Political Humor Under Stalin: An Anthology of Unofficial Jokes and Anecdotes

David Brandenberger (ed.)
$27.95
978-0-89357-351-5
162
2010
Paperback

Political Humor Under Stalin is an anthology of jokes, wisecracks, and satire from the Soviet 1930's and '40s that provides a glimpse of everyday dissembling and dissent in one of the modern world's most repressive societies. More than merely a joke book, it offers no less than a folkloric counter narrative to the "official" history of the USSR, as well as a ground-breaking discussion of the culture of joke-telling under Stalin. "Political Humor Under Stalin is a resource that will interest historians and cultural critics, and ha the potential to become a class reading in a number of subjects. I enjoyed it immensely: it satisfied the scholar in me, plus it was just plain fun." - James von Geldern, Macalester College

Book Review

Review in Jahrbucher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Vol. 60, no. 2, 2012 (via Recensio.net, Review platform for European History)