The Great War in Russian Memory the Great War in Russian Memory: (Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian & East European Studies (Hardcover))

Karen Petrone shatters the notion that World War I was a forgotten war in the Soviet Union. Although never officially commemorated, the Great War was the subject of a lively discourse about religion, heroism, violence, and patriotism during the interwar period. Using memoirs, literature, films, military histories, and archival materials, Petrone reconstructs Soviet ideas regarding the motivations for fighting, the justification for killing, the nature of the enemy, and the qualities of a hero. She reveals how some of these ideas undermined Soviet notions of military honor and patriotism while others reinforced them. As the political culture changed and war with Germany loomed during the Stalinist 1930s, internationalist voices were silenced and a nationalist view of Russian military heroism and patriotism prevailed.

About the Author :
Karen Petrone is Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. She is author of Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades: Celebrations in the Time of Stalin (IUP, 2000) and editor (with Valerie Kivelson, Michael S. Flier, and Nancy Shields Kollmann) of The New Muscovite Cultural History: A Collection in Honor of Daniel B. Rowland.

Review :
"An original work of serious scholarship.... Petrone engages with a flourishing literature on the cultural consequences of the First World War." Peter Gatrell, author of A Whole Empire Walking--Peter Gatrell, author of A Whole Empire Walking" "Karen Petrone s book is at one and the same time a major contribution to the history of Russia and to the history of the Great War. By placing the cultural history of Russia in a European perspective of mass mourning and selective remembrance, Petrone has managed to help Russify the way the history of the First World War and its aftermath is configured. Here is cultural history at its best." Jay Winter, Yale University--Jay Winter, Yale University" "Petrone makes very important contributions not only to the field of Russian and Soviet history but to the field of World War I studies as well." Joshua A. Sanborn, Lafayette College--Joshua A. Sanborn, Lafayette College" This important book radically alters understanding of the Russian and Soviet responses to WW I during the interwar period and up to 1945. Most scholars have believed until now that the response to WW I in Russia and the Soviet Union differed from that in the rest of Europe, and was muted or suppressed by the political leadership who wanted to focus attention on the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the civil war of 1918-21. Petrone (Kentucky), however, persuasively argues that although the official Soviet response downplayed the impact of the war and did not establish an overarching mythic narrative of the war, there was a wide variety of public remembrances of the war because so many people were directly touched by it. The author skillfully analyzes films, graphic arts, novels, short stories, journalism, architecture, memoirs, paintings, museum exhibits, and many other expressions of people's memory of the war to demonstrate the main themes of this discourse as well as how it changed over time. The book deserves a wide readership. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. -- ChoiceN. M. Brooks, New Mexico State University, February 2012 An original work of serious scholarship.... Petrone engages with a flourishing literature on the cultural consequences of the First World War.--Peter Gatrell, author of A Whole Empire Walking Karen Petrone's book is at one and the same time a major contribution to the history of Russia and to the history of the Great War. By placing the cultural history of Russia in a European perspective of mass mourning and selective remembrance, Petrone has managed to help 'Russify' the way the history of the First World War and its aftermath is configured. Here is cultural history at its best. --Jay Winter, Yale University Petrone makes very important contributions not only to the field of Russian and Soviet history but to the field of World War I studies as well.--Joshua A. Sanborn, Lafayette College "Karen Petrone's book is at one and the same time a major contribution to the history of Russia and to the history of the Great War. By placing the cultural history of Russia in a European perspective of mass mourning and selective remembrance, Petrone has managed to help 'Russify' the way the history of the First World War and its aftermath is configured. Here is cultural history at its best." --Jay Winter, Yale University--Jay Winter, Yale University