History

The Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture (Cambridge Companions to Culture) by Nicholas Rzhevsky. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Hardcover, 404 pages.

"...these wide-ranging and stimulating essays synthesize modern scholarship, provide useful material for the specialist, and serve as a helpful reference work for the reader already familiar with modern Russian culture."
(Robert C. Williams, Slavic Review)

"[The book] will be utterly useful and enjoyable for students and individuals with advanced knowledge of Russia as well as for Slavic scholars."
(Victoria Richter, Slavic and East European Journal)

Political Economy of Socialist Realism by Prof. Evgeny Dobrenko (Author), Jesse M. Savage (Translator). Yale University Press; 1 edition, 2007. Hardcover, 408 pages.

"Unsurpassed in its grasp of Stalinism and Stalinist culture, Dobrenko''s new book makes the convincing theoretical move of turning the categories of Stalinist thought against Stalinist cultural production. Rigorous in interpretation and research, challenging and persuasive."
(William Mills Todd III, Harvard University)

"This book by an internationally celebrated scholar of Soviet culture offers a uniquely rich and convincing account of how Socialist Realism was the pre-determining force in Stalinist discourse, shaping biological sciences and `scientific Communism' as well as glossy magazines, official histories, narrative films, public exhibitions, and advertising. The eccentricities and paradoxes of a country where, as Dobrenko puts it, there was `a single need. The need to provide the spectacle of socialism,' are everywhere on view. This fascinating study will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in Russian culture from the 1930s onwards."
(Catriona Kelly, University of Oxford)

Art of the Baltics: The Struggle for Freedom of Artistic Expression under the Soviets, 1945-1991 (Dodge Soviet Nonconformist Art Publication Series) by Alla Rosenfeld (Editor). Rutgers University Press, 2001. Hardcover, 488 pages.

Art of the Baltics is the first major survey of the development of modernist art in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during the post-World War II Soviet period. The contributors discuss and reappraise the art of Baltic artists working in modernist styles. They argue that Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian art did not develop in similar ways. Estonia, for example, had closer contact with Scandinavian countries, while Lithuania clearly was part of central Europe and was more influenced by Poland. This book contains nearly three hundred illustrations-many in color-that serve to compare the art of the three Baltic countries. It also has three useful historical timelines that contextualize the art presented. In addition to historical overviews of each country, Art of the Baltics contains essays on the art of the region, written by both Baltic and American scholars. The articles extensively cover art of the 1960s through the 1980s, reflecting the Zimmerli Art Museum's holdings of the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union. To round out the scope of this work, contributors also discuss the pre-Soviet art of the region, as well as the recent creative developments resulting from the independence these small countries gained in 1991. Art of the Baltics is published in conjunction with the exhibition The Art of the Baltics under the Soviets at The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. (from the back cover)

Soviet Culture and Power: A History in Documents, 1917-1953 (Annals of Communism Series). By Mr. Andrei Artizov (Compiler), Oleg V. Naumov (Compiler), Katerina Clark (Editor), Prof. Evgeny Dobrenko (Editor), Ms Marian Schwartz (Translator). Yale University Press, 2007. Hardcover, 576 pages.

"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)

"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 eye-a backhanded compliment if ever there was one to the awesome power of the written word."
(Michael Scammell, author of Solzhenitsyn: A Biography)