Russian Popular Culture

"In his richly detailed survey of Russian popular culture since 1900, Richard Stites uses largely ignored sources--detective stories, science fiction, rock-n-roll lyrics, jokes and circus and vaudeville routines--to reveal a side of Russian life largely unknown in the West. And yet, this is not a trivial book...Its great virtue, however, is to illuminate an important and largely unknown dimension of Russia's social history. Serious, but by no means solemn, Stites's book is accessible to anyone interested in learning more about a country and a people that have obsessed and confused us for almost a century." Washington Post Book World

• List of illustrations; Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. In old Russia 1900–1917; 2. Revolutionary reassortment 1917–1927; 3. Stalin by starlight 1928–1941; 4. Holy War and Cold War 1941–1953; 5. Springtime for Khrushchev 1953–1964; 6. The Brezhnev culture wars 1964–1984; 7. Perestroika and the people's taste 1985; Greetings and farewell; Glossary; Bibliography; Discography; Filmography; Videography; Index.