Y S SL F E U O D LU VIO OS C THE IRRESISTIBLE STORY OF HOW T IN PRE HO LES T P JOHN, PAUL, GEORGE AND RINGO HT EN BEA G EI SE HE HELPED TO BRING DOWN THE SOVIET UNION UN T
‘An amazing account of how the Beatles lit the red touch paper of change in Russia’ JON SNOW
Imagine a place where the music of the Beatles was against the law – a world of merchant sailors smuggling contraband LPs and broadcasts from Western pirate radio taped late in the night. This was no fantasy world but the U.S.S.R. in the Sixties, where a vast nation of Beatles fans risked repression to hunt down the music that would change their lives. The music of the Fab Four played a vital part in transforming an entire generation of Soviet youth, seducing them to abandon bland official culture and challenge the State’s rigid authoritarian rule. The Beatles generation battered down the walls of state culture to insist they were ready for a new world. Leslie Woodhead has spent over a quarter of a century tracking the Soviet rock revolution, from the Cold War to Pussy Riot. This is an unforgettable and unmistakably Russian tale of how a generation dropped out and discovered that all you really need is the Beatles. ‘How the Beatles really did come and keep their comrades warm – a fascinating lost chapter in their history’ PHILIP NORMAN ‘Leslie Woodhead has given us a priceless addition to Beatle literature – and a beautifully observed and witty insight into the cultural underbelly of the Soviet Union’ PAUL GREENGRASS, DIRECTOR OF THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM AND UNITED 93 LESLIE WOODHEAD made the first ever film with the Beatles in 1962 and his documentaries have won many international awards. He is the author of two previous books, My Life as a Spy and A Box Full of Spirits, and lives in Cheshire.
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Y S SL F E U O D LU VIO OS C T IN PRE HO LES P AT T H N G E BE EI SE HE UN T