Witnessing Collapse: The Soviet Union and the End of the Twentieth Century
A half century ago, in the midst of the Cold War, few envisaged that the Soviet Union would soon be no more. How did those living under Soviet rule experience the surprising collapse of their seemingly unchangeable world?   How did their lives change for the worse, how for the better, between 1970 and 2000?  How do people today, in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, remember the upheaval? In this course we will explore, from the bottom up, the demise of the Soviet Union, focusing on lives, dreams, and beliefs of ordinary individuals living through times of extraordinary economic, political, and cultural change.