Let's Twist Again: Youth and Leisure in Socialist Bulgaria

ISBN-13: 9783825895051 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 256 str.

Karin Taylor

Opis

This book explores the lives of young Bulgarians in the Cold War era when the Communist Party saw dance hits like "The Twist" as a menace to youth and society. It investigates the Party's efforts to shape youth into "socialist personalities" and to create a socialist mass culture in the face of "Westernization." On the basis of biographical interviews, the author takes a critical look at the popular view of youth enthusiasm for Western rock and lifestyles as resistance. Young Bulgarians scarcely challenged the socialist order. But at the same time, the Party failed to impose its notion of conformity on the self-proclaimed "Beatles generation." Karin Taylor is a researcher in history and cultural studies with a background in journalism and advertising. Her recent research focuses on Southeast Europe.