HISTORY OF RUSSIA AND THE SOVIET UNION in Humorous Verse

'Marx wrote that 'History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.' He failed to note that, with the right person, it can come around a third time....as doggerel. Sabrina Petra Ramet's very mortal verses should be read aloud, even shouted, for they successfully deflate the somber pontificating and aca- demic harrumphing that often dominates Russian historical studies. Besides, they're riotously funny.' -S. Frederick Starr, author of Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in the Soviet Union, 1917-1980 'Scholars will explode with laughter over the stunts of Lenin, Stalin, Peter the Great, and the other leaders-made-buffoons by Sabrina Ramet's off-kilter and hilarious interpretations of history. No prominent Russian leader is left un-pilloried, no Soviet ideologue left in quiet repose. And no reader is left with funny-bone unshattered by uncontrollable laugher over history's vagaries.' -Jerry G. Pankhurst, co-editor of Understanding Soviet Society 'Sabrina Ramet's collection reads as though Mother Goose, Lewis Carroll and the Cat in the Hat translated a course on Soviet history taught by Mel Brooks into light verse. Each piece relieves the usual solemnity of the subject with a welcome touch of the absurd.' -Thomas F. Remington, author of Presidential Decrees in Russia: A Comparative Perspective 'It is a real pleasure to read this iconoclastic book of verse that parodies the Russian ruling class from the Czars to Putin.' -Robert O. Freedman, author of Moscow and the Middle East 3