Descriptions, Reviews, etc.
Description:
The first history in English of Soviet radio from its earliest days to the advent of television, showing the role played by broadcasting in establishing control of the Soviet State up to the 1970s: including the Cultural Revolution, Stalinist 1930s, World War II, the Cold War, and de-Stalinization.
Review Quotes: "This meticulous, perceptive study shows off its author's unusual strengths as a historian equally at home in the Politburo, the communal flat, and the offices of literary journals. The combination turns out to be vital for an understanding of Soviet radio, which was not only a political tool of the first order, but also a major cultural institution with a profound impact on Soviet life Lovell's book is rich in detail and keenly analytical."--Times Literary Supplement
"Scholars with a particular interest in Soviet history will certainly want to check out this monograph, and radio historians with a particular interest in regulations or questions of aesthetics will also find this book of value."--Noah Arceneaux,
Jhistory"In this outstanding new history, Stephen Lovell traces the rise of Soviet radio and, with it, Soviet modes of listening....Lovell's book has much to recommend it. Its temporal scope allows him to trace the evolution of radio from the Stalinist to the Brezhnev era and to study its changing significance within Soviet culture....
Russia in the Microphone Age will now be the definitive volume on the subject, and one hopes it will lead to further case studies. It should be read by anyone interested in media history or the history of radio, but it also has much to tell about the history of the Soviet project and, with it, the history of the twentieth century."--Stephen M. Norris,
Journal of Modern History
