Prologue: The Russian ‘Prague Spring’ by Josef Pazderka
Chapter 1: We Came to Carry Out a Mission: Soviet Soldiers and
Their Views of the Invasion by Daniel Povolný
Chapter 2: We Saved the World from a Third World War: An Interview
with General Pavel Kosenko by Josef Pazderka
Chapter 3: Of Course It Makes One Feel Sorry: An Interview with
General Eduard Vorobyev by Josef Pazderka
Chapter 4: We Were Uninvited Guests: A Soviet Paratrooper Recalls
the Invasion by Josef Pazderka
Chapter 5: Unrest in the Backwoods. On some Psychological Aspects
in the Perception of the 1968 Events in the Periphery of Russia by
Leonid Shinkarev
Chapter 6: The Events in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Embassy in
Prague in 1967-68 by Olga Pavlenko
Chapter 7: KGB and the Czechoslovak crisis of 1968 by Nikita V.
Petrov
Chapter 8: The Fate of Some Russian Journalists in August 1968 by
Dmitry Beloshevsky
Chapter 9: “1968 Changed Us”: An Interview with Vladimir Lukin by
Josef Pazderka
Chapter 10: Gorbachev’s People from Dejvice, Prague: The Prague
Editorial Board of the World Marxist Review Through the Eyes of
Petr Pithart by Petr Pithart
Chapter 11: “I Tried to Talk to Them”: An Interview with the
Journalist Vladlen Krivosheyev by Josef Pazderka
Chapter 12: Disgrace. On the Perception of the Invasion of
Czechoslovakia in Literary and Humanistic Circles. Development and
Psychopathology of the Relationships by Tomáš Glanc
Chapter 13: That’s When Our Illusions Were Dispelled Once and for
All: An Interview with Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a Soviet Dissident by
Josef Pazderka
Chapter 14: A Few Minutes of Freedom: An Interview with Natalya
Gorbanevskaya, a Soviet Dissident by Josef Pazderka
Chapter 15: Diary of Elvira Filipovich (1967–71) by Elvira
Filipovich
Josef Pazderka is a leading Czech historian and editor-in-chief of the online daily Aktuálně.cz.
This volume of interviews, essays, diary excepts, and scholarly
analyses was originally published in the Czech Republic and is here
smoothly translated by various hands. It provides a stimulating
body of information about Russians’ views of the Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia in 1968. Pazderka (Czech journalist and scholar) has
gathered a remarkable range of material, including testimony of
high-ranking Soviet military and low-level soldiers and of a broad
range of dissidents, former officials, and journalists. Some
contributions argue that the intervention prevented a third world
war; others reveal the sense of shame and outrage felt by some
intellectuals, artists, writers, and students. Pazderka’s
interviews are especially revealing, and the scholarly articles
provide depth and context. Overall the contribution of the book is
to show that the impact of the invasion among Russians was more
profound than previously appreciated and that it represented, in
the judgment of many included here, a significant turning point in
the Cold War. It effectively shows how information about the
invasion was available within Russia. The book includes numerous
evocative and revealing contemporaneous photographs. Explanatory
notes identify individuals not well known to Anglophone
readers.
Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through
faculty.
*CHOICE*
The Prague Spring of 1968 and its violent suppression by the Warsaw
Pact tanks was initially viewed as just a family squabble within
the Soviet bloc. It seemed to be of little concern to others. But
Josef Pazderka and his co-authors have brilliantly exploded this
myth. They show that the invasion was a breaking point in the
history of the Cold War. The specter of Soviet tanks unleashed by
the Kremlin to crush a mild reform effort demonstrated to millions
of Russians that communism was unimprovable. It would have to be
rejected for people to regain their right to pursue happiness.
*Igor Lukes, Boston University*
One of the leading Czech journalists, Josef Pazderka is an
authority on Russia who has now produced a meticulous, evenhanded
look at the Soviet participants and observers of the USSR’s 1968
invasion of Czechoslovakia. From army privates to generals,
dissidents to top officials, their previously under-reported
experiences and perceptions provide valuable understanding of a
wrenching event for his country and major episode in Cold War
history that remains highly relevant to the geopolitical
confrontation in Europe today.
*Gregory Feifer, Harvard University*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
