Lisa A. Kirschenbaum – författare

The siege of Leningrad constituted one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II, one that individuals and the state began to commemorate almost immediately. Official representations of 'heroic Leningrad' omitted and distorted a great deal. Nonetheless, survivors struggling to cope with painful memories often internalized, even if they did not completely accept, the state's myths, and they often found their own uses for the state's monuments. Tracing the overlap and interplay of individual memories and fifty years of Soviet mythmaking, this book contributes to understandings of both the power of Soviet identities and the delegitimizing potential of the Soviet Union's chief legitimizing myths. Because besieged Leningrad blurred the boundaries between the largely male battlefront and the predominantly female home front, it offers a unique vantage point for a study of the gendered dimensions of the war experience, urban space, individual memory, and public commemoration.

Small Comrades is a fascinating examination of Soviet conceptions of childhood and the resulting policies directed toward children. Working on the assumption that cultural representations and self-representations are not entirely separable, this book probes how the Soviet regime's representations structured teachers' observations of their pupils and often adults' recollections of their childhood. The book draws on work that has been done on Soviet schooling, and focuses specifically on the development of curricula and institutions, but it also examines the wider context of the relationship between the family and the state, and to the Bolshevik vision of the "children of October"

Small Comrades is a fascinating examination of Soviet conceptions of childhood and the resulting policies directed toward children. Working on the assumption that cultural representations and self-representations are not entirely separable, this book probes how the Soviet regime's representations structured teachers' observations of their pupils and often adults' recollections of their childhood. The book draws on work that has been done on Soviet schooling, and focuses specifically on the development of curricula and institutions, but it also examines the wider context of the relationship between the family and the state, and to the Bolshevik vision of the "children of October"

The Routledge History of Communism offers a panoramic view of how our ways of studying Communism have changed radically since the 1990s, recognizing the more recent changes in our ways of studying it and asking new kinds of questions.Communist ideas inspired revolutions, shaped governments and guided the lives of millions of people all around the world throughout the twentieth century. Global in scope and covering a long time period, ranging from Communism’s intellectual beginnings to its contemporary legacies, the volume features the work of a diverse group of contributors trained in a wide variety of national contexts as well as in the use of transnational and comparative approaches.Within this broad canvas, The Routledge History of Communism focuses on how politics interacted with individual experience. The book examines how politics played out inside the factory, the village, the family, or the school. It highlights the different ways Communism shaped the lives of ordinary people all over the world and the ways in which ordinary people shaped Communist movements and states. The authors’ focus on everyday communism allows them to highlight the centrality of race, gender, sexuality, and other identities to understandings of Communism’s appeal, its successes, and its failures.The book will be of interest to students of Global History, Modern History, and Cultural Studies, as well as undergraduate instructors seeking a modern analysis of Communism.

Covering the sweep of Russian history from empire to Soviet Union to post-Soviet state, this new edition of Russia's Long Twentieth Century is an accessible textbook that encourages students to start a lively conversation with Russia’s storied past.Chronologically organized, the book moves beyond the traditional Cold War framework, situating Russian history within world history. It covers topics including state power, political ideology, economic change, and foreign policy, highlighting the perspectives of “ordinary” people and exploring the impacts of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and generation on historical experience. Taking an inquiry-based approach, the authors show how scholars diverge sharply in their understanding of key events, historical processes, and personalities. Each chapter contains a selection of primary sources and discussion questions, engaging with the voices and experiences of diverse Soviet citizens and familiarizing students with the techniques of source criticism. The second edition features expanded coverage of the non-Russian regions of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union, adding new sections on Ukraine in particular. To help students navigate the book, the new edition also includes a timeline of key events and people, and a glossary.With a variety of learning tools, maps, and images, this volume is an essential introduction to twentieth-century Russian history.

