EHL book talk with Paul Josephson, author of "Hero Projects"

In his forthcoming Hero Projects (Oxford University Press, 2024), Paul Josephson traces how, over the last one hundred years, Soviet commissars and Russian oligarchs embraced “hero projects,” “projects of the century,” and now “megaprojects” to create the world’s largest empire. Built by peasants, gulag prisoners, Communist volunteers, and later shift workers, the large scale technologies include railroads from Europe to the Pacific Ocean, hydropower stations and canals, pipelines across the tundra and nuclear power plants. In this talk based on his forthcoming book, Paul will address the strong continuities in political culture and economic planning in Russian history that have enabled the pursuit of hero projects in spite of their significant social, environmental and other costs.

Paul R. Josephson is Professor Emeritus of History at Colby College, Waterville, Maine. He is a specialist on the history of big science and technology in the twentieth century. The author of fifteen books, he focuses on environmental and political questions, and on the comparative history of Russia, the US and Europe. Recent books include Chicken and Nuclear Russia: The Atom in Russian Politics and Culture.

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