Hammer And Tickle
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Review
'Ben Lewis's book celebrates the brilliance with which jokes exposed the gulf between the Soviet ideal and its brutal reality.' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
'There is a laugh on every page' (John Suchet S MAGAZINE, SUNDAY EXPRESS )
'There is a laugh on every page' (John Suchet S MAGAZINE, SUNDAY EXPRESS )
Product Description
Q: Why, despite all the shortages, was the toilet paper in East Germany always 2-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 80 years of political experimentation in Russia and Eastern Europe, known as Communism. The valiant and sardonic citizens of the former Communist countries - surrounded by an invisible network of secret police, threatened with arrest, imprisonment and forced labour, confronted by an economic system that left shops empty, and bombarded with ludicrous state propaganda - turned joke-telling into an art form. They used jokes as a coded way of speaking the truth. HAMMER AND TICKLE takes us on a unique journey through the Communist era (1917-1989), and tells its real history through subversive jokes and joke-tellers, many of whom ended up in the gulags. It is also illustrated with a combination of rare and previously unpublished archive material, political cartoons, caricatures, photographs and state-sponsored propaganda. Humorous, culturally poignant and historically revealing, this is the story of a political system that was (almost) laughed out of existence.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Brilliant book, interesting, well researched and balanced. And also very funny!
This is a history book (read: academic): explaining how the political waves altered, and how the humour at the time reflected this.
This is a history book (read: academic): explaining how the political waves altered, and how the humour at the time reflected this.
Format:Paperback
I actually couldn't finish this book, because I just found the author to be so arrogant.
The book starts as a generalised overview of communism interspersed with communist jokes and occasional passages oozing with sentimentality about a former East German girlfriend. While these sentimental bits weren't particularly bad to start with, even slightly touching, by the end (I mean by the time I stopped reading!) I was rooting for it to end in abject misery as I absolutely couldn't stand the guy. After a while the history of communism ends and the framework for the narrative becomes his inquiry into communist jokes, mostly trying to force them into a theoretical framework he appeared to arrive at very early on. What finally stopped me reading was the author's (not at all concealed) contempt for everyone he interviewed. While Lewis managed to secure some incredible interviews with very central and informative individuals, he has no respect for any of these people, as he makes abundantly clear in his descriptions of his various interviewees as naive idealists, drunks, and delusional geriatrics.
Great subject, I recommend people read about it, but buy a different book.
The book starts as a generalised overview of communism interspersed with communist jokes and occasional passages oozing with sentimentality about a former East German girlfriend. While these sentimental bits weren't particularly bad to start with, even slightly touching, by the end (I mean by the time I stopped reading!) I was rooting for it to end in abject misery as I absolutely couldn't stand the guy. After a while the history of communism ends and the framework for the narrative becomes his inquiry into communist jokes, mostly trying to force them into a theoretical framework he appeared to arrive at very early on. What finally stopped me reading was the author's (not at all concealed) contempt for everyone he interviewed. While Lewis managed to secure some incredible interviews with very central and informative individuals, he has no respect for any of these people, as he makes abundantly clear in his descriptions of his various interviewees as naive idealists, drunks, and delusional geriatrics.
Great subject, I recommend people read about it, but buy a different book.
Format:Paperback
A very unique read, at times incredibly interesting but does occasionally get bogged down with slightly ridiculous joke theory. The author could have focussed on the evolution of the jokes through the rise and fall of Communism, but instead tries to overanalyse links which in reality, probably don't exist.
Still, an interesting and different take on Communism which I can recommend to anyone interested in the Soviet era - with hundreds of jokes and cartoons featured.
Still, an interesting and different take on Communism which I can recommend to anyone interested in the Soviet era - with hundreds of jokes and cartoons featured.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good - but perhaps a little flabby
I enjoyed this book and found many of the insights in it interesting. However, I found quite a bit of the writing a bit flabby - particularly when the author switches to the... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2009 by Primal
A very funny and interesting read
I bought the book having enjoyed the one hour TV progtramme on the book. The rise and fall of communism is a fascinating story, but often very dry. Read more
Published on 29 July 2009 by Mr. I. Taylor
Too much hammer, too little tickle
Stephen Leacock's verdict that "humour may be defined as the kindly contemplation of incongruities of life, and the artistic expression thereof" should be kept in mind when reading... Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2008 by Theodore A. Rushton
Comrades
v
Hammer and Tickle By Ben Lewis
A review by the Cote d'Azure Men's
Book Club
You can die laughing at Russian jokes, and the... Read more
Hammer and Tickle By Ben Lewis
A review by the Cote d'Azure Men's
Book Club
You can die laughing at Russian jokes, and the... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2008 by Mr. Ivor Hibbitt
Rave review for this book in the London 'Spectator' book reviews.
The Spectator said that this was an interesting and entertaining read.
I have not read it yet, but that was good enough for me to put it on my wishlist. Read more
I have not read it yet, but that was good enough for me to put it on my wishlist. Read more
Published on 20 July 2008 by Michael J. Brett
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