Covering the sweep of Russian history from empire to Soviet Union to post-Soviet state, this new edition of Russia's Long Twentieth Century is an accessible textbook that encourages students to start a lively conversation with Russia’s storied past.Chronologically organized, the book moves beyond the traditional Cold War framework, situating Russian history within world history. It covers topics including state power, political ideology, economic change, and foreign policy, highlighting the perspectives of “ordinary” people and exploring the impacts of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and generation on historical experience. Taking an inquiry-based approach, the authors show how scholars diverge sharply in their understanding of key events, historical processes, and personalities. Each chapter contains a selection of primary sources and discussion questions, engaging with the voices and experiences of diverse Soviet citizens and familiarizing students with the techniques of source criticism. The second edition features expanded coverage of the non-Russian regions of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union, adding new sections on Ukraine in particular. To help students navigate the book, the new edition also includes a timeline of key events and people, and a glossary.With a variety of learning tools, maps, and images, this volume is an essential introduction to twentieth-century Russian history.

International Communism and the Spanish Civil War provides an intimate picture of international communism in the Stalin era. Exploring the transnational exchanges that occurred in Soviet-structured spaces - from clandestine schools for training international revolutionaries in Moscow to the International Brigades in Spain - the book uncovers complex webs of interaction, at once personal and political, that linked international communists to one another and the Soviet Union. The Spanish Civil War, which coincided with the great purges in the Soviet Union, stands at the center of this grassroots history. For many international communists, the war came to define both their life histories and political commitments. In telling their individual stories, the book calls attention to a central paradox of Stalinism - the simultaneous celebration and suspicion of transnational interactions - and illuminates the appeal of a cause that promised solidarity even as it practiced terror.

International Communism and the Spanish Civil War provides an intimate picture of international communism in the Stalin era. Exploring the transnational exchanges that occurred in Soviet-structured spaces - from clandestine schools for training international revolutionaries in Moscow to the International Brigades in Spain - the book uncovers complex webs of interaction, at once personal and political, that linked international communists to one another and the Soviet Union. The Spanish Civil War, which coincided with the great purges in the Soviet Union, stands at the center of this grassroots history. For many international communists, the war came to define both their life histories and political commitments. In telling their individual stories, the book calls attention to a central paradox of Stalinism - the simultaneous celebration and suspicion of transnational interactions - and illuminates the appeal of a cause that promised solidarity even as it practiced terror.

In 1935, two Soviet satirists, Ilia Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, undertook a 10,000 mile American road trip from New York to Hollywood and back accompanied only by their guide and chauffeur, a gregarious Russian Jewish immigrant and his American-born, Russian-speaking wife. They immortalized their journey in a popular travelogue that condemned American inequality and racism even as it marvelled at American modernity and efficiency. Lisa Kirschenbaum reconstructs the epic journey of the two Soviet funnymen and their encounters with a vast cast of characters, ranging from famous authors, artists, poets and filmmakers to unemployed hitchhikers and revolutionaries. Using the authors' notes, US and Russian archives, and even FBI files, she reveals the role of ordinary individuals in shaping foreign relations as Ilf, Petrov and the immigrants, communists, and fellow travelers who served as their hosts, guides, and translators became creative actors in cultural exchange between the two countries.

Covering the sweep of Russian history from empire to Soviet Union to post-Soviet state, Russia's Long Twentieth Century is a comprehensive yet accessible textbook that situates modern Russia in the context of world history and encourages students to analyse the ways in which citizens learnt to live within its system and create distinctly Soviet identities from its structures and ideologies.Chronologically organised but moving beyond the traditional Cold War framework, this book covers topics such as the accelerating social, economic and political shifts in the Russian empire before the Revolution of 1905, the construction of the socialist order under Bolshevik government, and the development of a new state structure, political ideology and foreign policy in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors highlight the polemics and disagreements that energize the field, discussing interpretations from Russian, émigré, and Western historiographies and showing how scholars diverge sharply in their understanding of key events, historical processes, and personalities.Each chapter contains a selection of primary sources and discussion questions, engaging with the voices and experiences of ordinary Soviet citizens and familiarizing students with the techniques of source criticism. Illustrated with images and maps throughout, this book is an essential introduction to twentieth-century Russian history.