Russian History Blog » Miriam Dobson

In my first blog about the oral history interviews conducted as part of my study of Protestant life in the USSR I wrote about the life of Z. who was born in 1925 on the outskirts of Moscow. She c...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2018/02/baptists-and-repression-one-oral-history-account/

Last month I wrote about a great new collection of posters by the Soviet artist Koretsky. The publisher, The New Press, very kindly offered a free copy to be won in a prize draw. On the blog / fa...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2013/12/win-a-beautiful-book-of-posters-we-have-a-winner/

A few weeks ago I was contacted by The New Press and offered a copy of their new publication, Koretsky. The Soviet Photo Poster: 1930-1984, for a prize draw to be launched from this site.  This ...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2013/11/win-a-beautiful-book-of-posters/

Like most people studying Russian history, I’m sure, I’ve been asked many times what drew me to the subject in the first place. I give different answers depending on my mood and the person as...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2013/08/child-of-the-cold-war/

I teach an MA class which explores Soviet identity from Stalin to Gorbachev in a whistle-stop tour over five weeks. Not all students have studied Russian history before which can sometimes make i...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2012/12/soviet-baby-boomers-locality-gender-and-class/

I am happy to launch the fourth “blog conversation” which will be about Donald Raleigh’s recent Soviet Baby Boomers. His excavation of late Soviet society through the medium of oral histor...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2012/12/soviet-baby-boomers-preliminary-thoughts/

“Could you explain in what ways life before and after 1991 was different?” I asked. My interviewee, Z. did not immediately understand my question, even when reformulated in clearer Russian by...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2012/10/the-meaning-of-1991-some-thoughts-on-oral-history/

Two researchers here at Sheffield (Alun Thomas & Oliver Johnson) are designing a guide to help historians arriving in Moscow for the first time. They’ve created a map indicating key landmarks:...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2012/08/research-guide-to-moscow/

It’s  been pointed out that the translated newspaper article I pasted into a comment at the bottom of a long discussion might go unnoticed, and – given it might be useful to others teachi...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2012/05/death-and-redemption-an-newspaper-article-and-some-final-thoughts/

Over the past eighteen months I have come to realise that I’m not an ideal blogger in the sense that I’m not always very good at checking the internet! I’ve been busily writing my first tho...

https://russianhistoryblog.org/2012/05/death-and-redemption-2/