Becoming Soviet -- The Bolshevik invention to class -- Class identities in NEP society -- Class and Soslovie -- Lives under fire -- The two faces of Anastasia -- Story of a peasant striver -- Women's lives -- Supplicants and citizens -- Patrons and clients -- Signals from below -- Wives' tales -- The world of Ostap Bender -- The con man as Jew -- Becoming post-Soviet.
Summary
Russia in the 20th century experienced two massive socio-political upheavals, in 1917 & again in 1991. This book examines the ways in which Russians created, discarded & disguised identities that would either advance their interests or place them at risk in the wake of these revolutions.
