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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did Arnold Yeryomenko come to Moscow in June 1988?

2. How big was Remnick's Moscow apartment?

3. Where was Gorbachev when the letter in the Sovetskaya Rossiya was published on March 13?

4. Who was Bukharian's wife?

5. In 1974, who was the first man forcibly exiled from the Soviet Union since Trotsky?

Short Essay Questions

1. What central fact of Gorbachev's early life did he keep to himself until 1990?

2. Why was Genrikh Joffe accused of being a "preacher of bourgeois ideology"?

3. Who is Lydia Chukovskaya?

4. How did the revolution from below begin in July of 1989?

5. Why did the salmon catch rot on Sakhalin Island?

6. What gnawing uncertainty is the condition of life in the Soviet Union for an empire inhabited by holocaust survivors and the children of survivors?

7. What did Gorbachev do about the letter published March 13 in the Sovetskaya Rossiya?

8. Why is life in the mines not fit for human beings?

9. What was Vremya?

10. What was the homeless situation in Moscow in 1988?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the book, Remnick states that "Chernobyl...was a kind of run of the Soviet system, a horrible metaphor for the era that began with the Revolution in 1917 and was now ending." Using examples from the book, explain Chernobyl's metaphor for the Soviet system.

Essay Topic 2

Shekhovtsov, Korniyenkova, and some of Stalin's grandchildren still revere Stalin. Explain the reasons why they still support Stalin and their motives for supporting him.

Essay Topic 3

Remnick refers to September of 1990 as a Black September and mentions three omens that occur. Use examples from the book to explain the meaning of these three omens and why they indicated that something ominous was about to happen in the Soviet Union.

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This section contains 995 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample