{"product_id":"2026200016936-secondhand-khrushchev","title":"Khrushchev","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Some moisture damage\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew figures in the twentieth century loom as large and as contradictory as Nikita Khrushchev — the peasant's son who denounced Stalin's terror while having participated in it, and who brought the world to the brink of nuclear war before blinking first in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Edward Crankshaw's authoritative biography chronicles the extraordinary rise of this complex Soviet leader, from his humble origins in the Ukrainian coalfields to the pinnacle of power in the Kremlin, painting a richly detailed portrait of a man whose volatile personality shaped the trajectory of the Cold War.\n\nCrankshaw, one of the most respected Western observers of the Soviet Union in the postwar era, brings to bear decades of expertise in Russian affairs, crafting a narrative that is as psychologically penetrating as it is historically rigorous. His prose cuts through the fog of propaganda to present a Khrushchev who is simultaneously brutal and surprisingly humane, ideologically driven yet pragmatic — a leader whose contradictions mirrored those of the Soviet system itself. For anyone seeking to understand the machinery of Soviet power and the man who briefly humanised it, this biography remains an indispensable and gripping account.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49269354660059,"sku":"2026200016936-SECONDHAND","price":10.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/cc0be536-0543-4f1f-827b-147f78e53f85.png?v=1788999317","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200016936-secondhand-khrushchev","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}