Via Gudkov’s research, Gessen introduces us to the idea of homo soveticus, a Russian personality type that sprung from years living under the Communist government. By the time we reach the cataclysmic end, we actually feel for these characters.īeyond the four younger characters, Gessen also follows Lev Gudkov, one of only a handful of sociologists in Russia. They also provide some relief from some of the denser segments of the book. These sections put a human face on Gessen’s subjects, something many films and texts about Russia fail to do. While the Soviet Union falls apart, we read about summers at luxurious dachas and trips to the Crimea. If words like Chechnya and Nemtsov are not familiar to the reader, Gessen’s book is a good primer for understanding the rise of Putin.īetween some very in-depth sections of history, The Future is History traces the early years of its subjects. From the thaw under Gorbachev where Russians appeared ready to embrace Western values to the return of Cold War thought under Boris Yeltsin, Gessen understands that it is imperative we know about the past to understand the present. Gessen sets the stage by giving the reader a crash course on modern Russian history. Despite the book’s obvious slant, Gessen unspools a story that is a terrifying warning for the United States should we ignore some of the rhetoric pouring from Washington, D.C. Except for philosopher Alexander Dugin, the other characters are staunchly anti-Putin, a position Gessen also unapologetically adopts. We mainly follow four young people, extraordinary Russians who decide to stand up against the mafia state created by president Vladimir Putin.

But how much do we actually know about the Russians and how they think? In Masha Gessen’s excellent new book, The Future is History, the journalist traces the rise of the totalitarianism that now holds the nation in it grip.īeginning with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Gessen tells the story of modern Russia through the eyes of several people, ranging from dissidents to a sociologist to a psychoanalyst. As more and more evidence of meddling in the 2016 election emerges, despite Donald Trump’s frequent denials, Russia is once again thrust into the role of enemy of the American public. In many ways, Communism is antithetical to “American values” and because of this ideological difference, Russia has been perceived as a threat since the ‘30s, and remains so today, even long after the thawing of the Cold War. Since the Revolutions of 1917, Russia has held a strange fascination for Americans, its citizens frequent villains in both popular entertainment and on the world stage.

The Future Is History by Masha Gessen