In this episode, Samantha Lomb returns as a guest to talk about a recent book she edited entitled: Win or Else: Soviet Football in Moscow and Beyond, 1921-1985.

In Win or Else, the late soviet historian Larry E. Holmes shows us how Soviet football culture regularly disregarded official ideological and political imperatives and skirted the boundaries between socialism and capitalism. Drawing on rich archival materials as well as newspapers and interviews with former players, Win or Else reveals the foundations of Soviet sports culture and the hazards that teams faced both in victory and in loss.

This is a fun conversation even if you aren't interested in the sports. We cover the early history of the Soviet conception of sports to the intriguing connection Soviet soccer had to the NKVD, the state security organization that would later become known as the KGB - and everything in between!

You can support the show at www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast

Get the Book here - Win or Else: Soviet Football in Moscow and Beyond, 1921-1985

Intro/Closing Music

Isaiah Rashad x Aaron May Type Beat