Afterlife of the ‘Soviet Man’

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova is Reader in Russian Politics at King’s College London (King’s Russia Institute), UK. She is the author of Political Consequences of Crony Capitalism Inside Russia (2011) and the co-editor, along with Neringa Klumbyte, of Soviet Society In The Era of Late Socialism, 1964-1985 (2012).

• Prologue1. On Riding Bicycles and Human Judgement2. Homo Sovieticus as Eastern European Dissent3. Homo Sovieticus as Soviet Dissent4. Homo Sovieticus as a Perestroika Child 5. Homo Sovieticus as Post-Soviet Empathy6. Homo Post-Sovieticus as a Fight for the ContinentBibliographyIndex

A very timely book about major attempts to analyse Soviet-Russian identity before and after the collapse of the USSR. Combining methodological clarity with empathy and erudition, the author rejects a reductionist ‘totalitarian’ approach in favour of nuanced observation. A useful corrective to any current analysis of Russia, in peace and at war.