Communist Daze: The Many Misadventures of a Soviet Doctor

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Synopsis
This darkly comic memoir &“reveal[s] much about the poverty, drunkenness, political corruption, anti-Semitism, and fundamental absurdity of rural life in the Soviet 1960s&” (Deborah A. Field author of Private Life and Communist Morality in Khrushchev&’s Russia). Welcome to Gradieshti, a Soviet village awash in gray buildings and ramshackle fences, home to a large, collective farm and to the most oddball and endearing cast of characters possible. For three years in the 1960s, Vladimir Tsesis—inestimable Soviet doctor and irrepressible jester—was stationed in a village where racing tractor drivers tossed vodka bottles to each other for sport; where farmers and townspeople secretly mocked and tried to endure the Communist way of life; where milk for children, running water, and adequate electricity were rare; where the world&’s smallest, motley parade became the country&’s longest; and where one compulsively amorous Communist Party leader met a memorable, chilling fate. From a frantic pursuit of calcium-deprived, lunatic Socialist chickens to a father begging on his knees to Soviet officials to obtain antibiotic for his dying child, Vladimir&’s tales of Gradieshti are unforgettable. Sometimes hysterical, often moving, always a remarkable and highly entertaining insider&’s look at rural life under the old Soviet regime, they are a sobering exposé of the terrible inadequacies of its much-lauded socialist medical system. &“To understand the confusing reality of Russia today, it helps to recall the &‘bad old days&’ of the late, unlamented Soviet Union. This warm, touching and occasionally hilarious book can assist those recollections.&” —Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio show host
Copyright:
2017

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
238 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780253025890
Related ISBNs:
9780253025869
Publisher:
Indiana University Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Vladimir A. Tsesis
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Humor
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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