Jeffrey Brooks

Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War

Thank You, Comrade Stalin!

Thank you, our Stalin, for a happy childhood." "Thank you, dear Marshal [Stalin], for our freedom, for our children's happiness, for life." Between the Russian Revolution and the Cold War, Soviet public culture was so dominated by the power of the state that slogans like these appeared routinely in newspapers, on posters, and in government proclamations. In this penetrating historical study, Jeffrey Brooks draws on years of research into the most influential and widely circulated Russian newspapers--including Pravda, Isvestiia, and the army paper Red Star--to explain the origins, the nature, and the effects of this unrelenting idealization of the state, the Communist Party, and the leader. Brooks shows how, beginning with Lenin, the Communists established a state monopoly of the media that absorbed literature, art, and science into a stylized and ritualistic public culture--a form of political performance that became its own reality and excluded other forms of public reflection. He presents and explains scores of self-congratulatory newspaper articles, including tales of Stalin's supposed achievements and virtue, accounts of the country's allegedly dynamic economy, and warnings about the decadence and cruelty of the capitalist West. Brooks pays particular attention to the role of the press in the reconstruction of the Soviet cultural system to meet the Nazi threat during World War II and in the transformation of national identity from its early revolutionary internationalism to the ideology of the Cold War. He concludes that the country's one-sided public discourse and the pervasive idea that citizens owed the leader gratitude for the "gifts" of goods and services led ultimately to the inability of late Soviet Communism to diagnose its own ills, prepare alternative policies, and adjust to new realities. The first historical work to explore the close relationship between language and the implementation of the Stalinist-Leninist program, Thank You, Comrade Stalin! is a compelling account of Soviet public culture as reflected through the country's press.

Ira Bogotch

Floyd Beachum

Jackie Blount

Fenwick English

"What you will find inside this provocative text: It should come as no surprise, as the collection of papers in this book show that we are up against it. Killing those we despise has become normative in the political minds of both the powerful and the marginalised. Framing those who are weakest as the architects of their own disgusting state ... it has become commonsense in all societies, rich and poor.... Any counter-hegemonic project that seeks to rethink social justice and reframe educational leadership is, without question, confronting the enormous power of ordinariness, the commonsense about power, inequality and violence." Jonathan Jansen

Dimensions of Social Justice

Radicalizing Educational Leadership

Widely used in the construction of bridges, dams and pavements, concrete and masonry are two of the world’s most utilized construction materials. However, many engineers lack a proper understanding of the methods for predicting and mitigating their movements within a structure. Concrete and Masonry Movements provides practical methods for predicting and preventing movement in concrete and masonry, saving time and money in retrofitting and repair cost. With this book in hand, engineers will discover new prediction models for masonry such as: irreversible moisture expansion of clay bricks, elasticity, creep and shrinkage. In addition, the book provides up-to-date information on the codes of practice. Provides mathematical modelling tools for predicting movement in masonry Up-to-date knowledge of codes of practice methods Clearly explains the factors influencing all types of concrete and masonry movement Fully worked out examples and set problems are included at the end of each chapter

Concrete and Masonry Movements

John Brooks

Drawing from research into the most influential Russian newspapers, this book explores the nature, origins, and effects of the idealization of the state, Communist Party, and leader in the Soviet Union between the Revolution and the Cold War.

A century of Russian artistic genius, including literature, art, music and dance, within the dynamic cultural ecosystem that shaped it.

Jeffrey Brooks

Books

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