Cover -- Contents -- Introduction -- Popular Culture and History in Post‐Soviet Nation States -- 1. The Post‐Soviet Condition -- 2. Popular Histories of the 1990s: Concealed Truths and Alternative Claims -- 3. History Politics: Nationalising and Disintegrating a Common Past -- 4. Popular Culture and History: Recoding, Normalising, Adjusting a Contested Past -- 5. Appropriating History: Entertainment and Estrangement -- 6. Outline of the Volume: Places of Longing, Combat Zones, Sites of Trauma -- List of Games -- Filmography -- References -- I. Places of Longing: Yesterday's Tales, Melodramatic Lives and Astonishing Worlds -- Chapter 1: More than Nostalgia -- 1. Introduction -- 2. An Aesthetic Utopia -- 3. Remembrance of Idealism Past -- 4. "A Deep State" of Late Socialism -- 5. Retrotopia Unpacked -- Filmography -- List of Illustrations -- References -- Chapter 2: Drawn History -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Comic Book. Cossacks in Ukrainian Comic Books -- 3. What is a Ukrainian Superhero Like? -- 4. Dira (Hole). A Graphic Novel by Serhii Zakharov -- 5. Conclusion -- List of Illustrations -- References -- Chapter 3: Narrating Russia's Multi‐Ethnic Past -- 1. Guzel Yakhina: Success and Controversy -- 2. Diversity Beyond Postcolonial Discourse -- 3. Camera‐stylo Reversed: The "Cinematic Quality" of Yakhina's Novels -- 4. Conclusion -- Filmography -- List of Illustrations -- References -- Chapter 4: The Zone as a Place of Repentance and Retreat -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Production Conditions and Policies -- 3. The Wolves in the Zone (1990): Mission Impossible -- 4. Symptoms of Cultural Trauma -- 5. The Atomic Zone Ranger (1999). A Fantasy of a 'Strong Arm' -- 6. The 2000s: "You don't have to look back all the time..." -- 7. A Thriller Set against the Backdrop of Perestroika -- List of Games -- Filmography -- List of Illustrations -- References.

II. Combat Zones: War Heroes, Resistance Fighters and Joyful Partisans -- Chapter 5: Alternative Versions of the Past and the Future -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Background to Post‐Soviet Alternate History -- 3. Trauma and Resentment as a Driving Force of the Post‐Soviet Russian Historical Novel -- 4. Our Women and Men Back in the Past -- 5. Conclusion -- Postscript -- References -- Chapter 6: Ludic Epistemologies and Alternate Histories -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Playing with Alternate Histories -- 3. Agency and Role‐Playing Games -- 4. The Objects of Study -- 5. Witnessing History: Memorial's 74 and the Suspension of Sovereignty -- 6. Exacerbating Politics with Magic: Red Land's Experiment with Ideological Identity -- 7. Responsibility and History: Atom RPG and Making Choices -- 8. Fragmentary Selves in Post‐Soviet History -- 9. Conclusion -- List of Games -- List of Illustrations -- References -- Chapter 7: Partisan, Anti‐Partisan, pARTisan, Party‐Zan, Cyberpartisan -- 1. The Partisan Myth -- 2. "Partisan Republic": The Partisan as National Myth -- 3. "Partizanfil'm": Partisans and their Heroism in Post‐War Film -- 4. "The Cinematic Partisan": The Psychological Turn in War Films (1960s‑1980s) -- 5. Partisans in Films of the 2000s: Nationalisation, De‑Glorification, Deconstruction -- 6. "I'm not there": 'Partisan Identity' and the Anti‐Partisan -- 7. pARTisan: TheArtist‐Partisan as a Rebel against State Ideology -- 8. Partisanhood Reloaded: Between Resistance, Protest and War -- 9. Conclusion -- Filmography -- List of Illustrations -- References -- Chapter 8: Mummified Subversion -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Valerii Todorovskii's Hipsters and the Challenge of the Philistines -- 3. Reanimating the Protest Traditions during Vladimir Putin's Fourth Term -- 4. Conclusion: Showbiz Logic and the Mummification of Subcultures -- Filmography -- References.

III. Sites of Trauma: Horror Fantasies, Weird Sceneries and Realms of Terror -- Chapter 9: Dealing with Cultural Traumas -- 1. Belarus: 26 Years of the State Regulation of Everything -- 2. Regressive Sociality as a Traumatic Core of Belarusian Literature -- 3. Traumatic Experience through the Eyes of Belarusian Writers -- 4. The Double Trauma of the Transition from Soviet to Post‐Soviet Society -- 5. Empties and Sphagnum: Belarus as a Trauma -- 6. Conclusion -- Filmography -- List of Illustrations -- References -- Chapter 10: Nostalgia for Trauma -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Idyllic Stagnation -- 3. Peacemaking Pantheism -- 4. The Geopolitics of Eros -- 5. Conclusion -- Filmography -- References -- Chapter 11: The Affective Landscapes of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. -- 1. Introduction -- 2. From Cossacks to Stalkers -- 3. Welcome to Wasteland -- 4. Observing the Ruins -- 5. Mutants from the Past -- 6. The Stories behind the Story -- 7. Intermediality of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. -- 8. The Zone Lives! -- Filmography -- List of Games -- List of Illustrations -- References -- Chapter 12: Come and See, Once Again -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Aleksei Kravchenko Now and Then: The Poetics of Popular Culture -- 3. World War II in Contemporary Russian Television Series -- 4. History and Fiction: The Leningrad Symphony Myth and NKVD Terror -- 5. The Boy, the Beloved and the Conductor: The Humanisation of a Chekist -- 6. Imperfect People: The Leningrad Blockade as an Existential Challenge -- 7. The Third Zone: Classical Music and the Poetry of Ol'ga Berggolts -- 8. Conclusion -- Filmography -- References -- Epilogue -- Public History, Popular Culture, and the Belarusian Experience in a Comparative Perspective -- Filmography -- References -- Appendix -- Acknowledgments -- Authors.