Khrushchev Study Guide & Plot Synopsis

Khrushchev Plot Summary

Preview of Khrushchev Summary:

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev rises from a peasant background and survives massive purges of his contemporaries to rule absolutely the world's second super power from the mid-1950s to 1964. He becomes a symbol of Russian uncouthness, remembered forever as the lout who banged his shoe at the United Nations. He is also remembered - and he wanted to be remembered - as the man who took the cover off the horrors of Stalinist Russia, emptied the gulag, and for a while allowed literature to flourish.

Khrushchev is born a peasant in 1894, and will always feel tied to the land but will struggle to escape the uneducated peasant mindset. At age 14 he moves to the industrial town of Yuzovka, where he succeeds as a metalworker, marries, begins a family, and becomes involved in radical politics. His involvement in politics diverts him from the education he badly wants and which might...
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