Same River, Twice

Putin's War on Women

Sofi Oksanen

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Paperback

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English

HARPER360
14 February 2025

History; Feminism & feminist theory; Politics & government; Geopolitics; Human rights; Civil rights & citizenship

Blending the journalistic rigor of Masha Gessen with the call to action of We Should All Be Feminists, a startling denunciation of Vladimir Putin’s war on women that reveals how modern Russia’s history of weaponizing sexual violence against women is part of the Russian leader’s strategy to retain political influence and domination.

On March 22, 2023, the Swedish Academy organized a conference on threats to freedom of expression and democracy, featuring a roster of stellar speakers, including Arundhati Roy, Timothy Snyder, and Sofi Oksanen. Oksanen’s address—“Putin's War on Women”—generated such interest that the acclaimed Finnish writer used it as the basis for a larger, in-depth look at Putin’s threat to women. The result is Same River, Twice, a devastating expose that builds on the themes and arguments introduced in Oksanen’s urgent and incisive speech.

During the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Oksanen's great aunt was arrested and brutally interrogated—a terrifying experience that permanently traumatized her, leaving her silent for the rest of her life. Same River, Twice uses this family story to illustrate the systematic crimes perpetrated by Russian soldiers and the Russian government for nearly a century. From the Russian military's entry into Berlin in 1945 to its modern invasion of Ukraine, Russia has continually employed violence against women when fighting its enemies—including using rape as an instrument of war. But as Oksanen reveals, such violence has never before been used on such a widespread scale. Life for women in Putin's Russia is little better; gender equality is in decline, women are silenced by the legal system, and rape is used to humiliate victims, especially women in media.

Oksanen's sober analysis exposes how, under Putin, genocide and misogyny are inextricably linked: misogyny undergirds Russia’s international alliances, threatening the rights of women and minorities worldwide. As Oksanen ominously reminds us, “In Ukraine, sexual violence is an integral part of genocide. In domestic politics, misogyny is a tool used by the Kremlin to prevent women from rising to power. In international politics, it is a tool of Russian imperialism.”

As the threats to democracy grow stronger around the globe, this powerful and timely book is a warning that must not be ignored.

Translated from the Finnish by Owen F. Witesman

By: Sofi Oksanen
Imprint: HARPER360
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 200g
ISBN: 9780063435445
ISBN 10: 0063435446
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 14 February 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Finnish Estonian novelist, librettist, and playwright Sofi Oksanen is one of the most awarded literary authors of northern Europe. Her books have been translated into more than forty-six languages and sold over two million copies. Called a “literary phenomenon” by the Times (London), Oksanen has, since making her international breakthrough with Purge, continued to weave historical and contemporary issues into her work through increasingly imaginative and affecting ways. Her most recent work is Same River, Twice: Putin’s War on Women. She currently resides in Helsinki.

Reviews for Same River, Twice: Putin's War on Women

“Growing up on the lines that straddled the Western world and the colonized nations of the Soviet Union, Sofi Oksanen recognized that the borders colonialism drew on maps crossed bodies, too —especially the bodies of women. In Same River, Twice, one of Europe's leading novelists uses her personal experience to shed light on the personal experiences of others: ordinary women trapped in the crossfire of a great geopolitical game.” — Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sontag: Her Life and Work