The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost World

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An encyclopedic and richly detailed history of everyday life in the Soviet Union.

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 Schlgel, one of the worlds leading historians of the Soviet Union, presents a spellbinding epic that brings to life the everyday world of a unique lost civilisation.

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 symbolised by the Lubyanka, then as now the headquarters of the secret police.

Drawing on Schlgels decades of travel in the Soviet and post-Soviet world, and featuring more than eighty 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.

'An impressively evocative look at material life in the USSR, from gulags and the planned economy to Red Moscow perfume and the Soviet toilet a lost civilisation of utopian fantasy and unbridled terror.' Financial Times

Reviews

"An impressively evocative look at material life in the USSR, from gulags and the planned economy to Red Moscow perfume and the Soviet toilet a lost civilisation of utopian fantasy and unbridled terror." * Financial Times *
"Who else could have a whole chapter on Soviet-era doorknobs This is a fascinating book about the material loose ends, the pamphlets, the clothes, the non-existent phone books, the shop signs, the chest medals, and the bric-a-brac among many other items of the Soviet Union. . . . This is in my view one of the better books for understanding the Soviet Union."---Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
"The Soviet Century . . . presents history in a novel way, showcasing customs and traditions, values and artefacts, that offer many poignant insights and helps readers understand the Russian psyche today. . . . Its a fascinating, multi-faceted read that both takes historical stock and zooms in on miniature details."---Jana Bakunina, Financial Times
"[A] magnum opus. . . . This invaluable study casts a lost world in a new light." * Publishers Weekly (Starred review) *
"Who knew that, apart from his experiments with dogs, Ivan Pavlov wrote a preface concerning nutrition for a bestselling Soviet cookbook Thats one of just many oddments Schlgel assembles in this utterly absorbing tour through the material goods that defined the Soviet era, from pulpy wrapping paper to the medals veterans wore, from canned goods to perfume and tchotchkes and everything in between. . . . A superb blend of social history and material culture, essential for students of 20th-century geopolitics." * Kirkus Reviews (Starred review) *
"A pinnacle in Soviet studies. . . . A splendid book." * Library Journal (Starred review) *
"Formidable. . . . The emergence of this book in our intellectual landscape is timely, as we seek to better understand Russia in an era when systematic political, economic, social, and even cultural approaches have failed to explain or predict the current resurrection of the 'Soviet Leviathan.' Indeed, perhaps 'the devil is hidden in the details,' and by diving yet again into these minute but culturally rich details of Soviet banal routine, spiritual life, and rituals, we can make a step forward in our comprehension of why the dark side of 'Soviet civilization' keeps reemerging again and again."---Oksana Ermolaeva, EuropeNow (Editor's pick)
"Fascinating. . . . The scholarship of the work is evident throughout, but 'The Soviet Century' is both more powerful and more subtle than a typical work of scholarship. At its heart, its a gigantic, heartfelt elegy, one of the most stunning tributes ever paid to the Soviet Union."---Steve Donoghue, Big Canoe News
"Extremely timely and utterly indispensable."---Vitali Vitaliev, Engineering and Technology

Author Bio

Karl Schlgel is professor emeritus of Eastern European history at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder and a noted journalist. His books include Moscow 1937, The Scent of Empires: Chanel No. 5 and Red Moscow, and Ukraine: A Nation on the Borderland.