Soviet Union under Brezhnev

<p><em>The Soviet Union Under Brezhnev </em>provides an accessible post-Soviet perspective on the history of the USSR from the mid-1960’s to the mid-1980’s. It challenges both the ‘evil empire’ image of the USSR that was widespread in the early 1980’s and the ‘stagnation’ label attached to the period by Soviet reformers under Gorbachev.</p><p>The book makes use of a range of memoirs interviews archival documents and other sources not available before 1990 to place Brezhnev and his epoch in a broader historical context. The author:</p><p> examines high politics foreign policy and policy making<br> explores broader social cultural and demographic trends<br> presents a picture of Soviet society in the crucial decades prior to the upheavals and crises of the late 1980’s</p><p>While stopping well short of a full-scale rehabilitation of Brezhnev Tompson rejects the prevailing image of the Soviet leader as a colourless non-entity drawing attention to Brezhnev’s real political skills as well as his faults and to the systemic roots of many of the problems he faced.</p>