Liberation from despots, a culture of gentle protest and poets as popular heroes: the period of thaw in the years after Stalin’s death introduced a new definition of Soviet life. There was a euphoric phase of liberalization in cultural and political life. But with the ouster of Nikita Khrushchev came a new phase of political restoration that would continue until perestroika. These days, the Thaw is often romanticised through the lens of nostalgia; among historians, its interpretation is still a subject of considerable debate.