All Shook Up

All Shook Up is the first full-length study to explore how the Soviet government and citizens responded to major disasters. Although traditional disaster studies focus on scientific aspects All Shook Up looks at political repercussions and social opportunities that emerged after disasters. By juxtaposing the response to earthquakes in the Central Asian republics to nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine Nigel Raab shows how Soviet citizens not only rebuilt devastated cities but also experimented with new values. After the Tashkent earthquake in 1966 architects experimented with Western design and youth underwent their own version of a sexual revolution. This study of Soviet disasters challenges stereotypical representations of the Soviet Union as a monolithic state.