Nikita Khrushchev

1894–1971

Nikita Khrushchev emerged as Soviet leader after Stalin’s death and denounced aspects of Stalinist terror in his 1956 “Secret Speech.” He promoted limited cultural relaxation, agricultural experiments and competition with the United States in missiles and space. His rule included the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, the Berlin crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Economic failures and elite opposition led colleagues to remove him from power in 1964.

Khrushchev appears in Cold War historical fiction and alternate histories, especially stories involving Cuba, Berlin or the space race, but he is rarely the sole protagonist of a major novel. Fiction often emphasises his theatrical personality, blunt language and risky improvisation. That image should be balanced against collective leadership, bureaucratic constraints and his continued willingness to use force within the Soviet bloc.

In Jeff Shaara’s The Shadow of War, Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev face their own pressures and conflicting objectives. Ken Follett’s Edge of Eternity places Nikita Khrushchev within a narrative shaped by political ambition and government and crime, espionage and covert power.

Series

Series featuring Nikita Khrushchev (1 series)

The Century Trilogy in Order

by Ken Follett 3 books 4.3

The Century Trilogy follows five interconnected families from Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States from the years before the First World War to the collapse of Communist rule in Europe. Across three generations, miners, aristocrats, diplomats, political organisers, soldiers and journalists experience public events through marriages, rivalries…

All books in this series