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Sources on the Soviet Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2015

Carol Nechemias
Carol Nechemias*
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University, Capital Campus
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Extract

The Soviets have complained that they know more about us than we know about them. While the veracity of this view is difficult to assess, the level of American ignorance about the USSR clearly is appalling. Many Americans do not know which side the Soviets fought on in World War II and are taken aback to discover that not all Soviet citizens are Russians. Those who engage in serious study of the Soviet Union disagree, sometimes vociferously, regarding the fundamental nature and future prospects of the USSR but an understanding of the terms of the debate should form a part of American education.

For those teachers seeking to address this need by developing new courses on the Soviet Union, the first obstacle involves resources: How do I find—and select—readings for my students? And where do I secure materials which will provide me with the background necessary to deliver lectures on topics like collectivization and socialist realism? With the current growth of interest in the USSR more high school and college instructors find themselves in the position of offering courses about the Soviet Union, while, at the same time, they seek to move from being relative novices to reasonably accomplished (and confident) teachers of Soviet politics and society.

Although every academic trained in Soviet area studies probably has his or her own recipe concerning “How to teach about the Soviet Union,” there are some fundamental approaches—and texts—which reflect a certain underlying consensus about what kinds of materials should be included in the student diet.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Political Science Teacher , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , Spring 1988 , pp. 1 - 4
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1988

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