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TitleAuthorDescription
After Hitler, Before StalinJames Ramon FelakExamines the crucial postwar period in Slovakia, following Nazi occupation and ending with the Communist coup of February 1948. Centered on the major political role of the Catholic Church and its leaders, it offers a fascinating study of the interrelationship of Slovak Catholics, Democrats, and Communists. Felak views Communist policies toward Catholics and their strategies to court Catholic voters, and he chronicles the variety of political stances Catholics maintained during Slovakia's political turmoil.
Agriculture and the State in Soviet and Post-Soviet RussiaStephen WegrenThis comprehensive, original and innovative analysis of the social, economic and political factors affecting contemporary Russian reform is based upon extensive field work, interviews, archival documents, and published and unpublished source material conducted over a six-year period. This book is organized around the central question of the role of the state and its effect on the course of Russian agrarian reform.
Archaeology of AnxietyGalina RylkovaThe “Silver Age” (c. 1890-1917) has been one of the most intensely studied topics in Russian literary studies, and for years scholars have struggled with its precise definition. Firmly established in the Russian cultural psyche, it continues to influence both literature and mass media. Rylkova analyzes writings by Anna Akhmatova, Vladimir Nabokov, Boris Pasternak and Victor Erofeev to reveal how the construct of the Silver Age was perpetuated and ingrained.
Archaeology of AnxietyGalina RylkovaThe “Silver Age” (c. 1890-1917) has been one of the most intensely studied topics in Russian literary studies, and for years scholars have struggled with its precise definition. Firmly established in the Russian cultural psyche, it continues to influence both literature and mass media. Rylkova analyzes writings by Anna Akhmatova, Vladimir Nabokov, Boris Pasternak and Victor Erofeev to reveal how the construct of the Silver Age was perpetuated and ingrained.
Bandits and PartisansErik LandisIn 1920, Aleksandr Antonov led an insurgency that became the largest armed peasant revolt against the Soviets during the civil war. Yet by 1921, the revolt had been crushed, and popular support for the movement had all but disappeared. Until now, details of this conflict have remained hidden. Erik Landis mines recently opened provincial and central Soviet archives and international collections to provide a depth of detail and historical analysis never before possible in this definitive account of the uprising.
Between Nation and StateNicholas MillerMiller chronicles the politics in Croatia prior to the first World War. The failures of the Croat-Serbian Coalition led to their inability to create a cohesive civic/democratic union during the war years, and prevail to this day.
Big Business in RussiaJonathan GrantA highly original study of the Putilov Works—the most famous industrial conglomerate in the Russian Empire during the late 19th century, and a major challenge to conventional wisdom on the nature of the Russian economy in the years before the Bolshevik revolution.
Brezhnev's FollyChristopher WardThe first scholarly account of BAM (the Baikal-Amur Railway), Russia’s most ambitious public construction project to be attempted in the final decades leading up to the collapse of the USSR. This is a rich social history based on a combination of original scholarly research and interviews with many of those who worked on BAM.
Building Socialism in Bolshevik RussiaThomas RemingtonA profile of the Bolshevik attempt to build a a new state by mobilizing the working class, in effect building society, that in the end resulted in failed institutions and weakened bureaucracy.
Celebrating Women Choi ChatterjeeChoi Chatterjee analyzes both Bolshevik attitudes towards women and the invented state rituals surrounding Women’s Day to demonstrate the ways these celebrations helped construct gender notions in the Soviet Union.
Curative PowersPaula MichaelsCurative Powers combines post-colonial theory with ethnographic research to reconstructs how the Soviet government used medicine and public health policy to transform the society, politics, and culture of its outlying regions, specifically Kazakhstan.

Winner of the 2003 Heldt Prize from the Association for Women in Slavic Studies.
Disabled in the Soviet UnionWilliam McCaggThe essays in this collection chronicle the responses of the Soviet state and society to a variety of disabled groups and disabilities.
Elusive EqualityMelissa FeinbergExamines debates over women’s rights in the first half of the twentieth century, to show how Czechs gradually turned away from democracy and established the separation of state and domestic issues, at the expense of personal freedoms.
Emergence of Modern Jewish PoliticsZvi GitelmanCollection of essays by prominent historians, political scientists, and professors of literature that examine the political, social, and cultural impact of Zionism and Bundism on Jewish society.
