“Once upon a time, Alexey Navalny wanted to be a normal politician in a normal country. Now that’s just a fantasy.” [original article was adapted from “The Dissident: Alexey Navalny, Profile of a Political Prisoner,” released by Twelve, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.] “… Navalny, despite decades crusading against Russian corruption and against … Putin’s increasingly dictatorial rule, never […]
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“The writings of Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and others are littered with clues for understanding the 21st-century world.” “Books of cultural criticism seldom shed a piercing light on headline events. However, readers of ‘Wonder Confronts Certainty,’ Gary Saul Morson’s masterly panorama of classic Russian literature and its hinterland of ideas, will find their understanding of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s recent botched rebellion against […]
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“The Ukrainian historian shows how the Kremlin’s bloody campaign has backfired.” “The Russo-Ukrainian War. By Serhii Plokhy. W.W. Norton; 400 pages … [a] useful account of the origins and early progress of Russia’s war against Ukraine … very much worth reading ….” “…[T]he first six chapters [lay] out an excellent survey of unresolved regional tensions, going all the way back […]
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“PUTIN, by Philip Short | Illustrated | 864 pp. | Henry Holt & Company | $40 … Short’s account is both perfectly and unfortunately timed, arriving just when we most need to understand Putin, yet missing the chapter that may yet define his place in history. … Short’s version nonetheless offers a compelling, impressive and methodically researched account of Putin’s […]
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Subject: New Book Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2022 From: Richard Sakwa <R.Sakwa@kent.ac.uk> Just released: Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold War (Lanham, MD, Lexington Books, 2022). The ‘Russiagate’ affair is one of the most far-reaching political events of recent years. But what exactly was the nature and extent of Russian interference in the campaign that led to the presidency of […]
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How important was the true-believing communist son of Stavropol peasants, the actor son of a Midwestern traveling salesman, or the staid, provincial daughter of a Lincolnshire shopkeeper? […]
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… as Tolstoy wrote and “edited” — which was actually waves of rewriting — the characters took on lives of their own […]
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… Lipman kept a diary … enough to trigger … memories, often aided by his wife, Nahid. He has compiled them into … “Moscow Memories: Memoirs of a Medical Diplomat,” … describ[ing] the day-to-day life not only of diplomats, but of Soviet citizens […]
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Disinformation by Russia and its allies has increased sharply … Western responses have been weak and uncoordinated … Striking Back presents concrete recommendations for aggressive messaging to combat Russian disinformation […]
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… This brings me to the most critical point about the book. Instead of referencing sources for various claims and assertions, the author provides notes … at the end …. Despite the fallacy of the incomplete evidence, Harding’s hypothesis is embraced enthusiastically by many […]
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In her deeply researched new book, Catherine Belton tells a dark tale of … Putin’s rise to power and … 20 years as [Russian] leader …. ‘Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West‘ […]
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Subject: New book: SOVIET JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG – A New History of the International Military Tribunal // Pub. July 2020 Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2020 15:05:20 +0000 From: PAYNE, Sarah <Sarah.Payne@oup.com> Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ffJmId Standard Western accounts of The Nuremberg Trials fixate on key figures like Justice Robert H. Jackson, the U.S. chief prosecutor and Supreme Court judge, as well as […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Paul Saunders – Oct. 1, 2019) Paul Saunders is the chairman and president of the Energy Innovation Reform Project and a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Center for the National Interest. Book Review “The Russia Anxiety and How History Can Resolve It” By Mark B. Smith Oxford University Press, October 2019 [Amazon: […]
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“… Putin is a gambler. Russia’s population is shrinking, its real-terms wages and gross national income per head are tumbling, it has failed to create successful industries and services and is blighted by entrenched corruption – and yet its president behaves like a poker player with a royal flush. … form[ing] a close relationship with [China’s] President Xi Jinping … […]
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“… In these 11 stories … Dr. Osipov, a Russian cardiologist, fiction writer and playwright, regards the field of medicine as though it were a hapless production of a surrealist play. … [T]he borders between hope, delusion and dishonesty are hazy and heavily trafficked. … Dr. Osipov is a master of dramatic irony, wringing bittersweet humor from what the reader […]
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“… Anders Aslund … in ‘Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy‘ … [casts Putin] as a patriarchal overlord … handsomely reward[ing] those loyal …. creat[ing] a new elite of friends, former co-workers and relatives. What’s less clear is what, if anything [can be done about it]. … [A]naly[zing] the last 15 or so years of Putin’s […]
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“… At nearly 1,000 pages Stalingrad is slightly longer than its sequel. … Grossman places an earlier focus on the Shaposhnikov family and friends … their lives … thrown into disarray by the impending Battle of Stalingrad. Hitler’s huge offensive on the Eastern Front has driven Soviet forces into a prolonged retreat. Stalingrad … on a clifftop by the Volga […]
