Lexington Books Stalin's Millennials: Nostalgia, Trauma, and Nationalism

This book examines Joseph Stalin's increasing popularity in the post-Soviet space, and analyzes how his image, and the nostalgia it evokes, is manipulated and exploited for political gain. The author argues that, in addition to the evil dictator and the Georgian comrade, there is a third portrayal of Stalin-the one projected by the generation that saw the tail end of the USSR, the post-Soviet millennials. This book is not a biography of one of the most controversial historical figures of the past century. Rather, through a combination of sociopolitical commentary and autobiographical elements that are uncommon in monographs of this kind, the attempt is to explore how Joseph Stalin's complex legacies and the conflicting cult of his irreconcilable tripartite of personalities still loom over the region as a whole, including Russia and, perhaps to an even deeper extent, Koba's native land-now the independent Republic of Georgia, caught between its unreconciled Soviet past and the potential future within the European Union. Review Part memoir, part socio-political study, part reportage, Stalin's Millennials is wholly original. Through the lens of Stalin and his continued relevance for today's world, Japaridze provides a unique perspective on the ongoing memory wars, an engaging and well-informed primer on post-Soviet politics more broadly, and an intimate portrait of the Republic of Georgia, the author's homeland, as it continues to grapple with the history of its most infamous native son.--Bradley A. Gorski, Georgetown UniversityVladimir Ulyanov's body lies disintegrating discreetly in the Mausoleum, but the various avatars of Joseph Stalin haunt both his Georgian birthplace and the triumphant Red Square parades celebrating 'his victory.' In one, the self-appointed dialectician is a local boy who showed the Russians how and what for, while in the other Georgian is the heir of the Tsars and political ancestor to Vladimir Putin. Tinatin Japaridze is well-qualified to consider these prismatic reflections of Stalin's posthumous reputation in the former Soviet Union. Born in Georgia, reared in Moscow, she saw her father spend his post-Soviet days back in Tbilisi, where her mother nursed the memory of a purged grandparent, so she is well-aware of the many shades of grey in Stalin's shadow. But she also shows how the black-and-white caricatures of detractors and defenders alike obscure Koba's genuine history, distorting his retrospective image into a post-revolutionary Rorschach test, to evoke their own political psychoses and to advance their contemporary political agendas.--Ian Williams, Bard CollegeSuperbly written and highly engaging. In the middle of acrimonious debates in the West about the dangers of the rehabilitation of Stalin and Soviet nostalgia, Japaridze offers a fresh and courageous look at the 'Third Stalin, ' expertly revealing how the millennial generation grapples with the intense ethical dilemmas, contradictory emotions, and multiple historical lessons that have conditioned the formation of their own post-Soviet identities, sense of national belongings and global experiences.--Alexander Cooley, Columbia UniversityTinatin Japaridze's book, Stalin's Millennials: Nostalgia, Trauma, and Nationalism, is a personal tour de force. Although it is her first work, it already places her squarely in the courageous intellectual and social tradition of Hannah Arendt whose groundbreaking piece, The Human Condition, is as powerfully emotive as ever. But, Japaridze offers a delightful twist, a personal touch. Her book is not just an interpretation of Stalin as viewed in history and by the present generations, but it is a down-to-earth psychological deep dive into the yearning and emotional needs of Georgians and Russians, as well as people everywhere, ironically and by design, including herself. The brilliance of Japaridze is her discovery of another Stalin, not the Georgian or Russian Stalin, but a T