Red Arctic: Polar Exploration and the Myth of the North in the Soviet Union, 1932-1939
McCannon, John
From Riverby Books (DC Inventory), Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks Seller Since September 25, 2015
Quantity: 1From Riverby Books (DC Inventory), Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks Seller Since September 25, 2015
Quantity: 1About this Item
Hardcover with a dust jacket. Overall very good condition. Dj is glossy. Corners are square, binding is tight. Pages are clean and crisp. Title page and copyright is dated 1998. 234 pages. We are a real brick and mortar bookstore and ship books everyday. This listing was written by an actual person with the book in front of them for inspection. Please email with questions or to see any photos. Seller Inventory # F-10458
Bibliographic Details
Title: Red Arctic: Polar Exploration and the Myth ...
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 1998
Binding: hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
About this title
Although Russia's relationship with the North Pole dates from the 1500s, it wasn't until "after World War II [that] the USSR emerged as one of the top nations in polar research and development, both in the Arctic and the Antarctic." Expeditions peaked in the Stalinist years of the 1930s, and in less than a decade, there occurred many notable achievements: 1932 saw the icebreaker Sibiriakov cross through the fabled Northeast Passage; in 1934 Soviet aviators staged an unprecedented and daring rescue mission; and 1937 saw "Soviet pilots capture the world record for long-distance aviation two times in succession...." McCannon's focus is on the larger subject of the USSR's economic and cultural development in this period seen through the prism of Arctic exploration.
The heroic exploits of polar explorers and aviators seized the public imagination, and helped unify this huge, sprawling, diverse "totalitarian" culture. McCannon regards these heroes as an answer to the question of how totalitarian regimes command loyalty from their populations. Brainwashing and terrorism can not alone explain it. But the galvanizing force of popular myth might, and in the service of this idea, McCannon analyzes "socialist realism" of the time as a Zeitgeist. Its key elements are "the cults of Lenin and Stalin, a keen sense of patriotism, a great emphasis on technological and industrial power, and, above all, heroism." The Arctic itself grounded these ideals, enriching them with the North's mythic pull and the high-tech grandeur of aviation. Until the appearance of this history, the impact of the Arctic on Soviet popular culture has been a neglected study.
Though flush with scholarly detail, McCannon's history will engage the layperson who has some knowledge of the subject. Within each chapter, the material is organized into manageable narrative blocks. The subject might have remained as cold as the title, but McCannon's narrative voice conveys clarity as well as a love of subject. --Hollis Giammatteo
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