[Item #4873] The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. Masha Gessen.
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia

The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia

New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 2017. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Biographer, Masha Gessen. "Masha Gessen is humbly erudite, deftly unconventional, and courageously honest. At this particular historical moment, when we must understand Russia to understand ourselves, we are all very lucky to have her." So reads the endorsement of historian, Timothy Snyder--among the preeminent biographical authorities on Eastern European History & the geopolitical quakes of the 20th Century, more broadly. If you've read Snyder's histories, you'll ascribe an authority to the above-quoted endorsement that justifies its acquisition and the time you'll spend reading. If not, perhaps a few facts of Gessen's own biography can provide the requisite nudge. Gessen is -- by existence and declaration -- "part of the LGBT community." Putin's Russia, hardly a beacon of tolerance, in 2013 enacted a federal law, titled: "For the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values." This was no Russian Moynihan Report. Statistics on the success-engendering stability of the two-person household are entirely absent from the 2013 law, which focuses on the misguided 'prevention' & cultural dismissal of homosexuality. As the 2014 episode of Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" related, a rise in hate crimes (and, as Bourdain claims, "...the actual hunting of gay people...") was reported in the immediate wake of the 2013 law. To the shock of removed westerners, most Russians are enthusiastic about the white-knuckled strength Mr. Putin projects. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that the response of Russian citizens to the seemingly unceasing cycle of civil incursions--even when roused by the social force of charismatic opposition--is one of guiltless resignation. This is perhaps Gessen's overarching point, the "jewel center" of her thesis. People have lives to live, families to feed--Quixotic crusades for Westernization...campaigns seeking to institute the social tolerance of western democracies in deeply Orthodox Russia--are not worth the risks to life-&-livelihood. For Gessen, the state of social progress in Russia today exists in a tellingly "Soviet" bind. Steroidal infusions of sweeping, censorious power & the hiccup-less gaslighting that marked day-to-day life under Soviet Rule seem all-too-recognizable to present-day Russians. The same undignified Fear of the State...the same trepidation towards truth...the same black flowers of coercion are back and blooming with a vengeance. Hardcover in unclipped dust-jacket: the First Edition of this truly brave biographical indictment of Putin's Russia, with no reference to further editions on copyright page; First Printing, as noted by number sequence thereon. This copy is additionally signed by Gessen on title page. Author signature, in thin black felt pen ink, reads: "Masha Gessen / 10. 04. 2017." [ISBN: 978-1-594-64536]. Book in very fine condition, virtually as new, with only slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges. Dust-jacket in equally very fine condition with only mild shelf-wear & a few instances of low-impact, since-flattened horizontal creasing at select points along fine-edges of front, back covers & spine. An extra handling fee will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4873]

Price: $30.00