Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy
by Anna Politkovskaya
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anna PolitkovskayaEdition: Paperback
Published: 2007-01-09
ISBN: 0805082506
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy
Book Review: Read-worthy, jet emotional
Summary: 3 Stars
Politkovskaya's book is important in the sense as it gives a voice to people that is not heard in other books about contemporary Russia. Especially the chapter "Tanya, Misha, Lena and Rinat - Where are they now?" where she looks up people that she used to know in the 70s, gives a remarkable description of personalities that anyone that gets to know Russian's personally will be able to recognize.
A weekness of this approach is that it is difficult to recognize and appreciate theese personality-types without personally knowing ehough Russians to see what she is talking about. Unless you know Russians personaly it will also be difficult to experience and take in, how many simply will refuse to read, know and take in her story either becuase it is something they have decided to act as if theese things never happened - focusing on this is negative, or simply because they are very emotionally difficult to discuss. This attitude and feelings among ordinary Russians is in my view farmore important than the authorities attitudes towards her writing.
I agree with the other reviews that claim her writing is very emotional. This is a problem because it makes me suspicious of her writing, even when what she tells is probably compleately true. By being less emtional she would undoubtful come through as more trustworthy, that is especially important because we to a large degree only have her side of the stroy to hold on to. Though considerably more moderate than Litvinenko and Felshtinsky's "Blowing up Russia", I find myself having some of the same mixed emotions about some of the consparicy-like claims that come up in the book, where we only have whether we belive the author or not to hold on to. Though experience have learned me that few seemingly over-the-top fantastic rumours can be ruled out when it comes to Russian politics, I am still laved with mixed emotions.
Her personal aproach also leave the basic, structural facts that is important to understand contemporary Russia in the background. Gaidar has used the relevant comparison of Russia in the 90s with the last similary desperate economic situation in Germany in the 30s. About 15 years after the democrasy was established in Germany, Hitler came to power under similar economic conditions. Who ever Putin is, he is like a boy-scout in that perspective. Politkovaskaya fails to give the political and economical understanding to put things into perspective. As another review states, you will not find what progresses Russia has made under Putin in this book. It is not that critical though, as long one can get that perspective from other books. Polikovskaya gives an understanding of the people acting under this cicumstantions that I have seen no other books on contemporary Russia.
Especially Politkovskaya have written other books and articles on Chechnya, I think Chechnya has got too much coverage in the book, compared to other topics. It might be that she should have chosen a different title, instead of writing relatively less about Chechnya though. It is nothing wrong woth writing many books about Chechnya, it is just that the topic "Putin's Russia" is considerably broader than that.
Another review claims you can not find Politkovskayas books in Russia. I can confirm that I have found them in English in ordinary book-stores and Russian friends confirms they have fond them too.
Do read this book. Make sure you fill out the picture with other books on the Putin era and the political and economical development in Post-USSR Russia though.
Summary of Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy
A searing portrait of a country in disarray, and of the man at its helm, from “the bravest of journalists” (The New York Times)
Hailed as “a lone voice crying out in a moral wilderness” (New Statesman), Anna Politkovskaya made her name with her fearless reporting on the war in Chechnya. Now she turns her steely gaze on the multiple threats to Russian stability, among them President Putin himself.
Putin’s Russia depicts a far-reaching state of decay. Politkovskaya describes an army in which soldiers die from malnutrition, parents must pay bribes to recover their dead sons’ bodies, and conscripts are even hired out as slaves. She exposes rampant corruption in business, government, and the judiciary, where everything from store permits to bus routes to court appointments is for sale. And she offers a scathing condemnation of the ongoing war in Chechnya, where kidnappings, extrajudicial killings, rape, and torture are begetting terrorism rather than fighting it.
Sounding an urgent alarm, Putin’s Russia is both a gripping portrayal of a country in crisis and the testament of a great and intrepid reporter.
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