Magnetic mountain

This book provides a street-level account of what Stalinism meant to the masses of ordinary people who lived it.

Kotkin argues that Stalinism offered itself as an opportunity for enlightenment and a new civilization based on the repudiation of capitalism.

The book depicts a wide range of life, from blast furnace workers to families struggling with housing and services, and examines the relationship between the state's ambitions and the dreams of ordinary people.

It is thematically organized and closely focused, signaling a new stage in the writing of Soviet social history.