erman historian and journalist Schlögel casts a discerning eye on the things that surrounded the Soviet Union and its people.
Who knew that, apart from his experiments with dogs, Ivan Pavlov wrote a preface concerning nutrition for a bestselling Soviet cookbook? That’s one of just many oddments Schlögel assembles in this utterly absorbing tour through the material goods that defined the Soviet era, from pulpy wrapping paper to the medals veterans wore, from canned goods to perfume and tchotchkes and everything in between. All were on display immediately after the Soviet Union collapsed, as the author notes empathetically: “Things that had previously been carefully stored and preserved until the end of people’s lives—distinctions, work records, diplomas and even medals—all find themselves up for sale in the flea market once material needs have become sufficiently pressing and the sense of reverence has evaporated.” Sometimes people got rid of these things less for financial need than to discard a failed system, but even so, there’s a nostalgia at work in a marketplace that has shifted from the streets to shopping malls and department stores that could be anywhere in the world.
