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Godless Utopia
Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda
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Check link for latest rating. ( 60 ratings, 8 reviews)
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Summary
It presents a unique perspective on Soviet anti-religious ideology, featuring imaginative depictions of clergymen, religious figures, and cosmonauts mocking faith, offering a visual journey into a lost chapter of 20th-century history.
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Format: Hardback
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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?
This book will fascinate readers interested in Soviet history, propaganda art, religious studies, and visual culture. It is ideal for those looking to explore a lesser-known aspect of 20th-century political ideology through striking imagery.
Drawing on the early Soviet atheist magazines Godless and Godless atthe Machine, and postwar posters by Communist Party publishers, the authorpresents an unsettling tour of atheist ideology in the USSR.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
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Description
The first book to tell the visual story of the USSR's war against religion of all denominations, from the 1917 revolution to its fall in 1991.
'We've finished the earthly tsars and we're coming for the heavenly ones!' Thus spoke the Soviet Union's first atheist propagandists as they declared war on 'the opium of the people' across the USSR.
Soviet atheism is the great lost subject of the 20th century. Pope Pius XI led a 'crusade of prayer' against it. George Orwell satirised it in Animal Farm. The Nazis called it a Jewish plot. Franklin D Roosevelt pressured Stalin to abandon it. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn blamed it for Russia's catastrophes. Ronald Reagan put it at the core of his 'Evil Empire' speech. And yet, because the Soviet Union promoted atheism almost entirely for domestic consumption, decades' worth of arcane and astonishing antireligious imagery remains unknown in the West.
Drawing on the early Soviet atheist magazines Godless and Godless at the Machine, and post-war posters by Communist Party publishers, Roland Elliott Brown presents an unsettling tour of atheist ideology in the USSR. Here are uncanny, imaginative and downright blasphemous visions from the very guts of the Soviet atheist apparatus: sinister priests rub shoulders with cross-bearing colonial torturers, greedy mullahs, a cyclopean Jehovah, and a crypto-fascist Jesus; Russian cosmonauts mock God from space while vigilant border guards nab American Bible smugglers.
Godless Utopia is the occult grimoire of a lost socialist anti-theology.
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?
"A beautiful little coffee table book that I really recommend everyone get a hold of... It's not only a beautifully illustrated book but also wonderfully timely." - Maajid Nawaz, LBC Radio
"Godless Utopia collects the most striking examples of the form." - Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780995745575
Publisher: FUEL Publishing
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 26 September 2019
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: FUEL Publishing
Illustration: 200 Illustrations
Contributors:
- Edited by Damon Murray
- Edited by Stephen Sorrell
- Foreword by Martin Rowson
- Edited by Damon Murray
- Edited by Stephen Sorrell
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 160.0mm
Height: 200.0mm
Weight: 560g
Pages: 192
Collections
About the Author
Roland Elliott Brown is a London-based journalist and arts writer haunted by echoes of 20th century ideologies. He has reported from Iran for Foreign Policy and has written extensively about history, politics and human rights struggles in the Islamic Republic. His writings on books and imagery - usually connected with Russia and Iran - have appeared in the Spectator and the Guardian. Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell have been publishing books on Soviet culture since 2004, from the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia to Soviet Bus Stops.
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