The Catkin and the Icicle

Early in his career, John Gooding spent a year in Moscow studying at Lomonosov Moscow University. This was probably the catalyst for his long career as a historian of Russia.

He states himself, in a lecture at the University of Edinburgh (recorded 2013), that the USSR at this time was a fascinating place. Stalin had recently died, and Khrushchev was in charge. The USSR was tending towards the better (through reform), and Gooding was able to witness this change first hand. Gooding quotes Orwell having asked himself about the history he learned - “Who controls the past controls the future, and who controls the present controls the past.” For 30 years, Stalin had been controlling the present, and the change under Khrushchev was part of the appeal in being there.

He is somewhat apologetic for this book - saying it is written from a collection of notebooks written over the year. It is set out in chapters related to topics, and therefore not a linear narrative, but reads well. It is, of course, somewhat hit and miss. There are topics (and therefore chapters) which held my interest much more than others. He travels within the USSR, and describes those places he visited - St Petersburg (Leningrad at the time), Tallin in Estonia, Riga in Latvia, and various parts of the Ukraine, Georgia. These sections were interesting, as was the explanation of Moscow. There was also a lot about the University and his time there (of course), of the politics, and recent history, and of Russian literature. These were perhaps less captivating, although the literature would be well received by anyone with a better knowledge of it than I.

On balance, an enjoyable read - a solid 3 stars.

If you have a spare hour, the lecture is quite interesting (some understanding of Russian history during Khrushchev would be helpful):
https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/John+Gooding,+%27On+Studying+Russia%27/1_mbh0wiiz/41416171