The Stuff of Soldiers uses everyday objects to tell the story of the Great Patriotic War as never before. Brandon Schechter attends to a diverse array of things--from spoons to tanks--to show how a wide array of citizens became soldiers, and how the provisioning of material goods separated soldiers from civilians.Through a fascinating examination...

Prelude: Outgunned and Outmanned
Acknowledgments
List of Archival Sources and Their Abbreviations
Terms and Abbreviations
Explanatory Notes
Introduction: Government Issue
1. The Soldier's Body: A Little Cog in a Giant War Machine
2. A Personal Banner: Life in Red Army Uniform
3. The State's Pot and the Soldier's Spoon: Rations in the Red Army
4. Cities of Earth, Cities of Rubble: The Spade and Red Army Landscaping
5. "A Weapon Is Your Honor and Conscience": Killing in the Red Army
6. The Thing-Bag: A Public-Private Place
7. Trophies of War: Red Army Soldiers Confront an Alien World of Goods
Conclusion: Subjects and Objects
Notes
Index

Brandon M. Schechter has taught at Columbia, New York University, NYU Shanghai, Brown, and the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his PhD. He is a contributor to Objects of War, edited by Leora Auslander and Tara Zahra.