Why read Cigarettes and Soviets?

Book cover of Cigarettes and Soviets: Smoking in the USSR

Book description

Winner of the Southern Conference on Slavic Studies Book Award

Enriched by color reproductions of tobacco advertisements, packs, and anti-smoking propaganda, Cigarettes and Soviets provides a comprehensive study of the Soviet tobacco habit. Tricia Starks examines how the Soviets maintained the first mass smoking society in the world while…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Cigarettes and Soviets as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Brandon M. Schechter

Author

Starks presents us with a marvelous story of the tortured relationship between Soviet society and smoking. On the one hand, Soviet leadership was generally opposed to smoking – both for health and cultural reasons. On the other hand, smoking became associated with both masculinity and the Revolution. Like many a smoker, Soviet society just couldn’t quit, even as the effects of smoking became more and more apparent.

What I love about this book is how Starks takes something omnipresent and disposable – the cigarette – and tells the story of the Soviet Century through it, touching on such a breadth…

From Brandon's list on The best books about Soviet stuff.