This volume examines how numerous international transfers circulations and exchanges shaped
the world of socialism during the Cold War. Over the course of half a century the Soviets
shaped politics values and material culture throughout the vast space of Eurasia and foreign
forces in turn often influenced Soviet policies and society. The result was the distinct and
interconnected world of socialism or the Socialist Second World. Drawing on previously
unavailable archival sources and cutting-edge insights from New Cold War and transnational
histories the twelve contributors to this volume focus on diverse cultural and social forms of
this global socialist exchange: the cults of communist leaders literature cinema television
music architecture youth festivals and cultural diplomacy. The book's contributors seek to
understand the forces that enabled and impeded the cultural consolidation of the Socialist
Second World. The efforts of those who created this world and the limitations on what they
could do remain key to understanding both the outcomes of the Cold War and a recent legacy
that continues to shape lives cultures and policies in post-communist states today.
