Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire

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Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire is a bestselling work by David Remnick. Often cited as an example of New Journalism, it won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1994.^[1]

The book is equal parts history and eyewitness account, covering the collapse of the Soviet Union. Opening with the excavation of the corpses of men killed in the Katyn massacre, "Lenin's Tomb" begins by describing the structural flaws present from the country's early days, and then uses individual accounts from a wide variety of contemporary individuals to display the modern consequences of these historical errors and cruelties.

Within the book, Remnick draws heavily on his past work as Moscow correspondent with The Washington Post. In addition to officials and public figures, (current and former -- one chapter in part recounts Remnick's attempts to get an interview with Lazar Kaganovich) he takes advantage of a wide variety of "everyman"-type sources. These individuals, while not notable in and of themselves, help add richness and texture to Remnick's depiction of the world around them.

In 1997, Remnick published a follow-up work, Resurrection, dealing with the creation of a new Russian state.