What’s the Significance?
Bolsheviks/Lenin, 1040–41
Russian Revolution (1917), 1039–42
Guomindang, 1042
Mao Zedong, 1042–43
Chinese Revolution, 1043–45
Stalin, 1045; 1047–50
building socialism, 1045–51
Zhenotdel, 1046–47
collectivization, 1048
Cultural Revolution, 1051
Great Purges/Terror, 1052–53
Anna Dubova, 1052–53
Cuban missile crisis, 1056
Nikita Khrushchev, 1056–59
Deng Xiaoping, 1062–63
perestroika/glasnost, 1063
Mikhail Gorbachev, 1063–65
Big Picture Questions
Next Steps: For Further Study
Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism (2009). A global overview of the communist phenomenon in the twentieth century by a respected scholar.
Jung Chang, Wild Swans (2004). A compelling view of twentieth-century Chinese history through the eyes of three generations of women in a single family.
Timothy Check, Mao Zedong and China’s Revolutions (2002). A collection of documents about the Chinese Revolution and a fine introduction to the life of Mao.
John L. Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History (2005). An overview by one of the most highly regarded historians of the cold war.
Peter Kenez, A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End (1999). A thoughtful overview of the entire Soviet experience.
Robert Strayer, The Communist Experiment (2007). A comparative study of Soviet and Chinese communism.
“Mao Zedong Reference Archive,” http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao. A Web site offering the translated writings of Mao, including poetry and some images.
“Soviet Archives Exhibit,” http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/entrance.html. A rich Web site from the Library of Congress, focusing on the operation of the Soviet system and relations with the United States.