Flowers Through Concrete: Explorations in Soviet Hippieland – eBook

Description

**Flowers through Concrete: Explorations in Soviet Hippieland (PDF)** invites readers on an invigorating journey into the vibrant lives and profound thoughts of Soviet-era hippies. Defying governmental repression and societal disapproval, these individuals carved out a unique version of Western counterculture, skillfully adapting their beliefs and practices to influence and shape their late socialist environment. **Flowers through Concrete** immerses readers in the underground world of the Soviet hippie movement, providing a remarkable narrative that interweaves an unconventional history of the last Soviet decades with a compelling case study on transnational youth culture and the intricacies of East-West globalization.

Drawing from an extensive repository of over a hundred interviews, along with published documents and long-guarded personal archives, **Flowers through Concrete** chronicles the often overlooked phenomenon of how hippie communities began to flourish across the Soviet Union during the late 1960s. These movements were frequently shepherded by the adventurous progeny of elite families within the Soviet establishment. The book highlights how diverse communities interlinked, creating an impressive network characterized by rich customs and rituals, ensuring their continuity for more than two decades.

**Flowers through Concrete** not only unravels a gripping narrative of resilience in the face of adversity—where hippies faced harassment from police, had their hair forcibly cut by civilian enforcers, and encountered backlash from medical professionals who labeled their non-conformist behaviors as symptoms of schizophrenia—but also posits a surprising perspective. It argues that the landscape of Soviet hippies and the realm of late socialism were not entirely at odds; rather, they exhibited a remarkable interconnectedness. Ultimately, the book reveals that it was the advent of capitalism in the 1990s, rather than the oppressive actions of the KGB, that signaled the end of the Soviet hippie phenomenon.

**ISBNs:** 978-0191092503, 978-0191092510, 978-0198788324

Reviews

“In spite of the title, Flowers Through Concrete, Juliane Fürst’s superior history of Soviet hippies breaks this sort of binary reasoning through an accurately researched portrait of a blossoming counterculture that was fully associated with Late-Soviet society.” — Marijeta Bozovic, The Times Literary Supplement

“Fürst’s comprehensive history is based on 135 interviews with living hippies, in addition to memoirs and personal archives. It is filled with fascinating characters; documents their travels, meetings, and spiritual quests; and boasts an impressive collection of photographs.” — Maria Lipman

NOTE: This product only includes the ebook, Flowers through Concrete in PDF format. Access codes are not included.