Pulitzer Prize Biography Winner
Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
by William Taubman
Summary
William Taubman charts the rise of Nikita Khrushchev from a poor peasant boyhood to leadership of the Soviet Union after Stalin. The biography examines his secret speech denouncing Stalin, the building of the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world close to nuclear war. Drawing on newly opened archives, it presents Khrushchev as both reformer and reckless gambler.
”
Historical Context & Significance
William Taubman won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for this account drawn from Soviet era archives that opened after the Cold War.