The Ghost of the Executed Engineer: Technology and the Fall of the Soviet Union (Russian Research Center Studies)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.36 (817 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0674354370 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 154 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-02-10 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Palchinsky (1875-1929) was arrested in 1928, his voluminous files of correspondence and professional papers were carted away by the secret police to languish unknown in a Moscow archive until 1991 when Graham, a well-known historian of Russian science and technology, rediscovered them. Petersburg Institute of Mining, Palchinsky was always interested in the political and economic facets of any construction project (such as housing and living conditions of the crew members). Some of the spectacular failures of Soviet construction (including Chernobyl and the steel complex at Magnitogorsk) Graham blames on Stalin's propensity for building the biggest, regardless of the human aspects. . This short, specialized monograph belongs in both engineering and area studies collections.- Marcia L. From Libra
Stalin ordered his execution, but here Peter Palchinsky has the last word. The story of this visionary engineer's life and work, as Graham tells it, is also the story of the Soviet Union's industrial promise and failure.. Palchinsky tells of Soviet technology and industry, the mistakes he condemned in his lifetime, the corruption and collapse he predicted, the ultimate price paid for silencing those who were not afraid to speak out
nychen said School book. I read this for my History, Technology and Science class in college. It is quite intriguing a life that Palchinsky leads. The book starts off telling about his life in general and how it ended, and his influences on Russia. But then halfway through the book, the focus shifts to descriptions of technological failures the Soviet Union encountered and how they struggled to beat other countries in the engineering field.I don't think this book r. "Exclude the human element from planning at your peril." according to A Customer. The Soviet Union became the world¹s second largest industrial power, resisted and defeated Hitler¹s armies in World War II, and finally launched the first artificial satellite and first human into Earth orbit. Despite these achievements the Soviet Union collapsed short of the 75th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. This small book looks at the Soviet failure from an engineering view, specifically one engineer, Peter Palchins. Informative With the collapse of the Soviet Union, marvelous information about the daily lives of individuals during the period are becoming know. This book focuses on a single engineer and the impact of the Soviet style on the profession.It tells the story of how blind faith in a system cause truth to be supressed, often at the cost of lives.Unfortunately, the writing at times becomes polemical.It is an easy, short read and of value to those intereste