If ibo readers are interested in how the Soviet experience is remembered in Russia, I HIGHLY recommend Svetlana Boym’s “The Future of Nostalgia”. I am a bibliophile like many on this list - Boym clearly will have me going back to her work for a while. Simply one of the best monographs I have read in years. She looks inside out, without all the bullshit rhetoric those of us 40-something (on both sides of the Wall) remember so well.
Peter Lavelle <untimely_thoughts at yahoo.com> wrote: Actually, I think the Brezhnev “cult” has to do with something very different. Everybody knew of his appreciation for drink and women. The corruption during his rein was not a secret either. (When Andropov was head of the KGB he had film and even distributed in video of his lifestyle to discredit Brezhnev – Andropov very much regretted few Soviets had a VCR!).
However, Brezhnev accomplished something few leaders in history can lay claim to: he exceeded the expectations of the population. I doubt Putin will ever come close to meeting the expectations of today’s Russia.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of Brezhnev, but then again I didn’t live here when he was General Party Secretary.
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