The Remarkable Correspondence between American and Soviet Women
304 pages
11 hours of reading
In the early Cold War era, American and Soviet women engaged in a unique pen-pal correspondence that fostered friendship amidst political tension. Historian Alexis Peri reveals how these letters, spanning from World War II into the 1950s, showcased personal diplomacy as the women discussed shared challenges like unequal pay and motherhood. Despite advocating for peace, they also confronted contentious issues such as racial segregation and labor practices. Their correspondence, initially overlooked by governments, ultimately faced scrutiny during the Red Scare, highlighting their struggle to connect beyond political divides.
In September 1941, two-and-a-half months after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, the German Wehrmacht encircled Leningrad. Cut off from the rest of Russia, the city remained blockaded for 872 days, at a cost of almost a million civilian lives, making it one of the longest and deadliest sieges in modern history. The War Within chronicles the Leningrad blockade from the perspective of those who endured the unendurable. Drawing on 125 unpublished diaries written by individuals from all walks of Soviet life, Alexis Peri tells the tragic story of how citizens struggled to make sense of a world collapsing around them. Residents recorded in intimate detail the toll taken on minds and bodies by starvation, bombardment, and disease. For many, diary writing became instrumental to survival--a tangible reminder of their humanity. The journals also reveal that Leningraders began to reexamine Soviet life and ideology from new, often critical perspectives. Leningrad's party organization encouraged diary writing, hoping the texts would guide future histories of this epic battle. But in a bitter twist, the diarists became victims not only of Hitler but also of Stalin. The city's isolation from Moscow made it politically suspect. When the blockade was lifted in 1944, Kremlin officials censored publications describing the ordeal and arrested hundreds of Leningrad's wartime leaders. Many were executed. Diaries--now dangerous to their authors--were concealed in homes, shelved in archives, and forgotten. The War Within recovers these lost narratives, shedding light on one of World War II's darkest episodes. -- Provided by publisher
