Schulthess, Emil. Soviet Union. Photos by Emil Schulthess. Text by Harrison E. Salisbury

Harper & Row, 1971. [Excellent photo reportage in Russia by Schulthess with perceptive text by Salisbury. Another of the dozen or so large photo books, not including various editions and translations, by Swiss photographer Emil Schulthess (1913–1996), whose publications depict Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, South America, and the United States.] Hardcover with crease lower corner of flyleaf, otherwise fine, no dust jacket. Summary:

Soviet Union is a prominent mid-century photographic survey and travel volume. The book matches an extensive collection of selective photographs by celebrated Swiss photographer Emil Schulthess with historical and cultural commentary by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and legendary New York Times Moscow correspondent Harrison E. Salisbury.

Key Overview and Objectives

• An Immersive Cross-Continental Survey: The book chronicles Schulthess’s extensive travels across the USSR between 1967 and 1970. He made seven distinct journeys, capturing thousands of photographs spanning eleven time zones—from the Baltic region to Siberia, and from the Arctic Circle to Central Asia.

• Expert Journalistic Context: Rather than serving as a basic travelogue, the visual material is anchored by Salisbury’s deep, analytical text. Salisbury draws upon his decades of experience reporting from within the USSR to explain the friction between official Soviet ideology and the realities of everyday citizens.

Core Themes and Visual Style

• Unity in Massive Diversity: Both the photography and text treat the Soviet Union as a complex structural mosaic rather than a single, monolithic entity. The volume highlights the cultural diversity of the individual republics, illustrating how distinct regional identities persisted underneath the Soviet banner.

• Modernization vs. Tradition: The book captures a superpower focused on urbanization and collective effort. High-contrast black-and-white images and rich color plates document Siberia’s raw wilderness, massive industrial centers, scientific achievements, and evolving modern architecture. These are juxtaposed against older, localized traditions such as Central Asian desert herding.

• An Ambiguous, Humanistic Lens: Schulthess’s lens prioritizes ordinary people—including factory workers, students, mothers, and rural peasants—showing their pride, resilience, and daily hardships. The book balances genuine admiration for the country's scale and social structures with a clear-eyed look at the discrepancies between state propaganda and reality.

Significance

Soviet Union stands as a vital historical time capsule from the height of the Cold War and the onset of détente. By combining Schulthess's technical expertise with Salisbury's unmatched journalistic insight, the volume provided Western audiences with a rare, nuanced, and remarkably human portrait of a highly guarded superpower.