End of Peasantry?Grigory IoffeExamines the dramatic recent decline of agriculture in post-Soviet Russia and the historic, technological, and geographic contributing factors. Views current agricultural reform programs that will profoundly impact the political and economic stability of Russia.
End of Peasantry?Grigory IoffeExamines the dramatic recent decline of agriculture in post-Soviet Russia and the historic, technological, and geographic contributing factors. Views current agricultural reform programs that will profoundly impact the political and economic stability of Russia.
Equality and RevolutionRochelle Goldberg RuthchildRuthchild’s study reveals that Russian feminists were an integral force for revolution and social change, particularly during the monumental uprisings of 1905-1917. She analyzes the backgrounds, motivations, methods, activism, and organizational networks of early Russian feminists that came to challenge, and eventually bring down, the patriarchal tsarist regime.
Equality and RevolutionRochelle Goldberg RuthchildRuthchild’s study reveals that Russian feminists were an integral force for revolution and social change, particularly during the monumental uprisings of 1905-1917. She analyzes the backgrounds, motivations, methods, activism, and organizational networks of early Russian feminists that came to challenge, and eventually bring down, the patriarchal tsarist regime.
Eugenics and Modernization in Interwar RomaniaMaria BucurMaria Bucur explores the interactions between the science of eugenics and modernization efforts in Romania between World Wars I and II.
Exile and IdentityKatherine JolluckKatherine Jolluck tells the story of thousands of Polish women exiled to the Soviet Union in 1939-41, and examines the ways in which their efforts to maintain their identities as respectable women and patriotic Poles helped them survive.
Factory and Community in Stalin’s RussiaKenneth StrausKenneth Straus contemplates the question: Was there social support for the Stalin regime among the Soviet working class during the 1930s, and if so, why? In his well-researched answer he analyzes the daily lives of Soviet workers, and compares the ideologies of western and Soviet thought.
Forging Political CompromiseDaniel MillerHistorians have long claimed Czechoslovakia between the world wars as an island of democracy in a sea of dictatorships. The reasons for the survival of democratic institutions have never been fully explained. Miller pieces together the story of the party and its longtime leader, Antonín Svehla, who had an extraordinary capacity to mediate between political parties, factions, and individual political leaders. Miller shows how Svehla's official and behind-the-scenes activities in the parliament provided the new state with stability and continuity.
From Darkness to LightIgal HalfinIn this interdisciplinary and controversial work, Igal Halfin takes an original and provocative stance on Marxist theory, and attempts to break down the divisions between history, philosophy, and literary theory.
Gender, Class, and the Professionalization of Russian City Teachers, 1860–1914Christine RuaneRuane examines the issues of gender and class in the teaching profession of late imperial Russia, at a time when the vocation was becoming increasingly feminized in a zealously patriarchal society. Her research and insightful analysis broadens our knowledge of an emerging professional class, especially newly educated and emancipated women, during Russia's transition to a more modern society.
How the Soviet Man Was UnmadeLilya KaganovskyThis book exposes the paradox behind the myth of the indestructible Stalinist-era male. In her analysis of social-realist literature and cinema, Kaganovsky examines the recurring theme of the mutilated male body. She views this representation as a thinly veiled statement about the emasculated male condition during the Stalinist era. Kaganovsky provides an insightful reevaluation of classic works of the period, including the novels of Nikolai Ostrovskii (How Steel Was Tempered) and Boris Polevoi (A Story About a Real Man), and films such as Ivan Pyr'ev's The Party Card, Eduard Pentslin's The Fighter Pilots, and Mikhail Chiaureli's The Fall of Berlin, among others. The symbolism of wounding in these works acts as a fissure in the facade of Stalinist cultural production through which we can view the consequences of historic and political trauma.
How the Soviet Man Was UnmadeLilya KaganovskyThis book exposes the paradox behind the myth of the indestructible Stalinist-era male. In her analysis of social-realist literature and cinema, Kaganovsky examines the recurring theme of the mutilated male body. She views this representation as a thinly veiled statement about the emasculated male condition during the Stalinist era. Kaganovsky provides an insightful reevaluation of classic works of the period, including the novels of Nikolai Ostrovskii (How Steel Was Tempered) and Boris Polevoi (A Story About a Real Man), and films such as Ivan Pyr'ev's The Party Card, Eduard Pentslin's The Fighter Pilots, and Mikhail Chiaureli's The Fall of Berlin, among others. The symbolism of wounding in these works acts as a fissure in the facade of Stalinist cultural production through which we can view the consequences of historic and political trauma.
