Today’s episode is the second of a two part programme with Dr Martin McCauley, formerly a senior lecturer in Russian and European history at the University of London. Dr McCauley has a long standing interest in the Soviet Union, having conducted research there in the late 1950s. He is the author of a wide range of books on the Soviet Union, including The Khruschev Era, and the excellent, Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union.

In this programme I discuss the issues of historical approaches and methods with Dr McCauley and try to find out a bit more about how he came to his conclusions on the Soviet Union. This is a fascinating insight into how pastiches of a country are built up over time.