![]() ![]() The book's narrative unfolds into a particular kind of history-steeped, intergenerational Russian tale in which political consciousness meets internal strife and - more frequently than not, when the future itself appears to be a foregone conclusion - angst and despair. Indeed, Russia continues to dominate the headlines the specter of its meddling in the 2016 presidential elections lingers, ever threatening to tip us into a frosty era in which "an information war is waged against Western democracy as a concept and a reality."īut Western democracy, which is itself embattled in America, is not exactly Gessen's main focus - rather it is democracy unrealized and undesired in post-Communist Russia it is its eventual, unconscionable death. ![]() No doubt, Gessen's "The Future Is History," arrives at an opportune time - a time, she writes, when Russia has "reclaimed the role of evil and existentialist threat in America." ![]() Even the subtitle, "How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia," sends an urgent, alarming message to the world. Its cover - a black-and-white photograph of a woman sitting inside what appears to be a booth, her face partly obscured by an intercom - gives off a foreboding air. Masha Gessen's latest book about modern-day Russia, which comes in at more than 500 pages, is unapologetically loud, a protest against complacency. ![]()
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