

The cult of personality

Addiction

Family and death

Epilogue

Notes

Sources and Bibliography

Archives

Memoirs and documents

Author's interviews.

Notes:

Originally published in German in 2019 by Bohlau Verlag, Koln, as "Leonid Breschnew, Staatsmann und Schauspieler im Schatten Stalins: Eine Biographie."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 455-471) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Schattenberg, Susanne. Brezhnev

ISBN:

9781838606381

1838606386

OCLC:

1227916961

Publisher Number:

99989674504