“Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma...” – Winston Churchill

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has morphed from an almost failed and collapsing state into one that is internally cohesive and authoritarian, and externally more aggressive. How and why has Russia changed so dramatically in the 21st century? We will seek answers to this question by tracing Russia from its Soviet revolutionary origins until the present day, concentrating on political, economic, social and foreign policy development since 1917.

Format: Class members will be expected to provide a 10-20 minute oral presentation followed by class discussion or to develop and distribute discussion questions and additional relevant material prior to leading a class discussion. Presentations may include YouTube videos, PowerPoint, printed handouts or any combination of these. This is a Zoom video conferencing class.

Resources: Our basic text will be A History of Twentieth-Century Russia by Robert Service (Harvard University Press, 1998) available from Amazon, used in paper for $2.99 and up. Coordinators will help suggest any supplementary resources (print, online or media) which may be useful. In addition, an extensive bibliography will be distributed for class members who want to explore specific topics or personalities. This will include fiction by Stuart Kaminsky and Martin Cruz Smith, whose novels give in-depth insights into Soviet society in the 21st century. There is a wealth of material on PBS, the History Channel, the American Heroes Channel (AHC), HBO and streaming services.