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“Q: Most narratives of post-Soviet Russia emphasize a break between Yeltsin and Putin. …. But your book[, “Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War,”] stresses that there are continuities …. [A.] I see these two periods as successive phases in the evolution of a single system. … the core differences are really matters of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Emily Couch – May 4, 2019 – themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/05/mark-galleotti-the-vory-russias-super-mafia-a65488) In “The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia,” Mark Galeotti draws on years of research to tell the grimly absorbing tale of Russia’s criminal underworld. Galeotti is a specialist in Russian history, security and crime who is a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations (Prague); a regular […]
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“… Russia’s Futures provides readers with a broad survey of the Russian political and economic systems, Russia’s place in the world, the main ideological currents in Russian society, and the like. It’s clearly aimed at a general rather than a specialist audience. As such, it’s more a summary of what Sakwa has concluded from his 30 years of professional studies […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Nikolas K. Gvosdev – April 4, 2019 – russiamatters.org/analysis/7-pillars-putins-world-new-book-shows-us-policymakers-russia-it) Nikolas K. Gvosdev is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs. “Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest” By Angela Stent Twelve, February 2019 American officials who profess to have […]
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Subject: Book announcement Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2018 From: John Helmer The Man Who Knows Too MuchAbout Russia By John Helmer THE GENUINE GOLDEN SHOWER – JOHN HELMER’S MEMOIRS OF VLADIMIR PUTIN FROM 1991 TO 2018 John Helmer is the longest serving foreign correspondent in Russia; he has been reporting from Moscow since 1989, and on Wednesday, December 19, […]
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From: Nick Magliato <nmagliato@skyhorsepublishing.com> Subject: New book Stephen F. Cohen, War With Russia? From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate Date : November 15, 2018 War With Russia? From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate By Stephen F. Cohen Hot Books paperback, also available as an ebook On Sale: November 27, 2018 / $18.99 ISBN: 9781510745810 Amazon: https://amzn.to/2P4KsZr […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Karine Clement – November 20, 2018) Karine Clément is a sociologist and research associate at CERCEC/EHESS (Paris). [opendemocracy.net/od-russia/karine-clement/how-to-think-about-russia-without-putin] A review of Tony Wood, Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War (Verso Books). [Amazon: amazon.com/gp/product/1788731247/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1788731247&linkCode=as2&tag=faitcent-20&linkId=ecd69929f1165153c42f42523c2d050c] [Amazon promo: How the West’s obsession with Vladimir Putin prevents it from understanding Russia It is impossible to […]
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Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute Book Launch: No Place for Russia with Dr. William Hill September 12, 2018 wilsoncenter.org/event/book-launch-no-place-for-russia-dr-william-hill The optimistic vision of a “Europe whole and free” after the fall of the Berlin Wall has been replaced by today’s hostile division of Europe between Russia and the West. Attempts to integrate Russia into a unified Euro-Atlantic security order have been […]
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Subject: New Book: No Place for Russia: European Security Institutions Since 1989 Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2018 From: William Hill <williamhhill@gmail.com> I believe the following will be of interest to many of your readers, and would be grateful if you could include it in JRL. As of today (August 14, 2018) my new book — William H. Hill, No Place […]
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Subject: New book: Rich Russians (OUP 2018) Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2018 From: Schimpfossl, Elisabeth <e.schimpfossl@aston.ac.uk> Would there be a chance to announce the UK launch of my book (26 July) on your mailing list? Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie (published by Oxford University Press) The first book to examine the legitimacy, social lives, lifestyles, ideologies, and families of […]
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“… None of the works on Trump and Russia is comprehensive; the appeal of one or another depends on the angles you obsess over and the blind spots you ignore. …” * * * THE FUTURE IS HISTORY How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia By Masha Gessen. Riverhead. 515 pp. $28 COLLUSION Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump […]
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“WITH SUBSTANTIAL MATERIAL NOT INCLUDED IN THE DOCUMENTARY Academy Award winner Oliver Stone was able to secure what journalists, news organizations, and even other world leaders have long coveted: extended, unprecedented access to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Putin Interviews are culled from more than a dozen interviews with Putin over a two-year span–never before has the Russian leader spoken […]
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Subject: New Book: Ukraine In The Crossfire /dePloeg Date: Wed, 03 May 2017 From: Clarity Press, Inc. <clarity@islandnet.com> UKRAINE IN THE CROSSFIRE By Chris Kaspar de Ploeg Chris de Ploeg (1994) is freelance journalist and political analyst. His publications have appeared in De Groene Amsterdammer (NL), Follow the Money (NL), Dissident Voice (US), De Wereld Morgen (BE), De Omslag (NL) […]
