What's So Funny, Comrade?

156 pages. Illustrated. The core of the book features 152 cartoons curated from Krokodil (The Crocodile), which was the official, state-run satirical magazine of the Soviet Union. The compilation focuses specifically on material published during the Khrushchev Thaw between 1958 and 1961. Swearingen contrasts these official, state-approved illustrations with unofficial, anti-Soviet jokes circulating in the "humour underground" at the time. He provides scholarly analysis to help Western readers understand the cultural subtext, systemic absurdities, and daily realities of living under Soviet communism (SL#175).