About Polina Popova

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago (History department) writing a dissertation under Professor Jonathan Daly's guidance. I was born in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and spent my youth in Moscow (Russia), but I have lived in Chicago for the last 16 years. I have a philosophy and religious studies background, but I started studying history upon coming to the US. My current research is about the history of the Soviet children's literature of the Interwar period. More specifically, I am writing about biographies of Party Leaders and Red Army Commanders written for children under Stalin in the 1920s and the 1930s. I am also a children's book collector and enthusiast.

Polina Popova is a Ph.D. student at the history department of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Polina's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Polina:

Cassio de Oliveira, "Writing Rogues: The Soviet Picaresque and Identity Formation, 1921-1938" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2023)

August 24, 2024

Writing Rogues

Cassio de Oliveira
Hosted by Polina Popova

Plot elements such as adventure, travel to far-flung regions, the criminal underworld, and embezzlement schemes are not usually associated with Soviet…

Katya Hokanson, "A Woman's Empire: Russian Women and Imperial Expansion in Asia" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

May 13, 2024

A Woman's Empire

Katya Hokanson
Hosted by Polina Popova

A Woman's Empire: Russian Women and Imperial Expansion in Asia (U Toronto Press, 2023) explores a new dimension of Russian imperialism: women actively…

Erica L. Fraser, "Military Masculinity and Postwar Recovery in the Soviet Union" (U Toronto Press, 2019)

March 17, 2024

Military Masculinity and Postwar Recovery in the Soviet Union

Erica L. Fraser
Hosted by Polina Popova

Catastrophic wartime casualties and postwar discomfort with the successes of women who had served in combat roles combined to shatter prewar ideals …

Jonathan Daly and Leonid Trofimov, "Seven Myths of the Russian Revolution" (Hackett, 2023)

December 15, 2023

Seven Myths of the Russian Revolution

Jonathan Daly and Leonid Trofimov
Hosted by Polina Popova

Seven Myths of the Russian Revolution (Hackett, 2023) is a major contribution to our understanding of the Russian Revolution, from World War I to cons…

Ainsley Morse, "Word Play: Experimental Poetry and Soviet Children's Literature" (Northwestern UP, 2021)

September 16, 2023

Word Play

Ainsley Morse
Hosted by Polina Popova

Ainsley Morse's book Word Play: Experimental Poetry and Soviet Children's Literature (Northwestern UP, 2021) traces the history of the relationship be…

Megan Swift, "Picturing the Page: Illustrated Children’s Literature and Reading under Lenin and Stalin" (U Toronto Press, 2020)

March 20, 2023

Picturing the Page

Megan Swift
Hosted by Polina Popova

Based on sources from rare book libraries in Russia and around the world, Picturing the Page: Illustrated Children’s Literature and Reading under Leni…

Elena Goodwin, "Translating England into Russian: The Politics of Children's Literature in the Soviet Union and Modern Russia" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

December 23, 2022

Translating England into Russian

Elena Goodwin
Hosted by Polina Popova

From governesses with supernatural powers to motor-car obsessed amphibians, the iconic images of English children's literature helped shape the view o…