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“THE LONG-STANDING ANIMOSITY and suspicion between Russia and the United States have reached such a frenzied pitch of late that the very idea of good relations has begun to feel impossible, almost ahistorical. …”
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… Pomerantsev said he had been struck by the ‘state-reinforced psychology of the new Russia, the insistence that all identities are mutable, that nothing is true and everything is possible.’ Born in Ukraine and now living in London, Pomerantsev has worked as a journalist, film-maker and as a consultant for the EU and World Bank. * * * Judge and […]
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From: director@cast.ru (Ruslan Pukhov) Date: 20.10.2015 Subject: Brothers Armed: Military Aspects of the Crisis in Ukraine. Second edition. Brothers Armed: Military Aspects of the Crisis in Ukraine offers an in-depth look at the state of the military in both Russia and Ukraine, as well as the history, political circumstances and events leading to the annexation of Crimea and outbreak of […]
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(Interfax – June 2, 2015) A book, titled ‘Moscow Kremlin. Monuments and Shrines’ was presented in Moscow on June 2. The author, spokesman for the Federal Security Guard Service Sergei Devyatov, said that he had worked on the book for about six years. The book has been released with a print run of 1,350 copies. It has more than 2,000 […]
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Truth may well be the first victim of war, and fair-minded and dispassionate accounts of events in Ukraine are rare. (opendemocracy.net – Richard Sakwa – May 8, 2015) Richard Sakwa is professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, England. Among his books are Putin: Russia’s Choice (Routledge, 2nd edition, 2007) and Russian Politics and Society (Routledge, […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Timothy Ash, Head of EM Research, ICBC-Standard Bank, London – March 23, 2015) “Mr Putin: Operative in the Kremlin”, new and expanded, by Fiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy, Brookings Institute Press, Washington, 2015. This book is sold as a biography, but if you want a standard chronological recap of the life of Vladimir Putin […]
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Subject: New book: Brothers Armed: Military Aspects of the Crisis in Ukraine Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 From: Ruslan Pukhov <director@cast.ru> Brothers Armed: Military Aspects of the Crisis in Ukraine Edited by Colby Howard and Ruslan Pukhov, Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Published by East View Press, 2014 ISBN 978-1-879944-22-0 paperback, 252 pages $89.95 Description: Brothers Armed discusses […]
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Subject: NEW BOOK – Ukraine Crisis: What it Means for the West Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 From: Andrew Wilson <andrew.wilson@ecfr.eu> My latest book Ukraine Crisis: What it Means for the West has just been published – the first major work on the crisis, its background and broader implications. The main thesis is that a triple crisis is still unfolding: […]
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Subject: New Suzanne Massie Book — “Trust, but Verify: Russia, Reagan, and Me” Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 From: Mitchell Polman <mitchpolman@gmail.com> Suzanne Massie, author of “Land of the Firebird”, has written a new book on her days as an informal advisor on the Soviet Union to President Reagan. It is a fascinating account of the discussions Suzanne had with […]
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Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2013 Subject: New book: Strategic Cooperation: Overcoming the Barriers of Global Anarchy From: Michael Slobodchikoff <mslobodchikoff@troy.edu> Michael O. Slobodchikoff Lecturer of Political Science Troy University Troy, AL TITLE: Strategic Cooperation: Overcoming the Barriers of Global Anarchy AUTHOR: Michael O. Slobodchikoff PUBLISHER: Lexington Books (2013) ABSTRACT: Power inequalities and mistrust have characterized many interstate relationships. Yet most […]
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Subject: New book: Law, Rights and Ideology in Russia: Landmarks in the Destiny of a Great Power Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2013 From: “Bill Bowring” <b.bowring@bbk.ac.uk> My new Routledge book: “Law, Rights and Ideology in Russia: Landmarks in the Destiny of a Great Power” http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415683463/ Law, Rights and Ideology in Russia: Landmarks in the destiny of a great power brings […]
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Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 Subject: New book: Why Communism Did Not Collapse From: Martin Dimitrov <martin.k.dimitrov@gmail.com> Martin Dimitrov Associate Professor of Political Science Tulane University New Orleans, LA TITLE: Why Communism Did Not Collapse: Understanding Authoritarian Regime Resilience in Asia and Europe EDITOR: Martin K Dimitrov PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press (2013) ABSTRACT: This volume brings together a distinguished group […]
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Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 From: Vladimir Shlapentokh <shlapent@msu.edu> Subject: New book: Freedom, Repression, and Private Property in Russia. Hardcover,Cambridge University Press, 2013 Freedom, Repression, and Private Property in Russia Hardcover, Cambridge University Press, 2013 by Vladimir Shlapentokh (Author), Anna Arutunyan (Author) This study demonstrates how the emergence of private property and a market economy after the Soviet Union’s collapse […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexander Gasyuk, special to RBTH – April 24, 2013) Alexander Gasyuk is Rossiyskaya Gazeta’s Washington Bureau Chief “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin,” a new book by the Brookings Institution pundits, analyzes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personality instead of surrounding stereotypes RBTH sat down with Fiona Hill, who serves as the director of […]
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