Jeremy Smith is Senior Lecturer in Russian history at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES), University of Birmingham, UK.  He is author of The Bolsheviks and the National Question, 1917-1923 and The Fall of Soviet Communism.Melanie Ilic is Reader in History at the University of Gloucestershire, and Research Fellow at CREES, University of Birmingham, UK.  She is co-author of Women in the Khrushchev Era.

"In attempting a multifaceted examination of the Khrushchev-era party leadership, this volume sheds new light on the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, and raises new questions for future research." - Polly Jones, Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, NJ; Slavonic and East European Review (vol. 89, no. 4, October 2011)"The story that unfolds in this revealing, stimulating survey is the failure of Khrushchev’s attempts to match the achievements of capitalism without capitalism. Time and again he was frustrated by the interest groups that eventually removed him from power. This book provides fascinating glimpses into the formation of these interest groups, which acted in their own rather than in the national interest...All in all, this is a valuable addition to the study of the Khrushchev period." - Martin McCauley, Slavic Review (vol. 71, no. 1, Spring 2012)

• 1. Introduction 2. Khrushchev as Leader 3. The Rise of Political Clans in the Era of Nikita Khrushchev: The First Phase, 1953-1959 4. The Central Committee Apparatus under Khrushchev 5. The Outer Reaches of Liberalization: Combating Political Dissent in the Khrushchev Era 6. Leadership and Nationalism in the Soviet Republics, 1953 - 1959 7. Moscow-Kiev Relations and the Sovnarkhoz Rreform 8. Failings of the Sovnarkhoz Reform: The Ukrainian Experience 9. Khrushchev and the Challenge of Technological Progress 10. Khrushchevism after Khrushchev: The Rise of National Interest in the Eastern Bloc 11. The Economy of Illusions: The Phenomenon of Data-inflation in the Khrushchev Era 12. The Modernisation of Soviet Railways Traction in Comparative Perspective 13. From Khrushchev (1935-6) to Khrushchev (1956-64): Construction Policy Compared

Jeremy Smith is Senior Lecturer in Russian history at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES), University of Birmingham, UK.  He is author of The Bolsheviks and the National Question, 1917-1923 and The Fall of Soviet Communism.Melanie Ilic is Reader in History at the University of Gloucestershire, and Research Fellow at CREES, University of Birmingham, UK.  She is co-author of Women in the Khrushchev Era.

"In attempting a multifaceted examination of the Khrushchev-era party leadership, this volume sheds new light on the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, and raises new questions for future research." - Polly Jones, Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, NJ; Slavonic and East European Review (vol. 89, no. 4, October 2011)"The story that unfolds in this revealing, stimulating survey is the failure of Khrushchev’s attempts to match the achievements of capitalism without capitalism. Time and again he was frustrated by the interest groups that eventually removed him from power. This book provides fascinating glimpses into the formation of these interest groups, which acted in their own rather than in the national interest...All in all, this is a valuable addition to the study of the Khrushchev period." - Martin McCauley, Slavic Review (vol. 71, no. 1, Spring 2012)

• 1. Introduction 2. Khrushchev as Leader 3. The Rise of Political Clans in the Era of Nikita Khrushchev: The First Phase, 1953-1959 4. The Central Committee Apparatus under Khrushchev 5. The Outer Reaches of Liberalization: Combating Political Dissent in the Khrushchev Era 6. Leadership and Nationalism in the Soviet Republics, 1953 - 1959 7. Moscow-Kiev Relations and the Sovnarkhoz Rreform 8. Failings of the Sovnarkhoz Reform: The Ukrainian Experience 9. Khrushchev and the Challenge of Technological Progress 10. Khrushchevism after Khrushchev: The Rise of National Interest in the Eastern Bloc 11. The Economy of Illusions: The Phenomenon of Data-inflation in the Khrushchev Era 12. The Modernisation of Soviet Railways Traction in Comparative Perspective 13. From Khrushchev (1935-6) to Khrushchev (1956-64): Construction Policy Compared