Institutions and the Fate of Democracy Michael BernhardA detailed investigation of the development of democratic political institutions, this book offers insight into the emerging governments of these two countries.
Intimate EnemiesIgal HalfinIntimate Enemies examines the transformation of Bolshevik Party ideology, language, and power relations during the crucial period leading up to Stalin's seizure of power. Igal Halfin uncovers this evolution in the language of Bolshevism. This language defined the methods for judging true party loyalty-in what Halfin describes as an examination of the 'hermeneutics of the soul,' and became the basis for prosecuting the Party's enemies, particularly the “intimate enemies” within the Party itself.
Intimate EnemiesIgal HalfinIntimate Enemies examines the transformation of Bolshevik Party ideology, language, and power relations during the crucial period leading up to Stalin's seizure of power. Igal Halfin uncovers this evolution in the language of Bolshevism. This language defined the methods for judging true party loyalty-in what Halfin describes as an examination of the 'hermeneutics of the soul,' and became the basis for prosecuting the Party's enemies, particularly the “intimate enemies” within the Party itself.
Jan Waclaw MachajskiMarshall ShatzJan Waclaw Machajski's (1866-1926) political doctrine, known as Makhaevism, was a synthesis of several revolutionary theories in Western and Eastern Europe: Marxism, anarchism, and syndicalism. His criticism of the intelligentsia and theory of a “new class” were influential to Communism and helped to create a hostility that culminated in Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s.
KGB Campaign against Corruption in Moscow, 1982-1987Luc DuhamelDuhamel examines the KGB at its pinnacle of power during the anticorruption campaigns of 1982-1987, when it sought to break the Communist Party's stranglehold on Moscow's two largest trade organizations, which were built on a foundation of bribery and favoritism.
Lone Wolf and the BearMoshe GammerMoshe Gammer discusses the three-hundred-year history of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Chechnya. Utilizing information gathered through intensive research, he provides thorough analyses of the region's diverse peoples and cultures, including the effects of Russo/Soviet modernization efforts on the development of national identity.
Models of NatureDouglas WeinerModels of Nature studies the early and turbulent years of the Soviet conservation movement from the October Revolution to the mid-1930s—Lenin’s rule to the rise of Stalin. This new edition includes an afterword by the author that reflects upon the study's impact and discusses advances in the field since the book was first published.
Moscovia of Antonio Possevino, S.J.Antonio Possevino S.J.A descriptive account of the court of Tsar Ivan IV, in sixteenth-century Moscow, as seen through the eyes of papal envoy and Jesuit Antonio Possevino S.J.
National Communism in the Soviet Union, 1918-28Baruch GurevitzA unique perspective on the question of how Marxism and the early Soviet Union dealt with issues of nationalism, viewed through The Jewish Communist Workers' Party, the Poale Zion.
Nature and National Identity after CommunismKatrina SchwartzExamines the intersection of environmental politics, globalization, and national identity in post-Soviet Latvia. Views the country’s responses to European assistance and political pressure in nature management, biodiversity conservation, and rural development.
Nature and National Identity after CommunismKatrina SchwartzExamines the intersection of environmental politics, globalization, and national identity in post-Soviet Latvia. Views the country’s responses to European assistance and political pressure in nature management, biodiversity conservation, and rural development.
New Capitalist OrderHilary AppelExamines why privatization was so popular immediately after the fall of communism, and why it has failed in its intended goals of improving the economies of postcommunist countries.
Organized Labor in Postcommunist StatesPaul KubicekExamination of why the power and role of workers’ unions have greatly diminished in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries since the fall of Communism. Generally surprising turn of events, since organized labor played a large role in regime change.
Origins of the Czech National RenascenceHugh LeCaine AgnewAgnew argues that the celebrated Czech national revival of the mid-nineteenth century had its intellectual origins in the Enlightenment, and through contact with the larger Slavic world, where ethnic and cultural heritage were defined.
Other AnimalsJane Costlow Other Animals examines the interaction of animals and humans in Russian literature, art, and life from the eighteenth century until the present. The chapters explore the unique nature of the Russian experience in a range of human-animal relationships through tales of cruelty, interspecies communion and compassion, and efforts to either overcome or establish the human-animal divide.
