Peter Kenez's guest appearances

Peter Kenez

The 7th Avenue Project

Meet The Historians Podcast

Steven Pinker

Allyson Hobbs

Jon Mooallem

Robert Sapolsky

Wes Moore

David Harrington

Laura Kipnis

Rick Doblin

Orson Welles

John Hodgman

Richard Ford

Garry Shandling

Kumail Nanjiani

Nore Davis

Brian Greene

OwlTail

The Soviet Union came to an abrupt end in December 1991, with the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev from his position as President of the USSR, leaving a multitude of affiliated and independent states in its wake. However, the union had been fragmenting for some time, and there is a good deal of historical debate about how far the end of the Soviet Union was inevitable, and the extent to which Gorbachev might be held accountable for its demise. To discuss the impact of Gorbachev, I am joined on the line today by Peter Kenez, who is Professor of History emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Professor Kenez’s interest in Soviet Russia encompasses aspects such as the mass mobilisation of support for the war, as well as soviet society and cinema. His most recent works include “A History of the Soviet Union from beginning to end”, an excellent core text, and “Hungary, from the Nazis to the Soviets.”

The Soviet Union came to an abrupt end in December 1991, with the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev from his position as President of the USSR, leaving a multitude of affiliated and independent states in its wake. However, the union had been fragmenting for some time, and there is a good deal of historical debate about how far the end of the Soviet Union was inevitable, and the extent to which Gorbachev might be held accountable for its demise. <br/><br/>To discuss the impact of Gorbachev, I am joined on the line today by Peter Kenez, who is Professor of History emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Professor Kenez’s interest in Soviet Russia encompasses aspects such as the mass mobilisation of support for the war, as well as soviet society and cinema. His most recent works include “A History of the Soviet Union from beginning to end”, an excellent core text, and “Hungary, from the Nazis to the Soviets.”

Episode 2 - Meet the Historians - Peter Kenez - Gorbachev

Historian Peter Kenez has wrtten about some of the pivotal events of the the 20th century, and he's lived some of those events, too. We talk about his very interesting life: growing up Jewish in Nazi- and Soviet-controlled Hungary, fleeing the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and coming to America. We also discussed his new book on the Holocaust.

Peter Kenez: Growing up under Nazism and Communism 