Providing a comprehensive history of reform in the Khrushchev era, this book focuses specifically on social and cultural developments. It appraises how far 'Destalinization' went and whether developments in the period represented a real desire for reform, or rather an attempt to fortify the Soviet system, but on different lines.

The Khrushchev era is increasingly seen as a period in its own right, and not just as 'post-Stalinism' or a forerunner of subsequent 'thaws' and 'reform from within'. This book provides a comprehensive history of reform in the period, focusing especially on social and cultural developments. Since the opening of the former Soviet archives, much new information has become available casting light on how far official policies correlated with popular views. Overall the book appraises how far 'Destalinization' went; and whether developments in the period represented a real desire for reform, or rather an attempt to fortify the Soviet system, but on different lines.

'This book has an enduring appeal to the reading public' - Hiroaki Kuromiya 'This volume represents a welcome and important contribution to the scholarly literature on the Khrushchev era. Not only does it contain a diverse cross-section of recent research; it also presents a coherent approach to de-Stalinization as a sometimes fraught process of social and cultural negotiation - the interaction of local with national politics, of individual with offi cial voices, and of cultural production with reception. This book can be recommended to a wide readership, from undergraduate students to scholars interested in the social, cultural and political history of the Soviet Union.' - Susan Morrissey, Slavonic and East European Review (vol. 89, no. 2, April 2011)