Lost to the Collective: Suicide and the Promise of Soviet Socialism, 1921-1929

During the 1920s there was deep concern surrounding the issue of suicide in Soviet society, a phenomena that many connected with cultural decadence, individualism, and a general loss of faith in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Pinnow (history, Allegheny College) explores how the Soviets approached suicide as problem of governance, arguing that the phenomena of suicide "acted as a vehicle for the creation of a scientific-political apparatus that was designed for the comprehensive care of the population," or, as he also labels it, a "Soviet social science state" that sought to transform both individual subjectivity and the larger society. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)