To the Tashkent Station: Evacuation and Survival in the Soviet Union at War
"This book is one of the most significant recent contributions to the history of the Soviet Union in the Second World War. A nuanced, complex, and confident interpretation of a rich and diverse source base, it is much more than just a careful study of . . . the Soviet evacuation of institutions, factories, and human beings, to rescue them from the German invasion of 1941. It is also a microstudy of Soviet society in the 1940s more generally."—Mark Edele,Journal of Modern History(March 2011)"Manley's book is an impressive achievement. Through work in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Tashkent archives, along with the use of memoir and periodical sources, she effectively documents . . . Soviet society and the Soviet state as revealed in a moment of crisis. . . . She produces a nuanced understanding of how evacuation simultaneously exposed and healed fissures within and between various strata of the population in its leaders."—Jeff Sahadeo,Slavic Review(Winter 2010)"The story of the mass evacuation of Soviet citizens during World War II has found its historian in Rebecca Manley. She has done an amazing job of tracking down sources, reconstructing the bureaucratic web of institutions and policies undergirding the evacuation process, and collecting a range of personal experiences of the evacuation from all sectors of society. The result is an extremely compelling narrative that reads beautifully. In Manley's hands, the evacuation also serves as a kind of microcosm of Soviet politics and society. Most important, this is a story of the human experience of evacuation and war."—Lynne Viola, University of Toronto, author ofThe Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin's Special Settlements"To the Tashkent Stationis an indispensable contribution to the scholarship on World War II. It will certainly repay the attention of readers who are seeking a serious, informed, and nuanced study of Soviet wartime upheaval and mobilization. Drawing from source material in several Russian archives, Rebecca Manley guides the reader through debates on policy as well as the process and experiences of evacuation, resettlement, and return of Soviet civilians. It is a worthy addition to Cornell's impressive list in Russian and East European Studies."—Peter Gatrell, University of Manchester, author ofA Whole Empire Walking"To the Tashkent Stationmakes a significant contribution to the social history of the Second World War. Manley's vivid prose and rich detail bring to life the experiences of the evacuees. Her incisive analysis illuminates the social and cultural paradoxes and ambiguities of Stalin’s Soviet Union, in which the same action could be deemed patriotic or treasonous depending on circumstances."—Kenneth Slepyan,Canadian Journal of History(Fall 2011)