1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910495882603321

Autore

Witkin Zara <1900-1940.>

Titolo

An American engineer in Stalin's Russia : the memoirs of Zara Witkin, 1932-1934 / / edited with an introduction by Michael Gelb [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c1991

ISBN

0-520-35108-8

0-585-12052-8

Edizione

[Reprint 2020]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (ix, 363 p., [6] p. of plates ) : ill. ;

Altri autori (Persone)

GelbMichael <1954->

Disciplina

624/.092

B

Soggetti

Civil engineers - United States

Civil engineering - Political aspects - Soviet Union

Civil engineers - Biography - United States

Soviet Union Politics and government 1917-1936

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-354) and index.

"The films of Emma Tsesarskaia": p. 355.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on the Text -- Editor's Introduction -- THE MEMOIRS OF ZARA WITKIN 1932-1934 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- The Films of Emma Tsesarskaia -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In 1932 Zara Witkin, a prominent American engineer, set off for the Soviet Union with two goals: to help build a society more just and rational than the bankrupt capitalist system at home, and to seek out the beautiful film star Emma Tsesarskaia.    His memoirs offer a detailed view of Stalin's bureaucracy--entrenched planners who snubbed new methods; construction bosses whose cover-ups led to terrible disasters; engineers who plagiarized Witkin's work; workers whose pride was defeated. Punctuating this document is the tale of Witkin's passion for Tsesarskaia and the record of his friendships with journalist Eugene Lyons, planner Ernst May, and others.    Witkin felt beaten in the end by the lethargy and corruption choking the greatest social experiment in history, and by a pervasive evil--the suppression of human rights and dignity by a relentless dictatorship. Finally



breaking his spirit was the dissolution of his romance with Emma, his "Dark Goddess."    In his lively introduction, Michael Gelb provides the historical context of Witkin's experience, details of his personal life, and insights offered by Emma Tsesarskaia in an interview in 1989.