What to know about Russia, revolts and 1917
This Week, Those Books
Welcome to the third instalment of This Week, Those Books, your rundown on books new and old that resonate with the week’s news and developments. The few minutes you take to read this newsletter will make you smarter, faster…guaranteed. Here, you will find a deep dive on fiction and non-fiction about the week’s big story and/or perfect watercooler convo and dinner party small talk. (The first post on ‘dictator chic’ is here. The second post on ecocide and the late, great Cormac McCarthy is here.)
Let’s get started.
Russia is the word of a week that began in the way the previous one ended – with international befuddlement over the state of Putin’s Russia.
After 23 years in power, has President Vladimir Putin been fatally weakened by the 36-hour mutiny launched by former ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, boss of private military company Wagner?
Sixteen months after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is nuclear-armed Russia an increasingly fragile state?
Putin himself has compared the short-lived Wa…
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