August, XX century: Transformation of a private person"s life in an era of social cataclysms

The August metaphor (a month traditionally having a bad reputation in the People"s Historical Consciousness) originated from the comparison of key historical dates of the twentieth century. The short European XX century, according to Eric Hobsbaum, opened by August 1914 and ended in August 1991. Under the clue, it turns out that August in the past century (especially for Russia) becomes deeply symbolic time - the most important events, predetermined sharp turns of history, have occurred This month is (August 1914 - the beginning of the First World War, the beginning of the collapse of the Imperial Russia, August 1939 - the beginning of the Second World War, August 1945 - the end of World War II, the formation of a bipolar world, August 1968 - Entering Soviet tanks in Czechoslovakia, student unrest in Europe, August 1991 - the disintegration of a single communist space).
Building periodization in August as the highest points of social bifurcations of the twentieth century, the compilers of a two-volume collective monograph set the goal to trace how fundamentally changed the life of a private person as a result of global cataclysms of the 20th century: world wars, intellectual, social and scientific and technical revolutions, geopolitical Crossing the world. A look at the tragic history of the past century from the position of the anthropological approach allows to raise a number of major issues practically not studied in modern historiography:
- In which areas of life of a private person have radical changes occur?
- Where is the usual framework of existence remained unchanged contrary to global catastrophes and revolutionary discoveries?
- What is the loss and acquisitions ratio?
What are the differences in the new human experience of the open and closed society?
- How traditionally attracted by researchers the documents of the epoch reflect the depth and essence of change?