Alcohol

Name: Alcohol
Brand: Thames and Hudson (Australia) Pty Ltd
SKU: 9780993191152
Price: 48.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

Soviet Anti-Alcohol Posters

By Stephen Sorrell and Alexei Plutser-Sarno and FUEL and Damon Murray

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4.59

( 32 ratings, 3 reviews)

Summary

Alcohol explores Soviet anti-alcohol propaganda from the 1960s to the 1980s, with a focus on the powerful posters from Mikhail Gorbachev's 1985 sobriety campaign. These striking images use graphic metaphors like drunks trapped in bottles or strangled by a "green snake" to highlight the societal harms of excessive drinking. Cultural historian Alexei Plutser-Sarno provides a two-part essay offering a uniquely Russian viewpoint on the campaign's origins and impact.
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Format: Hardback

$48⁹⁹

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Alcohol

$48⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in Soviet history, visual propaganda, graphic design, and cultural studies, especially those fascinated by Cold War-era social campaigns and artistic expression.

Parallel title in Russian on title page and cover.

From the acclaimed authors of the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedias and Soviet Space Dogs comes Alcohol, a glorious and exhaustive collection of previously unpublished Soviet anti-alcohol posters.

Description

The book includes examples from the 1960s through to the 1980s, but focuses on posters produced during Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign initiated in 1985. These posters attempted to sober up Soviet citizens by forcing them to confront the issues associated with excessive alcohol consumption.

This government-led urgency allowed the poster designers to present the anti-alcohol message in the most graphic terms: they depicted drunks literally trapped inside the bottle or being strangled by "the green snake." Their protagonists are paralytic freeloaders and shirkers who always neglect their families, drive under the influence, produce substandard work, are smashed when pregnant and present a constant danger to fellow citizens.

A two-part essay by renowned cultural historian Alexei Plutser-Sarno attempts to explain, from a Russian perspective, the reasons behind this phenomenon.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

This visually diverse collection is "a lovingly crafted tribute to an obscure artistic genre," featuring previously unpublished posters that combine playful yet sobering messages. Reviews praise its clever visual metaphors and compelling design, highlighting the creative impact of the Soviet government's urgent anti-alcohol efforts.