A Financial Times Best Summer Book
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 RevolutionThe 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. . . . It's a fascinating, multi-faceted read that both takes historical stock and zooms in on miniature details.
---Jana Bakunina, Financial TimesHis focus is not on the foreign relations or domestic crises of Soviet rule but on outward appearances: the look, the smell, the sounds of everyday life. Based on decades of research and an intimate knowledge of history and culture, 'The Soviet Century' is a fascinating chronicle of a not-so-distant era.
---Joshua Rubenstein, Wall Street JournalA detailed examination of the relics of ordinary communist life. Perfect for dipping into.
---Fred Studemann, Financial TimesIn a work of remarkable range and quality, Karl Schloegel explores the everyday life and material culture of the Soviet Union in ways that show the communist experiment in a compellingly fresh light. One of the most innovative books on Soviet history to appear since the state's collapse in 1991.
---Tony Barber, Financial TimesSchloegel - assisted by his excellent translator, Rodney Livingstone - is an eloquent writer and a captivating travel guide around this Soviet lost world.
---Stephen Lovell, Times Literary SupplementKarl Schloegel . . . and his wonderful noticing of things and how they sit in space is on full display in the 900-plus pages of The Soviet Century. Schloegel variously calls his book an archaeology, an exhibition, and a museum of the Soviet 'ifeworld.' Its focus on the things of everyday life makes it, in his view, not an 'encyclopedia of banalities'(a phrase used by the Russian historian Natalia Lebina about her own history of everyday life) but rather 'an encyclopedia of fundamentals.' Just about everything memorable and (to a Westerner) odd about Soviet everyday life is there.
---Sheila Fitzpatrick, Foreign PolicyExtremely timely and utterly indispensable.
---Vitali Vitaliev, Engineering and Technology[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? That's one of just many oddments Schloegel 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)Nine hundred pages in length and wonderfully illustrated throughout. . . .It is a welcome and unique contribution to Soviet studies.
---Steven Andrew, Morning StarFascinating. . . . 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, it's a gigantic, heartfelt elegy, one of the most stunning tributes ever paid to the Soviet Union.
---Steve Donoghue, Big Canoe NewsA work of deep scholarship and significant breadth about a relatively brief period of recent history when it seemed that there might be an alternative economic system to capitalism.
---Joseph Brady, SocietyThe wealth of this book cannot be sufficiently explored within the limits of a review. Gibbonian in scale, it is a veritable cornucopia of jewels. In Russia, radical changes and catastrophic experiences occur in their pure form, Schloegel states. Reading his chronicle of this massive churn in all its sensory whimsies, we gain fresh insights into the lost world of the Soviet Union.
---Prasenjit Chowdhury, Hindustan TimesA terrific book - eye opening, captivating and wholly revealing.
---David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews