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It's Only a Joke, Comrade! : Humour, Trust and Everyday Life under Stalin (1928-1941) by Jonathan Waterlow (2018, Trade Paperback)
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New Trade paperback
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherCreateSpace
ISBN-101985635828
ISBN-139781985635821
eBay Product ID (ePID)24038658734
Product Key Features
Book TitleIt's only a Joke, Comrade! : Humour, Trust and Everyday Life under Stalin (1928-1941)
Number of Pages308 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicRussia & the Former Soviet Union
Publication Year2018
GenreHistory
AuthorJonathan Waterlow
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height0.7 in
Item Weight18.8 Oz
Item Length9 in
Item Width6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
Synopsis'A stunningly original study of Stalinist society... Essential reading for anyone interested in how human beings navigate a path through times of extraordinary upheaval, privation and danger' - Daniel Beer In the shadow of the Gulag, Soviet citizens were still cracking jokes. They had to. Drawing on diaries, interviews, memoirs and hundreds of previously secret documents, It's Only a Joke, Comrade uncovers how they joked, coped, and struggled to adapt in Stalin's brave new world. It asks what it really means to live under a dictatorship: How do people make sense of their lives? How do they talk about it? And whom can they trust to do so? Moving beyond ideas of 'resistance', 'doublethink', 'speaking Bolshevik', or Stalin's Cult of Personality to explain Soviet life, it reveals how ordinary people found their way and even found themselves in a life lived along the fault-lines between rhetoric and reality. 'An extraordinary achievement' - Ronald Grigor Suny 'Re-vitalizes our understanding of Soviet society' - Lynne Viola 'Fascinating ... lively, engaging, and at times very funny' - Catriona Kelly 'The best book on Stalinism I've read in a long time' - S.A. Smith 'One of those rare books that not only has to be read by scholars in the field, but is also accessible to a wide readership. Indeed it is an essential read for anybody who wants to get beyond standard views of the "communist joke" and understand what humour really tells us about life under this extraordinary regime' - David Priestland, 'A stunningly original study of Stalinist society... Essential reading for anyone interested in how human beings navigate a path through times of extraordinary upheaval, privation and danger' - Daniel Beer In the shadow of the Gulag, Soviet citizens were still cracking jokes. They had to. Drawing on diaries, interviews, memoirs and hundreds of previously secret documents, It's Only a Joke, Comrade! uncovers how they joked, coped, and struggled to adapt in Stalin's brave new world. It asks what it really means to live under a dictatorship: How do people make sense of their lives? How do they talk about it? And whom can they trust to do so? Moving beyond ideas of 'resistance', 'doublethink', 'speaking Bolshevik', or Stalin's Cult of Personality to explain Soviet life, it reveals how ordinary people found their way and even found themselves in a life lived along the fault-lines between rhetoric and reality. 'An extraordinary achievement' - Ronald Grigor Suny 'Re-vitalizes our understanding of Soviet society' - Lynne Viola 'Fascinating ... lively, engaging, and at times very funny' - Catriona Kelly 'The best book on Stalinism I've read in a long time' - S.A. Smith 'One of those rare books that not only has to be read by scholars in the field, but is also accessible to a wide readership. Indeed it is an essential read for anybody who wants to get beyond standard views of the "communist joke" and understand what humour really tells us about life under this extraordinary regime' - David Priestland
