"An eye opening uncensored sampling of contemporary Russian ethnic slurs. The stereotypes of Georgians, Ukrainians, and Chukchis will be new to most readers. The fascinating joke texts are accompanied by insightful analytic commentaries. This will be required reading for serious students of what folklorists term blason populaire."

- Alan Dundes, University of California-Berkeley

"Draitser's book deals with very fundamental questions. What makes a state? What makes a nationality? How are our neighboring countries different from us? Are they? He shows us that people have pretty much the same vices and weaknesses all over the world--well, all over Eastern Europe--and he gives us lots of good anecdotes."

- Journal of American Folklore

"Draitser's book provides a number of good laughs while also instructing and enlightening us about the social and cultural context of the jokes, their targets, and their meaning.... A welcome addition to the study of contemporary folklore, a fine and definitive collection and analysis of an oral tradition that has only begun to receive the attention it deserves."

- Slavic and East European Journal

"There is much that recommends Draitser's book both to the specialist and to the non-specialist: it offers a cultural insider's point of view, a plethora of examples, interesting analysis, and an excellent bibliography.... A valuable contribution to the still scant literature on Russian jokelore."

- Slavic Review

"The volume succeeds admirably in conveying the full flavor of ethnic humor in Russia over the final decades of the twentieth century and will be of value to anyone with a serious, or even a casual, interest in contemporary Russian culture."

- Russian Review

"Emil Draitser has written an admirable account of Russian ethnic humor that he links it convincingly to Russian society, history and politics. The section on Russian Jewish humor and its links with anti-Semitism in the socialist period is an outstanding piece of scholarship. The contemporary Russian ethnic jokes about Chukchis, Georgians, Ukrainians, and other nationalities are analyzed with equal skill and subtlety."

- Christie Davies, University of Reading

"Draitser has used a huge array of 'jokelore' as a way to understand the huge and changing world that used to be the Soviet Union. Draitser;'s scholarship is serious, but hundreds of examples retain their savage and often sick zaniness."

- Robert Belknap, Columbia University