In this perceptive, deeply researched book, Kirsten Bönker weaves together archival sources and oral history interviews to provide a unique insight into the history of Soviet television, as seen and experienced by Soviet audiences. The decision to switch attention from issues of governance and control over television to questions of consumption of everyday life leads Bönker to complicate easy dichotomies between work and leisure, private and public, oppression and resistance. In her analysis, television emerges not only as a key ingredient of everyday life, but also as a medium that succeeded in sustaining an emotional commitment to a Soviet way of life, and thereby contributed to the longevity and stability of communist rule. A powerful testimony to the importance and benefits of audience history, Television and Political Communication in the Late Soviet Union promises to have decisive impact on our understanding of Soviet television, and of media cultures in state socialist countries more generally.