Call number
947 R
Collection
Genres
Publication
Random House (1993), Edition: 1, 576 pages
Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times From the editor of The New Yorker: a riveting account of the collapse of the Soviet Union, which has become the standard book on the subject. Lenin's Tomb combines the global vision of the best historical scholarship with the immediacy of eyewitness journalism. Remnick takes us through the tumultuous 75-year period of Communist rule leading up to the collapse and gives us the voices of those who lived through it, from democratic activists to Party members, from anti-Semites to Holocaust survivors, from Gorbachev to Yeltsin to Sakharov. An extraordinary history of an empire undone, Lenin's Tomb stands as essential reading for our times.
Media reviews
David Remnick, Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (1994). Remnick won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for his brilliant retelling of the Soviet Union’s final days. He had a front-row seat in witnessing the Soviet demise; starting in January 1988 he served a four-year stint as the
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Washington Post’s Moscow correspondent. In Lenin’s Tomb, he draws on the many conversations he had with Russians inside and outside of government to explain Mikhail Gorbachev’s push for reforms and why they led to the collapse of communism rather than its rebirth. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member trek520
Insightful and well-written. I read this book in conjuction with other books on this era and/or geopolitical background spanning many eras. Balkan Ghost by Robert Kaplan is a very good read and compliment to Remnick's book.
LibraryThing member KirkLowery
A fascinating account of the end of perestroika and glasnost by one who was there, who had access to the principals and can tell a very good -- and often disturbing -- tale. Remnick reported for the Washington Post, and was posted to Moscow during the final years of Communist Party rule. What is
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clear is that the rule of the Party failed because it rotted out from within: corruption, drunkenness and the Marie Antoinette "Let them eat cake" syndrome. He delves back into Soviet history to see the trends: first admission of Stalinist "mistakes," then the revelation of the atrocities of that era, finally Lenin himself is debunked by a people fed up with an economy and society of fear that simply didn't work. Remnick's research is not only first class, but his skills in telling the story are also of the highest quality. Read him not only to learn about the end of Communism, but also to learn how to write better. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
The historical, economic, and political forces that ended the Soviet Union are decribed in well written detail by Remnick.
LibraryThing member SBristowSD6
At times it seems like Mr. Remnick interviews EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the Soviet Union and they all seem to impart their own "You know what sucks? Communism." stories. However, once the coup begins, it's a gripping suspenseful read.
LibraryThing member piefuchs
David Remnick was the Moscow correspondant for the Washington Post when the walls came tumbling down. This memior tells the story of what he experienced there, who he met, and what he saw. Remnick was privledged to be there for a truly fascinating time and is a very good writer. The book, however,
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is OK but not great. Remnick views the coming of democracy to Moscow with typical American simplicity. Communists wear the black cowboy hat, free marketeers the white one. Given such a mindset he failed to truly penetrate the Russian psyche and hence predict the reality of post communist Russia. Vastly inferior to Imperium. Show Less
LibraryThing member McCaine
David Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb" is a book about the journalist's experiences just before and during the collapse of the USSR at the end of the 1980s. Using a chronological overview, Remnick describes what the Soviet Union was like under the reign of Gorbachov (or "Gorbachev" in US spelling) and his
Because Remnick goes almost entirely by interviews for his information, the book gives a very thorough biographical view of the times, but there is very little information on the general state of the country, economic and social causes for the collapse, and so on. Remnick's tone and style are very much like those of a tabloid investigative journalist, describing people and events mostly by way of the author's opinions and what the people he interviews look and act like. This has the benefit of giving one the impression of re-living the interactions with the famous of those years, but is far too shallow for any explanatory purpose.
