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    The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War
    The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War
    The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War

    Written by Arkady Ostrovsky

    Narrated by Michael Page

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The end of communism and breakup of the Soviet Union was a time of euphoria around the world, but Russia today is violently anti-American and dangerously nationalistic. So how did we go from the promise of those days to the autocratic police state of Putin's new Russia?

    The Invention of Russia reaches back to the darkest days of the cold war to tell the story of the fight for the soul of a nation. With the deep insight only possible of a native son, Arkady Ostrovsky introduces us to the propagandists, oligarchs, and fixers who have set Russia's course since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    The Soviet Union yoked together dreamers and strongmen-those who believed in an egalitarian ideal and those who pushed for an even more powerful state. The new Russia is a cynical operation, where perpetual fear and war are fueled by a web of lies. Twenty-five years after the Soviet flag came down over the Kremlin, Russia and America are again heading toward a confrontation, but this course was far from inevitable. With this riveting account of how we got here-of the many mistakes and false promises-Ostrovsky emerges as Russia's most gifted chronicler.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 28, 2016
    ISBN9781515978374
    The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War

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    Reviews for The Invention of Russia

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    • 5/5
      Goes beyond the simple reconstruction of the chain of events and provides ample explanation and analysis of possible motivations and reasons behind the current state of Russia.
    • 4/5
      How things went wrong in Russia, with the failure of democratic reformers to put in a structure that could survive the transfer of power. Very few heroes here.
    • 2/5
      The Invention of Russia is severely misrepresented by its book jacket, probably intentionally. The book is primarily about political changes in Russia from 1980 to 2000 *as reflected in the Russian media landscape.* (A short chapter is added to the end that jumps forward to 2014 and the invasion of Crimea.) Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin all exist in the book, but their entourage is barely present except when they appear on TV. The angle is certainly a unique one, but it's hard not to feel like it makes the book somewhat superfluous. Certainly the media played a key role in both the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of Putin, but Ostrovsky makes it sound like it was the only factor and, conversely, that the loss of independent media was also the major loss for Russians under Putin. This seems to give outside importance to the media in both directions.Ostrovsky also falls victim to a number of blind spots common to Western neo-liberals (Ostrovsky writes for The Economist) when writing about Russia. Gorbachev is well-intentioned but unprepared, the liberals under Yeltsin, however bad, are assumed to be the best chance Russia ever had at democracy, and Putin is a nefarious KGB agent who seeks control of the country almost as soon as he is handed the reins to power. It is not that these portrayals are wrong, exactly, but they exist largely unjustified by the content of the book itself. Why did Yeltsin become so unpopular so quickly? Why did Putin remain so popular if he is as authoritarian as the book claims? These facts are mentioned in the book but never explained beyond some very broad reasoning -- basically, control of the media amounts to control of public opinion. But this raises its own questions -- if Ostrovsky believes that people are so dim-witted and uncritical as to accept whatever the media puts in front of them, what does that say about prospects for democracy, in Russia or anywhere else? Was Russia chasing a mirage all along?
    • 4/5
      Thorough overview of the media in the last 30 years -from Gorbachev to Putin. Very well done although assumes a knowledge of Russian historical events and recent history.
    • 5/5
      "Author, Arkady Ostrovsky is a Russian-born journalist who has spent 15 years reporting from Moscow, first for the Financial Times and then as bureau chief for The Economist.....(from book cover)Arkady Ostrovsky proposes the answer to the questionWhat happened to the promise of the late 80's and early 90's Russia?Parameters like foreign affairs, politics and economy do notgive the complete narrative.Media was seen as a "prism for Russia's post Soviet transformation."Idealogues and oligarchical activity promoted words, ideas and images that often conflicted with actual reality.The television literally came first and reformation of countrywas to follow.Reading, you'll see how oligarchs, ideologues and television rebuilt Russia.Acknowledgments, notes,"dramatis personae" and bibliographyare extensive.I found Ostrovsky's chronicle to be a clear explanation of the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Vladimir Putin.5 ★(I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway)