Sports & Recreation

What did the citizens of the Soviet Union identify with? Where did the societal faultlines lie? Did mass demonstrations destabilize Soviet order? How did informal groups come into being within a society based on uniformity? What impact did media and new forms of connection have on the development of a multinational Soviet society? What remained after the end of the Soviet Union? Using Soviet soccer teams from Moscow (Spartak, Dynamo, ZSKA) and Kiev (Dynamo) as examples, Manfred Zeller tells a story of community and enmity in the post-Stalinist empire. He analyzes the complex loyalties that governed group identities and explains phenomena like the love-hate relationship between Kiev and Moscow. 'Moscow against Kiev' in Soviet times was not a question of war and peace, but in soccer there was already a feeling of 'us against them.' Zeller's book is an important contribution to research on Soviet culture after Stalin as well as to contemporary debates on antagonism in the post-Soviet world.