HISTORY OF RUSSIA AND THE SOVIET UNION in Humorous Verse

ISBN-13: 9780990693932 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 114 str.

Sabrina P. Ramet; Christine M. Hassenstab

Opis

"Marx wrote that History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. He failed to note that, with the right person, it can come around a third time....as doggerel. Sabrina Petra Ramets very mortal verses should be read aloud, even shouted, for they successfully deflate the somber pontificating and aca- demic harrumphing that often dominates Russian historical studies. Besides, theyre riotously funny." -S. Frederick Starr, author of Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in the Soviet Union, 1917-1980 "Scholars will explode with laughter over the stunts of Lenin, Stalin, Peter the Great, and the other leaders-made-buffoons by Sabrina Ramets off-kilter and hilarious interpretations of history. No prominent Russian leader is left un-pilloried, no Soviet ideologue left in quiet repose. And no reader is left with funny-bone unshattered by uncontrollable laugher over historys vagaries." -Jerry G. Pankhurst, co-editor of Understanding Soviet Society"Sabrina Ramets collection reads as though Mother Goose, Lewis Carroll and the Cat in the Hat translated a course on Soviet history taught by Mel Brooks into light verse. Each piece relieves the usual solemnity of the subject with a welcome touch of the absurd." -Thomas F. Remington, author of Presidential Decrees in Russia: A Comparative Perspective"It is a real pleasure to read this iconoclastic book of verse that parodies the Russian ruling class from the Czars to Putin." -Robert O. Freedman, author of Moscow and the Middle East