Masha Gessen is a staff writer at the New Yorker and the author of several books, among them The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. The recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Carnegie Fellowship, Gessen teaches at Amherst College and lives in New York City.
"Fascinating and deeply felt." -The New York Times Book
Review
“Forceful and eloquent on the history of her native country, Gessen
is alarming and pessimistic about its future as it doubles down on
totalitarianism.” -Los Angeles Times
“A remarkable portrait of an ever-shifting era…Gessen weaves her
characters’ stories into a seamless, poignant whole. Her analysis
of Putin’s malevolent administration is just as effective…a
harrowing, compassionate and important book.” -San Francisco
Chronicle
“Ambitious, timely, insightful and unsparing … By far Gessen’s best
book, a sweeping intellectual history of Russia over the past four
decades, told through a Tolstoyan gallery of characters. … What
makes the book so worthwhile … are its keen observations about
Russia from the point of view of those experiencing its return to a
heavy-handed state. It helps that Gessen is a participant, and not
just an observer, able to translate that world adeptly for Western
readers. … You feel right there on the streets.” -Washington
Post
“It’s great and written in a direct, blunt style appropriate for
the subject.” –Bill Clinton, New York Times "By the Book"
“Gessen’s masterful chronicle of how post-Soviet optimism turned to
disappointment amid the return of repression and corruption is a
book as fascinating as it is urgently relevant today.” – Boston
Globe
“[R]eads almost like a Tolstoy novel...Gessen outlines the failure
of Russia's reform with precision and humanity, thoroughly
explaining the strength of an authoritarian government's hold on
its citizens' psyche. It's not just history; it is an urgent
awakening.” –Buzzfeed
“[Gessen’s] essential reportage traces her homeland’s political
devolution through the dramatic real stories of four citizens who
now face ‘a new set of impossible choices.’” –O Magazine
“Current events, ongoing, recognizable, and important to realize.”
– Tom Hanks
“Remarkable…Gessen’s deft blending of…stories gives us a fresh view
of recent Russian history with from within, as it was experienced
at the time by its people. It is a welcome perspective.” –New
York Review of Books
“An essential resource in helping us understand just what kind of
threat we are dealing with.” – Interview Magazine
“Excellent…Gessen’s cast of characters tell a powerful story of
their own, giving us an intimate look into the minds of a group
crucial to understanding the country’s brief experience of
democracy and of the authoritarian regime that follows.” –New
Republic
“One of Putin’s most fearless and dogged critics tracks the
devastating descent of post-Soviet Russia into authoritarianism and
kleptocracy through the lives of four disillusioned
citizens.” –Esquire
“Given the current political atmosphere involving the U.S. and
Russia, there’s no more relevant journalist than Masha Gessen . . .
her reporting should continue to inform any discussion of Russia
throughout her lifetime and beyond.” –Kirkus
“One of our most urgent and iconoclastic journalists...few...are
better placed to understand the parallels between the two
egomaniacs who now dominate world affairs.” –Out Magazine
“Starting with the decline, if not the disintegration, of the
Soviet regime, Masha Gessen’s The Future is History tracks
totalitarianism through the lens of generation raised in
post-Communist Russia.” -Vanity Fair, "Hot Type"
“Gessen, the sterling Russian-American journalist and activist, has
been outspoken in recent press articles about the threat of
totalitarianism in America. But in her latest book, Future Is
History, she never mentions America’s problems. Here, instead,
she examines what is wrong in her native country and lets readers,
wide-eyed, draw the parallels." -Christian Science
Monitor
“Brilliant and sobering…writing in fluent English, with formidable
powers of synthesis and a mordant wit, Gessen follows the
misfortunes of four Russians who have lived most of their lives
under Putin…Gessen vividly chronicles the story of a mortal
struggle.” -Newsday
“Gessen is an exemplary journalist who knows when to sit back and
let facts speak for themselves…[and] The Future Is History
just might be the culmination of [her] life’s work... If
you’ve been confused by all the talk about “Russia stuff,” this
might be the most important book you’ll read all year.” –Seattle
Times
“Impressive...The Future Is History warns us of what will
become of the United States if we don’t push against our burgeoning
authoritarian government and fight for democracy…A chilling read,
but a necessary one.” –Bitch Media
“A lively and intimate narrative of the USSR’s collapse and its
aftershocks, through the eyes of seven individuals… A gifted
writer, Gessen is at her best when she’s recounting her characters’
experiences.” -Bookforum
“A thoroughly-reported history of a dismal sequence of events with
a strong, engaging narrative and central set of
characters.” –Forward
“A brave and eloquent critic of the Putin regime … For anyone
wondering how Russia ended up in the hands of Putin and his
friends, and what it means for the rest of us, Gessen’s book give
an alarming and convincing picture.” –The Times
“Gessen makes a powerful case, arguing that Putin reconstituted the
political and terror apparatus of the Soviet state and that
ideology was the last block to fall into
place.” –Financial Times
“Russia is more at the forefront of our minds now than it’s been in
all the time since the Cold War, and who better to enlighten us on
the evolution of this complicated nation than journalist and Putin
biographer Masha Gessen? Through her profiles of various Russians
including four born in the 1980s, Gessen crafts a narrative that
deciphers the Soviet Union’s move toward – and retreat from –
democracy.” -Signature Reads
"A devastating, timely, and necessary reminder of the fragility and
preciousness of all institutions of freedom." -Booklist
(starred)
"Brilliant...A worthwhile read that describes how Putin’s powerful
grip on Russia developed, offering a dire warning of how other
nations could fall under a similar spell of state
control." -Library Journal
"An intimate look at Russia in the post-Soviet period, when the
public’s hopes for democracy devolved within a restricted society
characterized by “a constant state of low-level dread"...a
well-crafted, inventive narrative." -Publisher's Weekly
“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."
- Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny
”A fine example of journalism approximating art. Necessary reading
for anyone trying to understand the earthshaking events of our
time: how in one country after another individual aspirations for
wealth and power mutated into collective cravings for
strongmen.”
- Pankaj Mishra, author of An End to Suffering and Age of
Anger
‘The Future is History is a beautifully-written, sensitively-argued
and cleverly-structured journey through Russia's failure to build
democracy. The difficulty for any book about Russia is how to make
the world’s biggest country human-sized, and she succeeds by
building her story around the lives of a half-dozen people, whose
fortunes wax and wane as the country opens up, then closes down
once more. It is a story about hope and despair, trauma and
treatment, ideals and betrayal, and above all about love and
cynicism. If you want to truly understand why Vladimir Putin has
been able to so dominate his country, this book will help you.’
- Oliver Bullough, author of Let Our Fame Be Great and The
Last Man in Russia
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