The Eastern Bloc: A History discussion

Thank you Arthur. Those look like interesting books.

Hello again,
I'm glad to see some life out there. I'm an avid reader with a strong interest in Slavic and Eastern European literature and culture.
From 1991-2013, I lived in Moscow teaching English, leading an American literature study group and traveling in northern and eastern Europe. I'm now settled in Montgomery, Alabama and trying hard to get through my backlog of reading before my time runs out (I'm 77).
I listened to a very interesting book by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" recently, as well as Witold Szablowski's insightful "Dancing Bears". I can recommend both, the former with quirky characters and mysterious deaths. and the latter, a meditation on the psychology of captivity and freedom.
I also have a copy of Applebaum's "Iron Curtain" and hope to get to it soon.

Erin, your bio sounds fascinating. Care to share some of your experiences of teaching English in Russia during the wild 90s?

Hi Andrew,
There's so much to say about my time in Russia. I'll probably write a whole book on it someday, if I get the chance.

Two strong observations I'll share now.
1. I moved to San Francisco from Washington State to complete my college in the mid-1960s. I was attending San Francisco State College night classes when it emploded. During the daytime, I taught elementary-age daycare in a public school in the Fillmore near Haight St. I was able, therefore, to witness first-hand the exhilaration and dynamic of the Summer of Love and the Hippie Period (though I was older by a few years than most of the participants and working fulltime).
I also saw how the communal enthusiasm, free love and drugs turned sour and destructive within a few years.
I moved to the USSR in April 1991, the waning days of the great Soviet experiment. Under Glasnost, things had been loosening up and foreigners like myself were able to enter as missionaries without strict surveillance. On New Year's Day 1992, Gorbachev and Communism were out and a new era began. The mood in the country for the next 3 years was of opening up, casting off the old and realizing greater horizons. The country was full of youthful energy and optimism (though old-timers were dismayed, confused and even depressed).
The early Yeltsin period saw lots of price flucuations, political chaos, and experimentation. The well-placed, nimble and adventurous seized on the array of opportunities before them, and assorted adventurous Westerners flooded in.
The atmosphere on the streets was much like that of the Summer of Love in S.F.-- hopes were high as the stagnant Soviet skin could be sloughed off at last. A feeling of freedom and possibilities reigned; it was heady and exciting. Of course, in time, big mistakes were made and things began to bog down under the weight of Russian bureaucracy, mafia ruthlessness and rising prices. And once Putin was installed in the Kremlin, the "new normal" began to resemble much of old Soviet life, and both democracy and capitalism as practiced in Russia were corrupted and given a very bad name.

2. In San Francisco (1966-74), I taught in a 90% Black school, wrote Black Studies papers for my boyfriend and got to know Black American culture quite well. I also started reading Russian literature and history, including about serfdom. When I moved to Russia, before long, I began noticing so many parallels between the two worlds, speaking in general. I'll briefly list them:
a. Both cultures have produced world-class music and dance.
b. Both cultures have excelled in sports.
c. Both cultures have developed a deep spirituality.
d. Both cultures were originally patriarchial, but today have a strong matriarchial core.
e. Both cultures have inherited a sense of inferiority, causing them to be defensive and over-react with false pride.
f. Both cultures have outsized problems with addiction, risk-taking and violence.
g. Both cultures have a warm sense of hospitality, sometimes hidden inside a protective shell.
h. Both cultures have endured brutal historical hardships and developed survival techniques.
i. Much of their greatness and creative potential, I believe, is yet to be unleashed unto the world.

I hope you found this interesting and something to think about.
Erin

Erin, this is the best thing I've read all week. Thank you for your insights.

Thank you very much, Erin. Please write that book!

Здравствуйте!

I’m a historian based in California hoping to get to know some other people in my field. Primarily my focus has been on the role of ideology and state power in the context of Soviet-Vietnam relations. My other regional interests include Yugoslavia, Romania, and Albania.

I am hoping to learn more about East Germany, particularly any studies that focus on the country itself rather than solely viewing it as a battleground for the Cold War superpowers. Even if the DDR truly was little more than a puppet state, I want to better understand how people lived, worked, and thought in that system.

Looking forward to reading through everyone’s recommendations!

Court wrote: "Здравствуйте!

I’m a historian based in California hoping to get to know some other people in my field. Primarily my focus has been on the role of ideology and state power in the context of Soviet-..."

Hello!

That is what I am interested in as well, how people lived and felt, etc. I've got a list in the feed that you may like.

I am always looking for more books on Eastern Bloc life but have found very few. Therefore, I have been reading about North Korean and Cuban life.

