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Hammer and Tickle Hardcover – August 26, 2009
Q: Why, despite all the shortages, was the toilet paper in East Germany always two-ply? A: Because they had to send a copy of everything they did to Moscow.
Communist jokes are the strangest, funniest, most enchanting and meaningful legacy of the eighty years of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe. The valiant and sardonic citizens of the former Communist countries―surrounded by secret police, threatened with arrest, imprisonment and forced labor, a failed economic system, and bombarded with ludicrous propaganda―turned joke-telling into an art form, using them as a coded way of speaking the truth and coping with the absurdity of the system. In this poignant and historically revealing book, rare and previously unpublished archive material, including cartoons, caricatures, photographs, and oral transcripts take the reader on a unique journey through the real experience of the Communist era.25 b&w illustrations
- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPegasus Books
- Publication dateAugust 26, 2009
- Dimensions6.4 x 1.3 x 9.3 inches
- ISBN-101605980552
- ISBN-13978-1605980553
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About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Pegasus Books; First Edition (August 26, 2009)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1605980552
- ISBN-13 : 978-1605980553
- Item Weight : 1.18 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #638,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #611 in Jokes & Riddles (Books)
- #873 in Communism & Socialism (Books)
- #1,455 in Russian History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the humor very good and the reading experience good.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the humor in the book very good.
"...There are also, needless to say, many funny jokes in the book - a kind of humor which has largely disappeared since the fall of the Berlin Wall." Read more
"...The jokes were great (and brought many a smile to my face)...." Read more
"very good humor..." Read more
Customers find the book a good read.
"I loved every minute of reading it. good read, at this point am just write so i can submit one more word...there!" Read more
"I thought there would more jokes, still an interesting read." Read more
"Worth the read..." Read more
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1) some historical background (acceptable)
2) his own half-baked theories and clumsy interviews (enough said)
3) relationship issues with his girlfriend (?)
I am not sorry I bought the book because of the jokes, which there are plenty in the book.
It is a pitty that such a worthy subject did not get an author it deserves.