Soviet socialism was based on paradoxes that were revealed by the peculiar experience of its collapse. Focusing on the transformation of the 1950's at the level of discourse, ideology, language, and ritual, this book traces the emergence of multiple unanticipated meanings, communities, relations, and pursuits that this transformation enabled. "The strength of Yurchak's study is in its methodological-analytical grasp of the seemingly contradictory nature of everyday existence. . . . Yurchak provides an elegant methodological tool to explore the complex, intersecting and often paradoxical nature of social change."---Luahona Ganguly, International Journal of Communication