Please let us know if you have found any other books about DDR life. I would love to read them.

Regards,
Julie

I'm Mike. The wife and I have retired early from the city and now live in a lush, green, rainy, valley of Wales. We never did enjoy the city too much and the arrival of Covid gave us time to assess our situation. We read and have done for years and years and, prior to Coved, over wine and nibbles we'd discuss our choices with a group of friends.
Now, without that indulgence we decided - on advice from a good friend - to join an online bookclub. Our best wishes to all.

Hello, I’m John. From a career in design engineering, once the mortgage was paid, I took early retirement and with a large garden/orchard have become almost self sufficient: my responsibilities at present rest with a small group of not-so-able hedgehogs. The neighbours became aware that I was caring for a hog with one-eye and a hospice seemed to blossom from there. Returning to university, I read history and that led me to such works as: The Great Game - The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, On Secret Service East of Constantinople - The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire, and the like; all of which gripped me and I class as exceptional thriller/suspense/mysteries. My grandmother on my mother’s side was White Russian and as a youngster she left Russia in 1921 under the care of her father and mother - her father was killed in Ukraine - and she made the crossing from France to Blighty with her mother in November of 1923: from their accounts the journey across Europe was most harrowing. My mother has the family book and the the dairies of both her grandparents - I have often thought of creating a manuscript from those, but feel unqualified and not able to do justice to their story. There is no mention in my great-grandparent’s memoirs of escape lines and safe houses, but my grandmother, during her later years with what she excused as her failing memory, often spoke of ‘the kindest of people’ and how they are the only reason she survived. I spend time researching escape-lines, underground networks and life-in-the shadows. I won’t claim a need to find evidence of who might have helped my grandmother, as I am content with a desire to more fully understand the ways and means by which many sought to resist oppression even in the face of the great risk to them and their family. I yearn for well-researched, real-life thrillers focused on 20th Century Europe.

I am Bethany (I answer to Beth) and I’m a farmer’s girl. The family have a farm here in Ireland and I just adore the life. I have a great family, Mum and Dad and three bothers: none of whom read.

I’m not happy with noisy places, so avoid the pubs and clubs: I fell off a horse when I was young and banged my tiny brain quite hard (weeks in the hospital, as I couldn’t remember too much after it) although the doctors don’t believe or know if that has anything to do with it - I just get wrinkly in crowded, noisy places.

My brothers are all married and their wives are great; me, …. I’m in my early twenties and intend to avoid that BIG STEP for a good few years yet.

My reading has gone all over the place since school; of late - and why I joined Goodreads - I have the urge for exciting recent history accounts and true to life stories: it started by reading, ‘Out of Africa’. A few books later I came upon, ’Touching the Void’, which took my breath away. My eldest brother is a climber (not so much now, as he has a daughter), but that was better than any thriller I had read. I really enjoy reading about girls that have done good and although I’m sure I’ll never stray too far from the farm, I do dream of what some women have achieved. Stories of SOE girls and the like are becoming my favourite right now.

I hope to pick up tips from y’all, who’ve probably been at it far longer than me.

Hi, my name is Mary,
I’m studying history at present and have the most remarkable opportunity of living with a retired history teacher: an awfully kind lady: my good friend’s mother. This week I sat my first-year exams and according to my mentor, I smashed it, "Yippe-Dippee-Doo-Daa."
I struggled at school and family, when I lived at home, laughed at me for trying to improve myself through books. Until I joined Goodreads, I would read high-street novels, but now - outside of my studies - I’m reading European political intrigue: to me these works are more thrilling than the novels I once read.
I did, before leaving Manchester, talk to a man, in his late years, on the bus to work: he told me, a good book will always teach you something.
I don't do social media, I did, but suffered too much abuse. I get upset easily. I am tiny and I was very timid.
I now live in the south-east corner of Britain. I work in a garden centre and love it.
I will try and read all the posts; I can't promise I'll add to them.
Please be kind to me.

Hello Group,
James Patrick, I'm known by all as 'Jimp' - my elder brothers started that (short for JimmyP) and so it was carried over to school and then my adult life. My wife-to-be, when we first met, thought it most funny. Jimp, I find from her, [a Norwegian], in the English dictionary means: scant, slender and I am slender [long-distance runner slender]. A sport I love and love much more as it helped break the ice when I met Tordis (Tor): an angel. Tor she told me means Thor. I'm most fascinated by thriller/suspense - fiction/non-fiction and take an interest in books concerning the modern history of Europe and of late more the second war and the years post those dark times. If anyone has recommendations, I would be most grateful. Happy reading to all.