The 1960s have reemerged in scholarly and popular culture as a protean moment of cultural revolution and social transformation. In this volume socialist societies in the Second World (the Soviet Union, East European countries, and Cuba) are the springboard for exploring global interconnections and cultural cross-pollination between communist and capitalist countries and within the communist world. Themes explored include flows of people and media; the emergence of a flourishing youth culture; sharing of songs, films, and personal experiences through tourism and international festivals; and the rise of a socialist consumer culture and an esthetics of modernity. Challenging traditional categories of analysis and periodization, this book brings the sixties problematic to Soviet studies while introducing the socialist experience into scholarly conversations traditionally dominated by First World perspectives.

Anne E. Gorsuch's profile page

Diane P. Koenker's profile page

Anne E. Gorsuch is Professor of History at the University of British Columbia and author of Youth in Revolutionary Russia: Enthusiasts, Bohemians, Delinquents (IUP, 2000) and All This Is Your World: Soviet Tourism at Home and Abroad after Stalin.

Diane P. Koenker is Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and author of Republic of Labor: Russian Printers and Soviet Socialism, 1918-1930 and coeditor (with Anne E. Gorsuch) of Turizm: The Russian and East European Tourist under Capitalism and Socialism.

These essays greatly expand our comprehension of the socialist sixties in global perspective and serve as a springboard for further inquiry. The editors and contributors deserve much praise for helping revise our understanding of the socialist world in the decade and a half after Stalin's death, while also placing the socialist experience within a worldwide context.

The Russian Review

The Socialist Sixties is highly recommended for students and scholars interested in the vibrancy of post-WWII socialist societies, a broader understanding of 1960s cultural change, and a transnational, cross-disciplinary historical approach in action.

Anthropology of East Europe Review

[I]n presenting thoughtful and imaginative work by both established and emerging scholars, this volume demonstrates the value of transnational and global history for opening up new questions and perspectives.

Slavic Review

[T]his is a very engaging collection of essays that adds much to an evolving literature on the social history of the Soviet Union and broader socialist societies. . . . Recommended.

Choice