Book Review: Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia, by Anne Garrels

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An American in Putin's Russia.

Comments

I just got back from Russia

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Mostly Siberia. I wasn't in any one place long enough to really have a strong sense of how optimistic or pessimistic people were, though I suspect the places I visited were doing better than the city portrayed in Putin Country; thus it at least FELT somewhat more optimistic, or not so depressing, anyway.

ETA: I'll add that if there is any kind of strong political opposition to Putin, it wasn't obvious (again, from my very superficial perspective). The most salient comment I heard was at a pub owned by a craft brewery, by one of the beer-tenders/brewers: "We stay away from politics here. We can't get away from it in the rest of our lives, with Putin."

Thanks for the review, definitely adding to my reading list!

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Have you read the works of Anna Politkovskaya? I would recommend them though at this point they're a bit out of date for obvious reasons.

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I have not. Will have to check them out.