{"product_id":"exit-stalin-mark-b-smith-9781631498299","title":"Exit Stalin: The Soviet Union as a Civilization, 1953-1991","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the aftermath of Joseph Stalin's ironfisted rule, the Soviet Union was at a crossroads. Would it break from the dictator's brutal regime or continue the campaign of violence and fear? As historian Mark B. Smith shows in \u003cem\u003eExit Stalin\u003c\/em\u003e, the answer was both. Smith tells the story of the Soviet Union from Gagarin to Gorbachev, shedding light on how a moderated ideology of Bolshevism and the practices of central planning played out in the everyday lives of Soviet citizens. As he reveals, the Soviet world encompassed a host of contradictions, featuring nomenklatura restaurants, children's Pioneer camps, May Day parades, and collective farms alongside corruption scandals, KGB crackdowns, espionage, and censorship. The result was the emergence of a distinctive and functioning civilization, a far cry from the vicious totalitarian state of the West's imagination. A brilliantly original narrative of everyday life in the late Soviet Union, \u003cem\u003eExit Stalin\u003c\/em\u003e also presents a new account of its end, showing how a series of unexpected decisions unraveled the entire project.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mark B. Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1631498290\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781631498299\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e W. W. Norton \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/28\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 576\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Mark B. Smith","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47965291479295,"sku":"9781631498299","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_7edc6dec-8d42-4754-ae6d-e9ba2d42de6b.jpg?v=1767279556","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/exit-stalin-mark-b-smith-9781631498299","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}