About the book: 2021 / The Mitki group is an important and still insufficiently studied page from the turbulent history of Russian nonconformist art of the 1980s . Through their satirical poetry and prose, pop music, film and performance, Mitki formed a politically polyvalent dissident art close to the European avant-garde and American counterculture. Without Mitkov’s experience, there would be no modern Russian protest actionism - right up to the actions of Pyotr Pavlensky and Pussy Riot. The author of the book relies not only on literature, journalism and art criticism, but also on his own extensive interviews with the “Mitkas” (Dmitry Shagin, Vladimir Shinkarev, Olga and Alexander Florensky, Viktor Tikhomirov and others), touching on the problems of state authoritarianism, militarism and social restrictions from Brezhnev's times to the present day. Alexander Mikhailovic is professor emeritus of comparative studies and Russian studies at Hofstra University and visiting professor of literature at Bennington College. Publisher's edition of The Mitki and the Art of Post Modern Protest in Russia by Alexandar Mikhailovic is published by arrangement with the University of Wisconsin Press.