“Nikita Khrushchev was one of the most important political leaders of the twentieth century. Without his memoirs, neither the rise and fall of the Soviet Union nor the history of the Cold War can be fully understood. By dictating his memoirs and publishing them in the West, Khrushchev transformed himself from the USSR’s leader to one of its first dissidents. His remarkably candid recollections were a harbinger of glasnost to come. Like virtually all memoirs, his have a personal and political agenda, but even what might be called Khrushchev’s ‘myth of himself’ is vital for understanding how this colorful figure could place his contradictory stamp on his country and the world. The fact that the full text of Khrushchev’s memoirs will now be available in English is cause for rejoicing.”
—William Taubman, winner of the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his book Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
“One of the most extraordinary archives of the twentieth century”
—Strobe Talbott, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
“Khrushchev had a remarkable memory, and although the style and broad outline of what he has to say will be familiar to those who read the original two-volume English version issued in the early 1970s, the detail he provides here, particularly on the war, adds a great deal.”
—Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs
“But his personal slant, conveyed in the World War II memoirs that make up half of this huge book, is important for understanding the political atmosphere during that colossal struggle. And the detail of his recall, without notes or references, is extraordinary.”
—Robert V. Daniels, The New Leader
“Sergei Khrushchev (Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute, Brown Univ.) has edited an exquisitely detailed, amply documented, remarkably translated first volume of a proposed three-volume translation of his father’s memoirs, based on the four-volume Russian edition of 1999.”
—C.W. Haury, Choice
“There is a lot less high politics here than one would expect. Khrushchev’s focus is very often on chance encounters and small vignettes, often told at great length, rather than on reflections on the ‘big picture’ or revelations about key historical events. Yet it is this above all else that makes this work so readable, for it allows Khrushchev’s personality to come through in the text in all its contradictions and complexity.”
—William Tompson, Political Science Quarterly
“This volume far exceeds in detail earlier editions of the Khrushchev memoirs and for readers of this journal especially, his observations of the war years are intriguing.”
—Paule Wanke, Journal of Military History
“Like all memoirs, this book has to be read with caution. This is a product of the love of Khrushchev’s son, Sergei, and it permeates the book. He has gone to great lengths to get this book published and keep the legacy of his father alive. As a result, the book is a s complete as one can hope. Inevitably there is also a negative side. Khrushchev’s role in the Stalinist terror in Ukraine, for example, is not discussed. Even the index uses a conditional statement: ‘Khrushchev’s alleged purging’ in Ukraine (p.932). Despite this and other shortcomings, this is a book of enormous importance that no one interested in the Soviet Union can afford to miss.”
—Hiroaki Kuromiya, Harvard Ukainian Studies
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