Yankees in Petrograd 9780262553063 Paperback

When a capitalist cabal plots to assassinate Lenin, can quick-witted American workers ride to the rescue before it’s too late?a new translation.InYankees in Petrograd, the Russian author Marietta S. Shaginyan (writing under the American nom de plume Jim Dollar) gives us a riveting crime and espionage adventure with science fiction elements. Despite having awesome technologies such as public transportation that bends space and time and electrical forcefields protecting Soviet Russia against its foes, the worlds first proletarian state is threatened by a fascist organization that will stop at nothingincluding kidnapping, mesmerism, and infiltrationto assassinate Vladimir Lenin and his fellow Communist leaders! Enter Mike Thingsmaster, American tradesman and leader of a secret global organization defending the interests of the proletariat, who tasks his network with foiling this nefarious plot.Shaginyans novel, serialized in 1924 with covers decorated by Alexander Rodchenkos photomontages, proved wildly popular with the Soviet reading public, which followed its dizzying plot breathlessly. Settings constantly shift and characters assume multiple identities, and scenes of danger, intrigue, and melodrama are interspersed with moments of comic relief. Can Thingsmaster and his alliesincluding a robber barons scion who converts to the cause of Revolution, an alluring masked woman, a doctor investigating a disease that causes fierce anti-communists to revert to proto-human form, a chimney sweep, an intelligent dog, and the General Prosecutor of Illinoissucceed in thwarting the fascists? Youll have to read until the final chapter to find out.A satire of the sort of thrillers then appearing inBlack Maskand similar American pulps,Yankees in Petrogradis an over-the-top, pro-communist thrill ride.