Soviet Culture and Power

"Clark and Dobrenko not only provide a careful and creatively organized selection of documents but also, in their commentary, a concise and incisive analysis of Soviet cultural history."Carol Avins, Rutgers University -- Carol Avins "To have these documents in one place, and accessible for students in English with detailed explanations and commentary, is nothing less than a small miracle. Beg, buy or borrow this wonderful book if you care about Russian culture."Jeffrey Brooks, author of Thank You, Comrade Stalin! Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War -- Jeffrey Brooks "This is a history of Soviet culture under Lenin and Stalin told in documents. The story unfolds in letters, public appeals, bureaucratic decisions, official orders, marginal jottings, police reports and memoranda, comments of censors, petitions, transcripts of meetings, and more. To have these documents in one place, and accessible for students in English with detailed explanations and commentary, is nothing less than a small miracle. Beg, buy or borrow this wonderful book if you care about Russian culture."Jeffrey Brooks, author of Thank You, Comrade Stalin! Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War -- Jeffrey Brooks "Joseph Stalin famously described Soviet writers as 'engineers of human souls.' This remarkable collection of documents, laden with comedy and sheer stupidity as well as calculated repression, chronicles the Bolshevik government's effort to control all cultural institutions and creative individuals. This is a story of compelling interest not only for Sovietologists but for anyone who wants to know what happens when a government treats culture as a long-term engineering project."Susan Jacoby, author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism -- Susan Jacoby "Throws a bright light on the party's torturous dealings with writers and on the inevitable conflict between art and propaganda. Perhaps the book's biggest surprise is its revelation of Stalin as literary critic. Despite his onerous responsibilities as party chief, dictator and head of state, no detail seems to have been too small for Stalin's eagle eyea backhanded compliment if ever there was one to the awesome power of the written word."Michael Scammell, author of Solzhenitsyn: A Biography -- Michael Scammell "Soviet Culture and Power is a groundbreaking work that provides access to significant archival materials for a population that might never have been able to read and analyze these documents."Cynthia A. Ruder, Slavic and East European Journal -- Cynthia A. Ruder * Slavic and East European Journal *

Katerina Clark is professor of comparative literature and of Slavic languages and literatures, Yale University. She lives in Hamden, CT. Evgeny Dobrenko is professor in the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, University of Nottingham. He lives in England.