The first bilingual (English/Russian) sampling of authentic Soviet underground jokes--mostly political, but also ethnic, and at times erotic--published in the United States at the height of the Cold War. Illustrated.

Many years after making his way to America from Odessa in Soviet Ukraine, Emil Draitser made a startling discovery: every time he uttered the word "Jewish"-even in casual conversation-he lowered his voice. This behavior was a natural by-product, he realized, of growing up in the anti-Semitic, post-Holocaust Soviet Union, when "Shush " was the most frequent word he heard: "Don't use your Jewish name in public. Don't speak a word of Yiddish. And don't cry over your murdered relatives." This compelling memoir conveys the reader back to Draitser's childhood and provides a unique account of...

"Na kudykinu goru: Odesskii roman" is a novel in Russian about the hopes and pains of emigration. It is set in the late 1970s, at the time of mass emigration from the Soviet Union. A diverse set of characters--luckless simple folks, expelled dissidents, victims of ethnic discrimination, and black-marketers escaping state prosecution - bid farewell to their beloved city and head for the West via Vienna and Rome. Their attempts at en-route adjustment to the free world are often painful and amusing at the same time. The structure of the novel is highly inventive. Chapters are alternately written...