Kyrill Kunakhovich

The Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies (formerly the Orbis Book Prize), established in 1996 and sponsored by the Kulczycki family, former owners of the Orbis Books Ltd. of London, England, is awarded annually for the best book in any discipline, on any aspect of Polish affairs, published in the previous calendar year.

Winner: Kyrill Kunakhovich, University of Virginia
Title: Communism’s Public Sphere: Culture as Politics in Cold War Poland and East Germany (Cornell University Press)

Kyrill Kunakhovich’s Communism’s Public Sphere: Culture as Politics in Cold War Poland and East Germany reflects a welcome turn in Polish Studies toward the rich cultural life of communist-era Central Europe. Beautifully weaving together the stories of Kraków and Leipzig, Kunakhovich demonstrates how theaters, galleries, and youth clubs became nodes in a parallel public sphere. Pushing back against the facile assumption that such spaces functioned simply as an oppositional alternative to state-sanctioned culture, he illuminates how these nodes dynamically pressured, augmented, and even supported officialdom. Thoroughly researched, elegantly staged, and compellingly argued, Communism’s Public Sphere offers both an insightful analysis of historical data for the regional specialist and an inspiring model for how neglected areas of cultural production under authoritarian regimes might be approached by future scholars in the field.