Soviet Americana: The Cultural History of Russian and Ukrainian Americanists

ISBN-13: 9781784539108 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 352 str.

Sergei Zhuk

Opis

In 1991, there were more than 1,000 "Americanists" - experts in U.S. history and politics - working in the Soviet Union. The Americanist community played a vital role in the Cold War, as well as in large part directing the cultural consumption of Soviet society and shaping perceptions of the U.S. To shed light onto this important, yet under-studied, academic community, Sergei Zhuk explores the personal histories of prominent Soviet Americanists, considering the myriad cultural influences - from John Wayne's bravado in the film Stagecoach to Miles Davis - that shaped their identities, careers, and academic interests.

Zhuk's compelling account draws on a wide range of understudied archival documents, periodicals, letters, and diaries as well as more than 100 exclusive interviews with prominent Americanists to take the reader from the post-war origins of American studies, via the extremes of the Cold War, thaw and perestroika, to Putin's Russia.

Soviet Americana is a comprehensive insight into shifting attitudes towards the U.S. throughout the 20th Century and an essential resource for all Soviet and Cold War historians.

Spis treści

IntroductionChapter 1: World War II and Inventing America on the Borders of Socialist Imagination: the Origins of American Studies in the USSRChapter 2: Discovering America by Studying Russian-US RelationsChapter 3: Academic Exchanges and Soviet Americanists during the Cold WarChapter 4: Soviet Americanists and the Impact of American Cinema and Television on the Soviet UnionChapter 5: Playing American Indians and Soviet IndianistikaChapter 6: Carving Academic and National Identity of Ukrainian AmericanistsEpilogue: Perestroika and the Crisis of Soviet Amerikanistika

O autorze

Sergei Zhuk is a Professor of Russian and Eastern European history at Ball State University, USA.