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Author Raab, Nigel A., 1968- author.

Title All shook up : the shifting Soviet response to catastrophes, 1917-1991 / Nigel Raab.

Publication Info. Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource
data file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary "All Shook Up examines major natural and man-made disasters in the Soviet Union. Specifically, it compares disasters in separate Soviet epochs, adding to our understanding of Soviet politics in discrete eras and of important transitions during periods of Soviet rule. The study analyses the 1927 earthquake in the Crimean peninsula shortly before Stalin came to power, the devastating earthquake in 1948 in Ashkhabad during high Stalinism, and the Tashkent earthquake in 1966, two years after Brezhnev took power, the Chernobyl explosion, and the Armenian earthquake in 1988. Based on archival research in Russia and Ukraine, All Shook Up shows the radical shifts in disaster policy from one leader to the next. While Soviet disasters have been studied from a scientific perspective, much less attention has been paid to the social, cultural and political dynamics that emerged in the aftermath of these tragedies. Gaining inspiration from disaster theorists such as Kenneth Hewitt and sociologists such as Erik Klinenberg, the book embeds each disaster within a specific context: changes brought about by disasters depended upon the specific cultural and political environment in which they occurred. While they did not affect everyone equally, disasters almost always evoked societal flux: in different forms, from active participation in recovery operations to the donation of money, citizens had an opportunity to act outside the regular parameters of Soviet life. Since disasters required the spontaneous mobilization of vast resources, they provide critical insights into the nature of the Soviet state. In these trying times, Soviet residents had an opportunity to craft their own worldview while the authoritarian Soviet state struggled to return a situation to normal. Moreover, this perspective reveals a dynamic rather than static Soviet Union in which individuals had ample room for improvisation."-- Provided by publisher.
Contents Introduction -- Conceptualizing disasters -- Part one. Disorder in the orderly Stalinist world. The Crimean Peninsula in September 1927 and Ashgabat in October 1948 -- Part two. The mobilization of Soviet society under Brezhnev. April 1966 : Tashkent in the news -- April 1966 : Tashkent in the streets -- Interlude : visualizing Soviet disasters from 1945 to 1986 -- Part three. Aging response models in Gorbachev's new world. April 1986 : Chernobyl -- December 1988 : Armenia -- Conclusion.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Disasters -- Soviet Union -- History -- 20th century.
Disasters.
Soviet Union.
History.
Chronological Term 20th century
Subject Disasters -- Social aspects -- Soviet Union -- History -- 20th century.
Disasters -- Social aspects.
Disasters -- Political aspects -- Soviet Union -- History -- 20th century.
Soviet Union -- History.
Chronological Term 1900-1999
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Electronic books.
Other Form: Raab, Nigel A., 1968- All shook up.: Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2017] ©2017 (CaOONL)2016906624X (OCoLC)962129451
ISBN 9780773550032 (pdf)
0773550038
9780773550049 (epub)
0773550046
9780773550025