Scan barcode
jdintr's review against another edition
4.0
As a German teacher, I teach a little history along with der/die/das. I'm always challenged when it comes to teaching teens about East Germany and all that Communism entailed. It was an enemy that was self-evident to me when I was growing up. To them, it's ancient history.
Last year, I inserted some East German jokes into my lecture about the Berlin Wall. A month or so later, I found this book. I loved it.
This is a history book, make no doubt. Lewis organizes the monologue chronologically, moving from the Russian Revolution through Putin over the course of the book. There are chapters about most Soviet satellites, too (I guess I'll have to wait for the sequel to learn about southern European states like Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria).
It kept my interest, and I laughed at most of the jokes. As Lewis ultimately learns, the jokes aren't "Communist" any more than pizza is American. They're timeless. But they were applied in a timely fashion, and they maintain the Zeitgeist of the day far better than most boring histories could do.
If I could prove that he was able to hold on to his East German girlfriend after all of this, I'd raise my rating to five stars.
Last year, I inserted some East German jokes into my lecture about the Berlin Wall. A month or so later, I found this book. I loved it.
This is a history book, make no doubt. Lewis organizes the monologue chronologically, moving from the Russian Revolution through Putin over the course of the book. There are chapters about most Soviet satellites, too (I guess I'll have to wait for the sequel to learn about southern European states like Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria).
It kept my interest, and I laughed at most of the jokes. As Lewis ultimately learns, the jokes aren't "Communist" any more than pizza is American. They're timeless. But they were applied in a timely fashion, and they maintain the Zeitgeist of the day far better than most boring histories could do.
If I could prove that he was able to hold on to his East German girlfriend after all of this, I'd raise my rating to five stars.
msgtdameron's review
2.0
This is a two for one reason, Ben Lewis spends the last 100 pages justifying his thesis even though through out the book he proves a totally different thesis if he could only see it. His basic thesis is jokes brought down communism or at least helped. What he proves through one on one interviews with magazine editors, communist political hacks and aparchnicks, his girl friend, approved and underground comics, and just plain old folks is that jokes helped us cope and that many former folks in the east would like to see communism come back and try to do it right.
Many of his interviews show a sincere desire to go back to the days of shortages, queues, no freedom of speech or assembly,but every one had a roof over their heads, heat most of the time, and at least bread every day.
Many of these jokes also will translate well into the new dystrophic America of Donald Trump. For instance: The Boeing engineer was arrested for saying that the Boeing CEO and Board were incompetent thieves and idiots. He was tried and sentenced to 15 years. His layer complained to the judge that slander was only a five year term. The Judge replied that "He was not sentenced for slander but for giving away state secrets." Or this one, "Donald Trump is going to destroy the pornography industry. Under his reign all publications will have to have his picture on the cover. NO ONE will buy a magazine with a naked Donald on it." And finally in 24 months when they come for me my obit will read his last words before his suicide were "Don't Shoot Comrades!" Like I said many of these jokes will be used in the future Trump world. Call this my first public comment on the resistance.
Many of his interviews show a sincere desire to go back to the days of shortages, queues, no freedom of speech or assembly,but every one had a roof over their heads, heat most of the time, and at least bread every day.
Many of these jokes also will translate well into the new dystrophic America of Donald Trump. For instance: The Boeing engineer was arrested for saying that the Boeing CEO and Board were incompetent thieves and idiots. He was tried and sentenced to 15 years. His layer complained to the judge that slander was only a five year term. The Judge replied that "He was not sentenced for slander but for giving away state secrets." Or this one, "Donald Trump is going to destroy the pornography industry. Under his reign all publications will have to have his picture on the cover. NO ONE will buy a magazine with a naked Donald on it." And finally in 24 months when they come for me my obit will read his last words before his suicide were "Don't Shoot Comrades!" Like I said many of these jokes will be used in the future Trump world. Call this my first public comment on the resistance.
cetian's review
3.0
Ben Lewis writes a very entertaining book. And an honest one, that almost seems to be influenced by Joe Sacco's way of reporting his own difficulties, faillures and successes in contacting sources, and writting about the process of investigating a lead, alternating it with the actual result. The book is a pleasant mix of personal accounts of how it was constructed, thought of, of the personal relationship with an artist from former GDR (East Germany) and what Lewis gathered and thinks about communist humour and communism. It's a nice reading and it's nice to know about the tension of Lewis ideas, (again it feels a little like Joe Sacco's execept that there is no journalistic carefull separation between opinion and fact). This is close to an essay, so Lewis' opinions are what the book is about, but it is quite unusual to "get them as opinions", and not as scientific evidence or intellectual reflexion - usually, in an essay, the author almost hides what he (obviously) thinks, making it the inevitably result of the (impersonal) intelect. The interesting structure of the book is this: a chronological walk through the history of communism, presented by its jokes, explained and contextualized, the different ages of communism separated in chapters, all of this alternated by commentary about how it was investigated, how his personal relationship with a (sucssessful) communist artist of nostalgia art was going on and his opinions on his own work. It's quite an interesting rhythm, informal and straightforward. The bibliography is very extensive, so for anyone interesting in developing the subject, Ben Lewis does provide references.
abookishtype's review
3.0
I’ve always had a special place in whatever parts of my brain find things funny for communist jokes. (Well, I couldn’t say heart, could I?) About a month ago, I ran across a review of Ben Lewis’s Hammer & Tickle: The History of Communism Told Through Communist Jokes and had our Interlibrary Loan department find me a copy to read. In this book, Lewis attempts to argue that communist jokes had a role in the end of Communism. This book is not written like the typical non-fiction-work-with-a-point-to-make. Rather, it’s more like a memoir of Lewis’s attempts to find the origin of the jokes, how many people were arrested and punished for telling jokes, and, ultimately, if those jokes had anything to do with the events of 1988-1991...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
galinette's review against another edition
1.0
This book had potential but alas it was researched and written by someone who I can only describe as a "jerk". Ben Lewis, it seems, knows all about communism and life in the USSR... except he doesn't, not really. He interprets events and people's actions in ways that just do not add up, and he often makes absolutely horrendous remarks - there were parts where it seemed he was upset that "only" a few hundred people had their (and their relatives') lives changed or destroyed because they told a joke! Even one life is one too many! Moreover, the interviews and his recollection of his life with his ex-girlfriend show that he has absolutely no respect for people who do not share his views. An open mind might have rendered this book much better.
Throughout the book, the author talks about his theories about "communist jokes" and from that I gathered he thought he was trying to scientifically approach the question. The main problem was that he only ever had theories and did not, at all, use the scientific method to test out any hypotheses he might have had.
Finally, the few jokes that were listed were not actually the best ones and not the ones I would consider representative of soviet humour. The fact that all the play-on-words jokes were ignored (because the author apparently did not want to waste time in explanations) was a let-down... but that might just be my very biased point of view, having grown up in a household with parents who had fully experienced the USSR and having experienced it myself for six years.
Throughout the book, the author talks about his theories about "communist jokes" and from that I gathered he thought he was trying to scientifically approach the question. The main problem was that he only ever had theories and did not, at all, use the scientific method to test out any hypotheses he might have had.
Finally, the few jokes that were listed were not actually the best ones and not the ones I would consider representative of soviet humour. The fact that all the play-on-words jokes were ignored (because the author apparently did not want to waste time in explanations) was a let-down... but that might just be my very biased point of view, having grown up in a household with parents who had fully experienced the USSR and having experienced it myself for six years.
More...