Additionally, Remnick has too obvious favorites among the people involved. Gorbachov is generally shown more negatively than often in the West, but that fits the overall negative appraisal given to him in Russia. But people like Yeltsin and Solzhenitsyn are praised endlessly and can practically do no wrong, even though there are serious issues with both. Sakharov in particular is elevated literally to the level of a modern saint by Remnick: he is never mentioned without describing his "saintliness", "superior morality", and so on. Now in many of the cases Remnick's qualifications of his interviewees seem deserved, but it does get annoying after a while. Better to let readers decide whom they like than to pre-ordain all this.
Overall, the book is mostly useful as a collection of interviews of important people at the end of the 1980s, and as such it is very balanced in the kind of people interviewed. It fails entirely as anything more though, and should not be used as a serious explanatory book on the hows and whys of the USSR's collapse. And that is somewhat disappointing.
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views on the various leaders, journalists, KGB officers, bureaucrats, dissidents and so on. Because Remnick goes almost entirely by interviews for his information, the book gives a very thorough biographical view of the times, but there is very little information on the general state of the country, economic and social causes for the collapse, and so on. Remnick's tone and style are very much like those of a tabloid investigative journalist, describing people and events mostly by way of the author's opinions and what the people he interviews look and act like. This has the benefit of giving one the impression of re-living the interactions with the famous of those years, but is far too shallow for any explanatory purpose.
Additionally, Remnick has too obvious favorites among the people involved. Gorbachov is generally shown more negatively than often in the West, but that fits the overall negative appraisal given to him in Russia. But people like Yeltsin and Solzhenitsyn are praised endlessly and can practically do no wrong, even though there are serious issues with both. Sakharov in particular is elevated literally to the level of a modern saint by Remnick: he is never mentioned without describing his "saintliness", "superior morality", and so on. Now in many of the cases Remnick's qualifications of his interviewees seem deserved, but it does get annoying after a while. Better to let readers decide whom they like than to pre-ordain all this.
Overall, the book is mostly useful as a collection of interviews of important people at the end of the 1980s, and as such it is very balanced in the kind of people interviewed. It fails entirely as anything more though, and should not be used as a serious explanatory book on the hows and whys of the USSR's collapse. And that is somewhat disappointing.
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LibraryThing member neurodrew
I read this book very quickly, soon after it appeared, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is reportage from the last days of the Soviets, about strikes, the take over of the Russian government, the attempted putsch by the KGB, and several other incidents that I recall reading
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about in the newspapers and experiencing as monumental events. Show Less
LibraryThing member HadriantheBlind
The Decline and Fall of Soviet Russia. Describes the ignominy and total corruption of the state, and the horrors and drudgery that the Soviet people endured, with penetrating detail. Excellent reading, and highly recommended for anybody interested in the era.
LibraryThing member jonfaith
My and I were driving to Columbus, OH in 2007 for a work seminar for her new job. We heard about Boris Yeltsin's death on NPR. The palace coup, Yeltsin's dancing on TV and the two Chechnyean wars occupied the next stretch of our drive. I found this book in a shop in Columbus a few days later and
Remnick approaches his subject with an even hand. There is no Western arrogance about matters. When he discovers fault, he reports it.
I remember when Yeltsin resigned. I was going to a fancy soiree w/ some friends for New Years (don't ask) There was no way in 1999 one could predict the steely constictions of the Putin Imperium. Remnick's book offers a sober nudge to all predictions concerning Russian politics. The same can be said for political animals from almost every other land as well.
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snatched it on the spot.Remnick approaches his subject with an even hand. There is no Western arrogance about matters. When he discovers fault, he reports it.
I remember when Yeltsin resigned. I was going to a fancy soiree w/ some friends for New Years (don't ask) There was no way in 1999 one could predict the steely constictions of the Putin Imperium. Remnick's book offers a sober nudge to all predictions concerning Russian politics. The same can be said for political animals from almost every other land as well.
Show Less
Awards
Pulitzer Prize (Winner — General Non-Fiction — 1994)
National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist — General Nonfiction — 1993)
Notable Books List (1994)
Pages
576
ISBN
0679423761 / 9780679423768