How We Lived in the USSR

Discussions about how people lived in the USSR have been ongoing since the dissolution of the Union. However, debates between those who nostalgically remember the Soviet reality and staunch supporters of reforms rarely take an argumentative turn. In his book, Dmitry Travin attempts to correct this and gathers a large volume of factual material documenting the bygone era: from letters, diaries, memoirs, and anecdotes to economic statistics and scientific works. At the center of his research is the life of an ordinary Soviet person: how they worked and studied, rested and shopped, interacted with official ideology, and dreamed of foreign trips. The author seeks answers to the most crucial questions for post-Soviet consciousness: why do we both long for the Soviet past and curse it at the same time? What was determined by the social system, and what existed independently of it? Which part of the Soviet "heritage" should we forever abandon, and which should we take with us into the future?