It's Only A Joke, Comrade!: Humour, Trust and Everyday Life under Stalin (1928-1941)
by Jonathan Waterlow
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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 show more 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? show lessTags
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A book on the use of humor during the Stalin years in the Soviet Union. After extensively researching available records in Russian archives, Waterlow tells us about how jokes, or anetdoty in Russian, helped the people of the USSR deal with the oppression of the Soviet government.
The book doesn't really tell you a lot of jokes per se, it tells you more about "humor theory" (if that's an actual term), which goes over how humor during difficult times actually helps people bear the terrible conditions they are enduring.
This is a very well-written and researched book, very fascinating! If you're interested in Russian history, try this book.
The book doesn't really tell you a lot of jokes per se, it tells you more about "humor theory" (if that's an actual term), which goes over how humor during difficult times actually helps people bear the terrible conditions they are enduring.
This is a very well-written and researched book, very fascinating! If you're interested in Russian history, try this book.
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Author Information
2 Works 21 Members
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2018
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 947.084 — History & geography History of Europe Eastern European Counties and Russia Russian & Slavic History by Period 1855- 1917-1953 ; Communist period
- LCC
- DK266.4 .W2 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics – Poland History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics History Soviet regime, 1918-1991
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 17
- Popularity
- 1,450,939
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.88)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
