Red Plenty by Francis Spufford, Paperback, 9780571225248 | Buy online at The Nile
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Red Plenty

Author: Francis Spufford  

Paperback

Red Plenty by Francis Spufford: What if the Soviet 'miracle' had worked, and the communists had discovered the secret to prosperity, progress and happiness...'

What if the Soviet 'miracle' had worked, and the communists had discovered the secret to prosperity, progress and happiness.?

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Summary

Red Plenty by Francis Spufford: What if the Soviet 'miracle' had worked, and the communists had discovered the secret to prosperity, progress and happiness...'

What if the Soviet 'miracle' had worked, and the communists had discovered the secret to prosperity, progress and happiness.?

Read more

Description

The Soviet Union was founded on a fairytale. It was built on 20th century magic called 'the planned economy', which was going to gush forth an abundance of good things that the penny-pinching lands of capitalism could never match. And just for a little while, in the heady years of the late 1950s, the magic seemed to be working.

Red Plenty is about that moment in history, and how it came, and how it went away; about the brief era when, under the rash leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union looked forward to a future of rich communists and envious capitalists, when Moscow would out-glitter Manhattan, every Lada would be better engineered than a Porsche and sputniks would lead the way to the stars. And it's about the scientists who did their genuinely brilliant best to make the dream come true, to give the tyranny its happy ending.

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Critic Reviews

"A hammer-and-sickle version of Altman's Nashville, with central committees replacing country music . . . [Spufford] has one of the most original minds in contemporary literature." --Nick Hornby, "The Believer"

"A thrilling book that all enthusiasts of the Big State should read." --Michael Burleigh, "The Sunday Telegraph"

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About the Author

Francis Spufford's first book, I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination, was awarded the Writers Guild Award for Best Non-Fiction Book of 1996 and a Somerset Maugham Award. His second book, The Child that Books Built was described as ' witty, compelling and elegant' by the New Statesman. His third book, Backroom Boys, was called a ' beautifully written book' by the Daily Telegraph and was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize and longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. He lives in Cambridge.

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More on this Book

What if the Soviet 'miracle' had worked, and the communists had discovered the secret to prosperity, progress and happiness.? The Soviet Union was founded on a fairytale. It was built on 20th century magic called 'the planned economy', which was going to gush forth an abundance of good things that the penny-pinching lands of capitalism could never match. And just for a little while, in the heady years of the late 1950s, the magic seemed to be working. Red Plenty is about that moment in history, and how it came, and how it went away; about the brief era when, under the rash leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union looked forward to a future of rich communists and envious capitalists, when Moscow would out-glitter Manhattan, every Lada would be better engineered than a Porsche and sputniks would lead the way to the stars. And it's about the scientists who did their genuinely brilliant best to make the dream come true, to give the tyranny its happy ending.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
Faber & Faber
Published
7th July 2011
Edition
Main
Pages
448
ISBN
9780571225248

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RRP $28.00
$21.56
Or pay later with
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