Introduction ; 1. Footholds in the North: The Russians in the Arctic, 1500-1932 ; 2. Thge Commissariat of Ice: The Rise of Glavsevmorput ; 3. Days of Glory: The Major Expeditions, 1932-1939 ; 4. "From Victory to Victory": The Myth of the Arctic in Soviet Culture ; 5. Between Rhetoric and Reality: Manufacturing the Arctic Myth ; 6. Polestar Descending: Glavsevmorput in Decline, 1936-1939 ; Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Notes
John McCannon is Assistant Professor of History at Norwich University.
"A probing and thoroughly engrossing account. Professor McCannon
makes judicious use of once secret Russian archives to produce a
fascinating study of one of the most neglected aspects of Soviet
history in the pre-World War II Stalin era."--Bruce Lincoln,
Distinguished Research Professor, Northern Illinois University
"Red Arctic is a richly constructed and conceived work of history,
populated by heroic northern explorers, dashing aviators, grim
Stalin bureaucrats, polar bears, shamans, and class enemies. In
this engagingly written narrative based on an impressive array of
archival and published sources, John McCannon examines the Arctic
myth in reality and legend, documenting the history of arctic
exploration under Stalin as well as delving into the still
relatively uncharted arena of Stalinist popular culture. Red Arctic
is an original piece of work, representative of a new generation of
historical scholarship on the Soviet Union."--Lynne Viola,
Professor of History,
University of Toronto
"John McCannon's book is about both the actual and the symbolic
Arctic, a place where heroes were made while real men and women
slaved away in labor camps. Combining social and cultural history
in a vivid narrative, the author explores how explorers became
icons in a Stalinist dream factory. The central characters are as
tall as the legendary Otto Shmidt but are dwarfed by Stalin and his
minions who in doctored photographs towered over the heroes they
made.
This book is about Soviet celebrity and the ways in which the state
and society conspired to create a post-revolutionary cultural
hegemony."--Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Chicago
"[A] scholarly bureaucratic history of Soviet efforts to exploit
the Arctic."--The New York Times Book Review
"McCannon's book is the first in any language to chronicle and
analyze the heroic era of exploration and development in the Soviet
Arctic. Drawing heavily on newly opened Soviet archives and a great
variety of other sources, it combines solid scholarship, clear
writing, and a deep understanding of the Russian and Soviet
cultures to illuminate a subject, a region, and a period well known
through rough sketches but for which there have been no
detailed
pictures."--CHOICE
"[N]o one has examined [the Cheliuskin and polar flights] as
extensively as McCannon. Anyone interested in Soviet history will
find his story engaging."--Slavic Review
"...Red Arctic is a very rich and enjoyable study which will appeal
to historians, scholars of Soviet popular culture and anyone
interested in the history of polar exploration."--Slavic and East
European Journal
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