Other AnimalsJane Costlow Other Animals examines the interaction of animals and humans in Russian literature, art, and life from the eighteenth century until the present. The chapters explore the unique nature of the Russian experience in a range of human-animal relationships through tales of cruelty, interspecies communion and compassion, and efforts to either overcome or establish the human-animal divide.
Parables from the PastJoseph Mozur Jr.Mozur traces the development of Chingiz Aitmatov's fiction from the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, and discusses his work against the Soviet political and cultural background in which it was created.
Peasant Dreams and Market PoliticsJeffrey BurdsExamines how peasant migration—the movement of males to cities for wage labor—affected villages before the Bolshevik revolution. New Russian sources are utilized.
Perceptions and Behavior in Soviet Foreign PolicyRichard HerrmannThis book discerns Soviet leaders' views of the United States and sees them in relation to foreign policy statements and actions.
Philosophy and Politics of Czech Dissidence from Patocka to HavelAviezer TuckerAviezer Tucker examines how the political philosophy of Jan Patocka (1907–1977), founder of Charter 77, influenced the thinking and political leadership of Vaclav Havel as dissident and president.
Plekhanov in Russian History and Soviet HistoriographySamuel BaronKnown as the “father of Russian Marxism”, Plekhanov’s writings were relegated to oblivion during the Stalin era. Samuel H. Baron assembles a number of Plekhanov’s essays and views his place in the history of Russia’s revolutionary movement, and his theoretical differences with Lenin, Stalin and later Soviet ideologies.
Prague PanoramasCynthia PacesExamines the creation of symbols of Czech national identity in the public spaces of the city during the twentieth century. These “sites of memory” were attempts to form a cohesive sense of self for a country and a people torn by war, foreign occupation, and internal strife.
Prague PanoramasCynthia PacesExamines the creation of symbols of Czech national identity in the public spaces of the city during the twentieth century. These “sites of memory” were attempts to form a cohesive sense of self for a country and a people torn by war, foreign occupation, and internal strife.
Prince of FireRadmilla GorupWinner of the 1998 Misha Djordjevic Award for the best book on Serbian culture in English, this is the first English anthology of Serbian fiction in thirty years. The anthology represents works by established writers with international reputations and promising new writers spanning the generation born between 1930 and 1960.
Provincial LandscapesDonald RaleighThis collection of essays dedicated to recovering the local aspects of Soviet history is sure to force a major reevaluation of the nation’s first thirty-five years.
Red AtomPaul Josephson Reveals the history and death of the Soviet Union’s peaceful use of nuclear power through exploration of both the projects and the technocratic and political elite who were dedicated to increasing state power through technology. Paul Josephson illuminates the problems that can befall any society heavily invested in large-scale technology.
Rewriting CapitalismBeth HolmgrenHolmgren examines how capitalism in turn-of-the-century Russia and the Kingdom of Poland affected the elitist culture of literature, publishing, book markets, and readership.
Rise of Modern Yiddish CultureDavid FishmanActing as an important historical archive for the Jews of eastern Europe, The Rise of Modern Yiddish Culture examines the progress of Yiddish culture from its origins in Tsarist and inter-war Poland to its apex with the founding of the Yiddish Scientific Institute in 1925.
Rise of Modern Yiddish CultureDavid FishmanActing as an important historical archive for the Jews of eastern Europe, The Rise of Modern Yiddish Culture examines the progress of Yiddish culture from its origins in Tsarist and inter-war Poland to its apex with the founding of the Yiddish Scientific Institute in 1925.
Russia’s Factory ChildrenBoris GorshkovThe first English-language account of the changing role of children in the Russian workforce, from the onset of industrialization until the Communist Revolution of 1917, and an examination of the laws that would establish children's labor rights.
Russia’s Factory ChildrenBoris GorshkovThe first English-language account of the changing role of children in the Russian workforce, from the onset of industrialization until the Communist Revolution of 1917, and an examination of the laws that would establish children's labor rights.
Sexual Revolution in Bolshevik RussiaGregory CarletonA comprehensive literary and social history of sexual attitudes and mores in the Soviet Union during the 1920s, that reveals the complex and often contradictory impulses and ideas that permeated the culture.
