ASSIGNMENTS

Each assignment is due in the instructor's mailbox during the week indicated below. Count Week 1 as the first week that classes begin and Week 15 as the final week of the term. Trimester dates are listed at the upper left hand corner of your registration form.

All papers must be typed, with page and book references as notes, and mailed in before the assignment deadline. Send in an extra copy, marked “For HUX Files,” and keep a copy for yourself. Also, keep a copy of the title page of the paper returned by the instructor which contains your grade, comments, and date. Send a self-addressed, stamped (with adequate postage) envelope for the return of each assignment. If you do not fully understand the assignment or need help, telephone the instructor during office hours, or mail in your questions.

NOTE: See Instructions for Sending in Assignments for specific details regarding approved methods of turning in assignments.

If you do not fully understand the assignment or need help, telephone the instructor during office hours, or mail in your questions.

University regulations forbid assigning a grade of "I" (Incomplete) unless at least one course assignment has been received by the instructor. Instead, we must assign a "U" grade (Unauthorized Incomplete), which is equivalent to an "F."

ASSIGNMENT I:

Due: Week 6

 

Length: 10 pages total

 

Presentation: An essay with page references in parentheses; double-spaced

 

Read: Radzinsky, Preface, prologue, and Introduction, and chapters 1-22

 

Format: Discuss, analyze and comment upon how Stalin’s character and behavior patterns were shaped by his life experiences up to about 1927 (you will apply some of these to your second assignment question).

ASSIGNMENT II:

Due: Week 11

 

Length: 10 pages

 

Presentation: Two essays, with occasional quotes, and page references

 

Read: Radzinsky, CH 22 to end of book; Service, CHs 13,14,15,16

 

Format:

Write a critical and analytical essay on one question from A, and one question from B:

Stalin’s role, motivations, and behavior (see your response to assignment I) in:
A. (1) Collectivization and the Five Year Plans (2) the Purges
B. (1) World War II (2) the Cold War

 

ASSIGNMENT III:

Due: Week 15

 

Length: 7-8 pages

 

Presentation: Essay, with page references.

 

Read: Hochschild (entire book); Service, CHs 17, and “Afterward”

 

Format: Choose two or three topics from those presented in the course guide under “themes in the book” (Hochschild), and “DeStalinization” in Service.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

In addition to the copious lists of books in Radzinsky, consider especially the collection of articles (scholarly, journalistic, and Stalin-era commentors) in:
Robert V Daniels, ed, The Stalin Revolution (Houghton Mifflin, 1997)
This book is in print in paperback