Stalin's School: Moscow's Model School No. 25, 1931-1937

Product Description
Bringing a human dimension to the Soviet Union and a new understanding of Stalinism as a cultural and psychological phenomenon, Holmes (history, U. of South Alabama) examines the country's most famous and lavishly appointed school. He draws on published records, material in 11 archives, accounts left by visiting foreigners, and 36 interviews with people who were students in the 1930s. He sees the experience of the school at a microcosm and mirror of the interplay between state and society in decision making, and other feature of the period. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Review
"Stalin's School is a thoroughly researched and imaginative study of elite education as a microcosm of Stalinism. Boldly conceptualized, [it] moves beyond the level of general (and often overworked) truisms about the relationship of education and society to present a genuinely human portrait. Holmes has assembled a truly first rate collection of evidence and his thesis challenges readers to rethink stale preconceptions. Stereotypes about Stalinist society can no longer be maintained glibly once Holmes' evidence in taken into account." --
William B. Husband, Oregon State University
About the Author
Larry Holmes is a professor of history at the University of South Alabama where he has taught since 1968. During the 1992/3 academic year he lectured in Russian and Soviet History at Rostov State University in the Russian Federation. Holmes has been the recipient of numerous awards including grants from the Kennan Institute, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Teachers of Russian, and the International Research and Exchanges Board. Author of the Kremlin and Schoolhouse: Reforming Education in Soviet Russia, 1917-1931, and Sotsial'naia istoriia Rossii: 1917-1941, Holmes has also published articles in Slavic Review, Russian Review, History of Education Quarterly, and other scholarly forums. He lives in Mobile AL.