Songs of the Serbian PeopleMilne HoltonIn the early nineteenth century Serb scholar Vuk Karadzic collected and published now classic transcriptions of Balkan oral poetry. This edition, by taking great care to preserve the unique meter and rhythm at the heart of Serbian oral poetry as well as the idiom of the original singers, offers the most complete and authoritative translations ever assembled in English.
Stalin’s RailroadMatthew PayneMatthew Payne details the building and impact of the Turkestano-Siberian Railroad, one of the major construction projects of Stalin’s first Five Year Plan.
Stalin’s SchoolLarry HolmesLarry Holmes brings a human dimension to the Soviet Union of the 1930s and a new understanding of Stalinism as a cultural and psychological phenomenon through interviews and archives from School No. 25, where the children of such prominant individuals as Stalin, Molotov, and Paul Robeson attended.
Stalinist ConfessionsIgal HalfinA study of the Great Purge in the setting of Leningrad Communist University, seen in the rhetoric of the accused and their accusors.
Stalinist ConfessionsIgal HalfinA study of the Great Purge in the setting of Leningrad Communist University, seen in the rhetoric of the accused and their accusors.
Thaw GenerationLudmilla AlexeyevaAn insider's look at the Soviet dissident movement—the intellectuals who, during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras, dared to challenge an oppressive system and demand the rights guaranteed by the Soviet constitution. Fired from their jobs, hunted by the KGB, “tried,” and imprisoned, Alexeyeva and other activists, through their dedication and sacrifices, focused international attention on thuman rights in the USSR.
Transnational Actors in Central and East European TransitionsMitchell OrensteinThe editors of this volume contend that transnational actors have exerted a powerful influence in postcommunist transitions. They demonstrate that transitions to democracy, capitalism, and nation-statehood, which scholars thought were likely to undermine one another, were facilitated by the integration of Central and East European states into an international system of complex interdependence. Transnational actors turn out to be the “dark matter” that held the various aspects of the transition together. Leading scholars debate the role and impact of transnational actors and present a promising new research program for the study of this rapidly transforming region.
Transnational Actors in Central and East European TransitionsMitchell OrensteinThe editors of this volume contend that transnational actors have exerted a powerful influence in postcommunist transitions. They demonstrate that transitions to democracy, capitalism, and nation-statehood, which scholars thought were likely to undermine one another, were facilitated by the integration of Central and East European states into an international system of complex interdependence. Transnational actors turn out to be the “dark matter” that held the various aspects of the transition together. Leading scholars debate the role and impact of transnational actors and present a promising new research program for the study of this rapidly transforming region.
Troubled WatersI. Michael AronsonAronson refutes the widely-held belief that the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1881 in Russia were supported by the Czar, or those within his inner circle. He instead looks to social, economic and political forces of the time, and recounts the fateful events of this year in great detail.
Truth of AuthorityThomas RemingtonThomas Remington views the methods used by the Communist Party in official communications to Soviet society during the 1970s and 1980s.
Under the InfluenceKate TranschelThis book examines a highly significant chapter in the history of the Russian state and society: how those in power in Russian understood the impact of drinking on the state policy and on Russia’s working classes between 1895 and 1932.
Unexpected OutcomesRobert MoserRobert Moser offers a sophisticated analysis of Russia’s complex electoral system, and its effects on political parties and representation in Russia during the 1990s.
Varieties of Marxist HumanismJames SatterwhiteSatterwhite analyzes the work of revisionist thinkers in four East European countries whose critique of the orthodox “official” Marxism laid the philosophical groundwork for the 1989-1990 upheavals in Eastern Europe and a reassessment of Marxist thought generally throughout the world.
Writing the Siege of LeningradCynthia SimmonsWriting the Siege of Leningrad tells of women’s experiences keeping the city alive and functioning during the 900 day Siege of Leningrad. Utilizing the words and descriptions of these women, Cynthia Simmons and Nina Perlina tell the story of a previously overlooked section of the population.
YugoslaviaDennison RusinowThis volume presents reports from Dennison Rusinow, a member of the American Universities Field Staff, on major political developments and life in Yugoslavia during the Cold War.
YugoslaviaDennison RusinowThis volume presents reports from Dennison Rusinow, a member of the American Universities Field Staff, on major political developments and life in Yugoslavia during the Cold War.

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