Summary Of Anne Applebaum's The Iron Curtain

Anne Applebaum’s The Iron Curtain has a different framework than the other works discussed here. While most studies describe the communist experience thematically (consumption, education, etc) or through examining how the structural elements of the system affected peoples’ everyday lives, Applebaum describes that experience by outlining the Soviet “imports” to eastern Europe that fundamentally transformed everyday life. Applebaum’s focus is on the Soviet implementation and enforcement of Stalinism in Eastern Europe. These changes are almost exclusively coming via Moscow in her analysis. She argues that the Soviets used local communists, or "little Stalins,” who were subject to and trained in Moscow, to pursue a totalitarian ideological change