Soviet Union. A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union by Rick Smolan and David Cohen, Project Directors.

Collins, 1987. 1st printing. [Includes photos by 100 of the world's best photographers -- 50 from the Soviet Bloc and 50 from the rest of the world -- of all 15 Soviet Republics and across 11 time zones, on May 15, 1987. Book selected from 127,000 images shot that day. Photographers include Eddie Adams, James Balog, Dmitri Baltermants, Jodi Cobb, Diego Goldberg, Dirck Halstead, Graciela Iturbide, Boris Kaufman, David Hume Kennerly, Douglas Kirkland, Jean-Pierre Laffont, Sarah Leen, Oleg Makarov, Mary Ellen Mark, Graeme Outerbridge, Bill Pierce, Larry C. Price, Jim Richardson, Sebastiao Salgado, Sergei Samokhin, Neal Slavin, Rick Smolan, Jan Tikhonov, Vladimir Vyatkin, Lajos Weber, Mark S. Wexler, and Marina Yurchenko, among many others.] Fine with near fine dust jacket. Heavy book, requires more postage than most items in my store. Summary:

Published in 1987 by Collins Publishers, A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union is a monumental photojournalistic project that captures a single day—May 15, 1987—across the vast territory of the USSR. Conceived during the era of Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), the book coincides with the 70th anniversary of the Great October Revolution and offers a rare, candid look behind the Iron Curtain just a few years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The Scope and Logistics

The project was an unprecedented logistical feat, organized by the creators of the acclaimed A Day in the Life book series.

• The Team: The project paired 50 premier Western photojournalists with 50 leading Soviet photographers.

• The Scale: Sponsored by major corporations like Kodak, Nikon, and Pan Am, the 100 photographers were deployed across all 15 Soviet republics, spanning 11 time zones.

• Unprecedented Access: Operating in a country where unauthorized photography—even of simple infrastructure like bridges—had long been criminalized, the photographers were granted extraordinary freedom. They ventured into remote regions previously closed to outsiders for centuries, gaining access to private homes, state factories, schools, military settings, and even prisons.

Visual Content and Themes

The resulting 236-page volume features more than 300 high-quality color and black-and-white photographs that eschew rigid state propaganda in favor of raw, humanizing documentary realism.

• The Diversity of the USSR: The imagery emphasizes the vast geographical and cultural contrasts of the union, juxtaposing the cosmopolitan streets of Moscow and Leningrad with the rural landscapes of Siberia, the Baltic states, and Central Asia.

• Ordinary Life: Rather than focusing purely on political figures, the book centers on the routine daily lives of ordinary Soviet citizens—workers on assembly lines, children in classrooms, families sharing meals, and communities practicing diverse cultural and religious traditions.

Historical Significance

With a historical introduction by legendary journalist Harrison Salisbury, the book stands as an invaluable time capsule. It captures a fleeting moment of optimism and transition, providing the Western world with an uninhibited look at the faces, struggles, and everyday realities of a superpower on the brink of historic collapse.