Kate Brown
Xenia Cherkaev sorts through socialist property law with astounding lucidity. This is the first account I have read that provides a convincing explanation of the collapse of the late Soviet economy. A human, quixotic account.
Jeremy Morris
Xenia Cherkaev shows with compelling breadth and depth how property relations in today's Russia are inflected by the contested histories of 'personal' ownership of state property, DIY activities, and the socialist household economy. However, the book provides a wider perspective – on how this political economic arrangement related to the timeless questions of individual interest and public good and the role of the state.
Peter Linebaugh
From the moral economy to communism, from socialism to the household, from private property to the commons, Xenia Cherkaev brilliantly draws on law, theory, movies, political speeches, neighborly anecdote to tell how in the largest country in the world, state, society, and folks she just met kept body and soul together.