Revolution on My Mind Paperback by Jochen Hellbeck

Product Details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press (2009-05-31)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 448 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780674032316
• Item Weight: 368.55 grams
• Dimensions: 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0 cm

Revolution on My Mind is a stunning revelation of the inner world of Stalin’s Russia. We see into the minds and hearts of Soviet citizens who recorded their lives during an extraordinary period of revolutionary fervor and state terror. Writing a diary, like other creative expression, seems nearly impossible amid the fear and distrust of totalitarian rule; but as Jochen Hellbeck shows, diary-keeping was widespread, as individuals struggled to adjust to Stalin’s regime.

Rather than protect themselves against totalitarianism, many men and women bent their will to its demands, by striving to merge their individual identities with the collective and by battling vestiges of the old self within. We see how Stalin’s subjects, from artists to intellectuals and from students to housewives, absorbed directives while endeavoring to fulfill the mandate of the Soviet revolution—re-creation of the self as a builder of the socialist society. Thanks to a newly discovered trove of diaries, we are brought face to face with individual life stories—gripping and unforgettably poignant.

The diarists’ efforts defy our liberal imaginations and our ideals of autonomy and private fulfillment. These Soviet citizens dreamed differently. They coveted a morally and aesthetically superior form of life, and were eager to inscribe themselves into the unfolding revolution. Revolution on My Mind is a brilliant exploration of the forging of the revolutionary self, a study without precedent that speaks to the evolution of the individual in mass movements of our own time.

About the Author

Jochen Hellbeck is Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University, specializing in modem Russia, the Soviet Union, and the history of World War II. The recipient of fellowships from the New York Public Library Cullman Center, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Academy in Berlin, among others, he is the acclaimed author of Stalingrad: The City That Defeated the Third Reich, Revolution on My Mind: Writing a Diary under Stalin, and the online project Facing Stalingrad. He lives in Brooklyn. Hellbeck's newest book, World Enemy No. 1, will be published by Penguin Press in October 2025.