Jeff Eden - God Save the USSR: Soviet Muslims and the Second World War

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ISBN 9780190076276

eISBN 9780190076290

DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190076276.001.0001

First and foremost, I want to thank my friend and colleague Allen J. Frank, who has been an inspiration through all phases of researching and writing this book. Allen generously provided me with some of the books most illuminating sources, and he himself has been a source of motivation and enlightening conversation at every stage. He was also the first to read the completed manuscript and to offer invaluable comments and corrections.

I began writing this book while I was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Cornell Universitys Department of Asian Studies. I was kindly welcomed there by Dan Gold, Keith Taylor, Chiara Formichi, Erin Kotmel, Sheila Haddad, and many wonderful students. Two chapter drafts were presented at Cornells Bret de Bary Interdisciplinary Mellon Working Group, an unusually delightful academic workshop where I enjoyed the great company and suggestions of Benjamin Anderson, Raashid Goyal, Patrick Naeve, David Powers, Danielle Reid, and Aaron Rock-Singer.

Some of the material here was reworked into a job talk for the idyllic St. Marys College of Maryland (SMCM), which I am now very fortunate to call my academic home. I never imagined a department as harmonious and convivial as our Department of History. Greetings and thanks to my SMCM History colleagues Christine Adams, Adriana Brodsky, Garrey Dennie, Chuck Holden, Sarah Malena, Charlie Musgrove, and Gail Savage. Many thanks are also due to Lucy Myers, Adrienne Raines, Kent Randell, Brenda Rodgers, and many other colleagues and friends who have made the college such a welcoming, supportive place.

Some material from first appeared in an article published in the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. This article was based on a talk I gave at a Harvard conference which I co-organized with Paolo Sartori. Thanks are due to Paolo, to the anonymous reviewers of the JESHOarticle, and to the other attendees of that memorable conference.

Several friends and colleagues have offered valuable advice and support for this project. Thanks in particular to Alfrid Bustanov, Devin DeWeese, and the anonymous reviewers for Oxford University Press. I am also profoundly grateful to Brid Nowlan for her sharp-eyed, diligent work copy-editing the manuscript. I have pestered many other friends and colleagues while working on this project, not with portions of this manuscript specifically, but instead with my caffeinated emails, memes, and dubious comic stylings, and I am endlessly grateful for their indulgence and camaraderie, which can be just as healthy for research morale as any specifically academic encouragement.

In my student days, several great teachers taught me the history of the Soviet Union and/or the languages spoken there. For these great gifts I want to thank Kagan Arik, Anna Bobrov, Bethany Braley, Devin DeWeese, Thaddeus Fortney, Malik Hodjaev, Chad Kia, Oleh Kotsyuba, Terry Martin, Natalia Reed, Ron Sela, Wheeler M. Thackston, and Dalia Yasharpour.

To all of my students, past and present: Being in class with you has been my greatest inspiration and one of the greatest joys of my life.

This book is dedicated to my grandfathers, who were both American veterans of the Second World War: Robert E. Eidelsberg (19211998) and Isidore Irving Hanin (19181991). Pvt. Hanin served in Japan and the Philippines. 1st Lt. Eidelsberg flew B-24 missions into Germany with the 458th Bombardment Group.

Finally, thanks to Ashley, the light of my life.