Why read Soviet Adventures in the Land of the Capitalists?

Book cover of Soviet Adventures in the Land of the Capitalists: Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip

Book description

In 1935, two Soviet satirists, Ilia Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, undertook a 10,000 mile American road trip from New York to Hollywood and back accompanied only by their guide and chauffeur, a gregarious Russian Jewish immigrant and his American-born, Russian-speaking wife. They immortalized their journey in a popular travelogue that…

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European history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Soviet Adventures in the Land of the Capitalists as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Choi Chatterjee

Author

Ilf and Petrov were Soviet-era funny men, comedians, and satirists who dared to tell a few truths about the horrors of Stalinism in the Soviet Union. They also wrote a delightful travel book (One Storied America) about the United States in the 1930s.

Lisa Kirschenbaum takes us behind Ilf and Petrov’s 10,000-mile American road trip. Kirschenbaum introduces us to the many people that Ilf and Petrov met in Depression-era America: immigrant workers, famous filmmakers, poets, and revolutionaries, and analyzes their experiences in the country of their dreams.

Kirschenbaum’s insightful observations about the Soviet Union and the United States…

From Choi's list on The best books to understand Russia's role in world history.