Communism Unwrapped Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe [Paperback]

Communism Unwrappedreveals the complex world of consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe, exploring the ways people shopped, ate, drank, smoked, cooked, acquired, assessed and exchanged goods. These everyday experiences, the editors and contributors argue, were central to the way that communism was lived in its widely varied contexts in the region. From design, to production, to retail sales and black market exchange,Communism Unwrappedfollows communist goods from producer to consumer, tracing their circuitous routes. In the communist world this journey was rife with its own meanings, shaped by the special political and social circumstances of these societies. In examining consumption behind the Iron Curtain, this volume brings dimension and nuance to understandings of the communist period and the history of consumerism.

Acknowledgments
Contributors

Introduction,Paulina Bren and Mary Neuburger

I. Living Large: Introduction
1. Tuzex and the Hustler: Living It Up in Czechoslovakia,Paulina Bren
2. Utopia Gone Terribly Right: Plutonium's Gated Communities in the Soviet Union and the United States,Kate Brown
3. Knife in the Water : Competitive Consumption in Urbanizing Poland,Kacper Poblocki

II. Quality Control: Introduction
4. The Taste of Smoke: Bulgartabak and the Manufacturing of Cigarettes and Satisfaction,Mary Neuburger
5. Risky Business: What Was Really Being Sold in the Department Stores of Socialist Eastern Europe?,Patrick Hyder Patterson
6. Material Harmony: The Quest for Quality in Socialist Bulgaria, 1960s-1980s,Rossitza Guentcheva

III. Kitchen Talk: Introduction
7. Eating Up Yugoslavia: Cookbooks and Consumption in Socialist Yugoslavia,Wendy Bracewell
8. Grounds for Discontent? Coffee from the Blackls)