HAMMER AND TICKLE: A HISTORY OF COMMUNISM TOLD THROUGH COMMUNIST JOKES

Book ID/图书代码： 10010007B13965

English Summary/英文概要： 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 It is also illustrated with a combination of rare and previously unpublished archive material, political cartoons, caricatures, photographs and state-sponsored propaganda.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.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： Q: 為什麼在物資短缺的狀況下，東德的公共廁所還是撕一次有兩張衛生紙？
A: 答案是因為他們必須Copy一份給俄國莫斯科！

關於共產黨的笑話可說是無奇不有千奇百怪，有些真的會讓人笑掉肚皮，有的真讓人覺得不可思議。作者在前共產主義國家旅遊的同時，收集所有當時不管公開或私下流傳的笑話及趣事，更訪問那些曾被抓去勞改的反抗份子，藉此來闡述共產主義最興盛的歷史年代(1917-1989)。此外書中更收錄許多從未曝光的相關塗鴉繪圖及卡通漫畫。(VL)

Awards/获奖情况：Rights Sold: US – Pegasus, Germany – Blessing Verlag, Italy – Piemme

“marvellously original a fine tribute to the joyous, humane anarchy of laughter, whose nearest political analgoue is that ramshackle, chaotic system of political wishful thinking called democracy.” And their favourite joke?
“What stage comes between socialism and communism? Alcoholism.”---SUNDAY TIMES
"entertaining and thoughtful study."---EVENING STANDARD
"we find at long last the jokes only communism could produce. And while they may not have brought it down, they can still tell us something important about why it fell---SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
"wonderful... this isn’t just a joke book. Instead, Lewis embarks on a deeply scholarly examination and analysis of the communist joke... an excellent job."---NEW STATESMAN
"an excellent anthology of anecdotes knowledgeably linked into the history of the Soviet period... very enjoyable to read"---DAILY TELEGRAPH
"This book gives a good flavour of that socialist-era humour."---MORNING STAR
"explores the wealth of subversive humour during the long, bleak decades of communism."---IRISH INDEPENDENT
"Ben Lewis’s grimly entertaining study is no mere joke compendium."GEORGE WALDEN---THE SCOTSMAN
"charming, highly original, elegantly written and valuable piece of cultural history... This is very funny book. Like the best Communist jokes, it is funniest when it is grimmest."---THE SPECTATOR
"a fascinating attempt to get to grips with communism’s rise and fall in Europe through its funny bone... their cultural significance shouldn’t be underestimated."---METRO - LONDON, LEEDS, NORTH EAST, N WEST,MIDLANDS

About the Author/作者介绍： Ben Lewis’ award-winning film ’Hammer and Tickle’ was broadcast on BBC4 in 2006. His article on Communist jokes for Prospect magazine, received the greatest number of hits on their website for any article last year.
Ben Lewis為英國著名的導演、電視節目主持人及專欄作家，其中以其編寫製作的BBC紀錄片Hammer and Tickle不僅廣受英國群眾的喜愛，更贏得了眾多的電視最高榮譽獎項，此片在2006年首度播出時更引領一股共產主義的熱潮。

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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：NOT AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

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