The Soviet Century
Archaeology of a Lost World
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The Soviet Century
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Narrated by:
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Ciaran Saward
About this listen
An encyclopedic and richly detailed history of everyday life in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union is gone, but its ghostly traces remain, not least in the material vestiges left behind in its turbulent wake. What was it really like to live in the USSR? What did it look, feel, smell, and sound like? In The Soviet Century, Karl Schlögel, one of the world's leading historians of the Soviet Union, presents a spellbinding epic that brings to life the everyday world of a unique lost civilization.
A museum of—and travel guide to—the Soviet past, The Soviet Century explores in evocative detail both the largest and smallest aspects of life in the USSR, from the Gulag, the planned economy, the railway system, and the steel city of Magnitogorsk to cookbooks, military medals, prison camp tattoos, and the ubiquitous perfume Red Moscow. The book examines iconic aspects of Soviet life, including long queues outside shops, cramped communal apartments, parades, and the Lenin mausoleum, as well as less famous but important parts of the USSR, including the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the voice of Radio Moscow, graffiti, and even the typical toilet, which became a pervasive social and cultural topic. Throughout, the book shows how Soviet life simultaneously combined utopian fantasies, humdrum routine, and a pervasive terror symbolized by the Lubyanka, then as now the headquarters of the secret police.
Drawing on Schlögel's decades of travel in the Soviet and post-Soviet world, The Soviet Century is vivid, immediate, and grounded in firsthand encounters with the places and objects it describes. The result is an unforgettable account of the Soviet Century.
©2023 Karl Schlögel (P)2023 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Soviet Century
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- exile71
- 23-03-24
Excellent
Extremely well researched - at over 30 hours though one to dip in and out of. Perfectly narrated. I will go back to certain sections in the future.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ms. C. Beak
- 31-03-24
Incredible History brought to life
I thoroughly enjoyed this social history of Soviet Russia.
Very well translated and read. So much detail included, but particularly found the chapter about toilets enlightening!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Well That Aged Well
- 25-01-24
A great book on Soviet History
This book is seriously one of the best I read on Soviet history. It covers everything from Bazars to the soviet Toilet. Yes even the Soviet Toilet makes an apperance. The narrator is excelent and comforting to listen to. This is such a intruiging book because it covers topics you normally wouldn’t find in a regular book about Soviet history. Brilliantly written and narrated I enjoyed every single minute. It is most definatley worth 29 hours of your life. 10/10
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Paul Hennigan
- 12-12-23
Just incredible
You can't understand today's Russia or the Soviet Union until you have read this astonishing book. It is just incredible. What a find. It always helps when the the narration was masterful as was the case here.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Jazzlord
- 18-06-23
An excellent book, nicely narrated
This is a great book providing sensitive insights into everyday life and culture in the old Soviet Union and consists of a collection of essay-like chapters. The narration is excellent, being fully engaged with the text and read with the appropriate levels of feeling reflects good prior preparation by the narrator (often absent in many audiobooks). While such a massive subject can largely only be dealt in a broad brush manner within a single volume, my only criticism is that when examined by the author, much of the fine detail of everyday life is reserved for those who made up the cultural, political and intellectual strata of the Soviet Union. The fine grain of the everyday life of the proleariat and peasantry - the classes the USSR was supposedly established in the interests of - is largely absent. Despite this omission, this is a very enjoyable, informative and entertaining listen. Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Micheál Scott
- 19-09-23
What a find
This book, from start to finish, is a masterpiece. From the significant to the mundane, the author takes us on a journey through Soviet daily life. The level of detail is incredible yet not too overwhelming & everything is conveyed beautifully by the narrator who brings this book together. An excellent listen, gets a ten from Len.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 22-04-24
depth, breadth and clarity
a social history rollercoaster ride through a world beyond imagine to the modern western mind
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- Stuart Taylor
- 15-05-24
Absolutely brilliant!!
This is one of the most impressively researched and utterly fascinating books I have ever read. Rather than attempt yet another political history of the USSR, it instead paints a vivid portrait of the experience of living in the soviet world by way of all manner of examples of projects (large and small), daily irritations, essential processes of living, food, work, accomodation and countless more. No book can leave you with a more vivid picture of soviet life than this. What a wonderful piece of scholarship by Karl Schlögel! Superbly read by Ciaran Saward - who I am sure must have a working knowledge of Russian given his pronounciations.
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