The Soviet Century : Archaeology of a Lost World / Karl Schlögel ; translated by Rodney Livingstone.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schlögel, Karl, author.

Contributor:

Livingstone, Rodney, translator.

Standardized Title:

Sowjetische Jahrhundert. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Civilization.

Communism and culture--Soviet Union.

Communism and culture.

Manners and customs.

Quality of life--Soviet Union.

Quality of life.

Soviet Union--Social conditions.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--Social life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (929 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 2023.

Language Note:

In English, translated from the original German.

Summary:

"The Soviet Union is gone, but its ghostly traces remain, not least in the material vestiges left behind in its turbulent wake. What was it really like to live in the USSR? What did it look, feel, smell, and sound like? In 'The Soviet Century,' Karl Schlögel, one of the world's leading historians of the Soviet Union, presents a spellbinding epic that brings to life the everyday world of a unique lost civilization. A museum of--and travel guide to--the Soviet past, 'The Soviet Century' explores in evocative detail both the largest and smallest aspects of life in the USSR, from the Gulag, the planned economy, the railway system, and the steel city of Magnitogorsk, to cookbooks, military medals, prison camp tattoos, and the ubiquitous perfume Red Moscow. The book examines iconic aspects of Soviet life, including long queues outside shops, cramped communal apartments, parades, and the Lenin mausoleum, as well as less famous but important parts of the USSR, including the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the voice of Radio Moscow, graffiti, and even the typical toilet, which became a pervasive social and cultural topic. Throughout, the book shows how Soviet life simultaneously combined utopian fantasies, humdrum routine, and a pervasive terror symbolized by the Lubyanka, then as now, the headquarters of the secret police. Drawing on Schlögel's decades of travel in the Soviet and post-Soviet world, and featuring more than 80 illustrations, 'The Soviet Century' is vivid, immediate, and grounded in firsthand encounters with the places and objects it describes. The result is an unforgettable account of the Soviet century."

Contents:

Introduction : archaeology of a vanished world

Shards of Empire

Highway of enthusiasts

Soviet sign-worlds

The life of things

Oases of freedom

Interiors

Landscapes, public spaces

Big data

Rituals

Bodies

Kolyma : the pole of cold

The Solovetsky special camp, laboratory of extremes : Monastery Island as concentration camp

Corridors of power

The noise of time

Alien territory, contact zones, in-between worlds

The railroads of empire : time travel back into the Russian twentieth century

Red cube : the Lenin mausoleum as keystone

The Lubyanka project : design for a musée imaginaire of Soviet civilisation.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691232386

0691232385

OCLC:

1355218670