This week Eric welcomes to the show author and professor Emil Draitser to discuss his brand new book “In the Jaws of the Crocodile: A Soviet Memoir” and his experiences as a Jewish writer and satirist in the Soviet Union. The conversation touches on everything from a historical and material analysis of Odessa, the center of Jewish culture in the Soviet Union, to the political life of dissidents in Odessa and beyond. This wide-ranging conversation provides insights on the reality of daily life, the nature of cultural production, the role of humor in Soviet Jewish life, and so much more. The conversation also explores the acceptance of right wing political ideology by Jewish emigres from the Soviet Union, the shameful embrace of Trumpism by that community, and the generational divides that exist.

Click to register for Emil Draitser’s book launch on February 3, 2021

Read an excerpt from Emil Draitser’s “In the Jaws of the Crocodile: A Soviet Memoir”

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