{"product_id":"cultivating-the-masses-9780801479748","title":"Cultivating the Masses","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnder Stalin's leadership, the Soviet government carried out a massive number of deportations, incarcerations, and executions. Paradoxically, at the very moment that Soviet authorities were killing thousands of individuals, they were also engaged in an enormous pronatalist campaign to boost the population. Even as the number of repressions grew exponentially, Communist Party leaders enacted sweeping social welfare and public health measures to safeguard people''s well-being. Extensive state surveillance of the population went hand in hand with literacy campaigns, political education, and efforts to instill in people an appreciation of high culture. In \u003ci\u003eCultivating the Masses\u003c\/i\u003e, David L. Hoffmann examines the Party leadership''s pursuit of these seemingly contradictory policies in order to grasp fully the character of the Stalinist regime, a regime intent on transforming the socioeconomic order and the very nature of its citizens. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo analyze Soviet social policies, Hoffman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCultivating the Masses\u003c\/i\u003e is a major contribution to an ongoing effort to place the interwar history of the Soviet Union in comparative, transnational, and transcultural perspective according to the central assumptions of this paradigm.... This book is a meritorious contribution to that ongoing conversation.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Glennys Young * Russian Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDavid L. Hoffmann offers a powerful counterweight to... simple (and self-exonerating) explanations in the first major comparative assessment of Soviet socialism in its turbulent foundational decades.... Hoffmann has presented an ambitious survey of Soviet state practices that deserves an audience in all fields of modern world history. Even if some might dispute his largely structuralist interpretation of the system's most infamous abuses, they will be hard pressed to ignore the abundance of evidence he presents of influences common to the transition to modernity. His prose is lucid, and the comparative approach and chronological scope of this monograph make it an attractive choice for the classroom.\u003c\/p\u003e -- T. Clayton Black * The NEP Era: Soviet Russia 1921-1928 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor well over a decade now a major debate in Soviet historiography has centered on Bolshevik Russia's suspected participation in a happening called modernity, a happening that is as exciting to attend as it is difficult to locate.... Hoffmann's\u003ci\u003e Cultivating the Masses\u003c\/i\u003e is the latest book-length contribution to this debate; it testifies to the tenacity of the problematic, while raising doubts as to its continuing fecundity. The research behind Hoffmann’s historical narrative is impeccable throughout... and his handling of non-Russian contexts is truly impressive in its breadth.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Petre Petrow * Slavic and East European Journal *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eCultivating the Masses\u003c\/i\u003e, David L. Hoffmann argues that the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin was not an anomaly in European history—rather, it was one variant of that continent's broader experience with industrial modernity. A challenging thesis, this contention leads Hoffmann not only to reject the popular view that the USSR followed a unique, \u003ci\u003eSonderweg\u003c\/i\u003e-like historical trajectory but also to cast doubt upon more routine claims that Soviet state policy development was essentially sui generis, proceeding according to an insular, domestically determined agenda.... A fascinating study, \u003ci\u003eCultivating the Masses\u003c\/i\u003e deserves to be widely read.\u003c\/p\u003e -- David Brandenberger * The Journal of Modern History *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1. Social Welfare\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eCameralism, Social Science, and the Origins of Welfare\u003cbr\u003eThe Social Realm in Russia\u003cbr\u003eWarfare and Welfare\u003cbr\u003eThe Soviet Welfare State\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2. Public Health\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eSocial Medicine and the State\u003cbr\u003eSocial Hygiene\u003cbr\u003eForeign Influences on Soviet Health Care\u003cbr\u003ePhysical Culture and Its Militarization\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3. Reproductive Policies\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirthrates and National Power\u003cbr\u003eContraception, Abortion, and Reproductive Health\u003cbr\u003ePromoting Motherhood and Family\u003cbr\u003eEugenics\u003cbr\u003eInfant Care and Childraising\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4. Surveillance and Propaganda\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonitoring Popular Moods\u003cbr\u003eWartime Propaganda\u003cbr\u003eSoviet Surveillance\u003cbr\u003ePolitical Enlightenment\u003cbr\u003eThe New Soviet Person\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e5. State Violence\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eOrigins of Modern State Violence\u003cbr\u003eInternments, Deportations, and Genocide during the First World War\u003cbr\u003eThe Russian Civil War and the 1920s\u003cbr\u003eCollectivization and Passportization\u003cbr\u003eThe Mass Operations\u003cbr\u003eThe National Operations\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusion\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eArchives Consulted\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405160685911,"sku":"9780801479748","price":27.54,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780801479748.jpg?v=1730488933","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/cultivating-the-masses-9780801479748","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}