Within chapter 5 of Fainberg’s book, she discusses how Soviet journalists were able to tell readers of the common issues within the United States through the stories of individuals that lived it. The miner’s story reflected the themes of poverty, non-empathetic business, and the individual’s attempts to hold on to a past that could never be revived. By doing so, one could not detach the disparity of such stories from the “American dream.” Additionally, the towns that these issues took place in were usually tucked away in the Appalachian mountains among impoverished areas that all shared similar fates, which brought these articles to light not only to Soviet readers, but also perhaps to American audiences as well. When the people are not able to share their stories themselves because of inaccessibility, these Soviet reporters were able to expose them, while also taking advantage of the opportunity in order to show the American disparities.
I wonder then, if these stories written by Soviet journalists then also exposed them to American readers, if they were accessible or translated later? As Fainberg wrote, many American officials that read Soviet pieces saw them as positioned to bolster the Soviet government’s ideology, but did they see the issues brought forth as well? Fainberg’s example of the Smoky the Bear correlation shows that they understood the issues, but was it only after Soviet writing did they become apparent?
