The Future is History

Indispensable -- Pankaj Mishra * Guardian * 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 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 gives us an alarming and convincing picture -- Edward Lucas * The Times * A provocative new book [where] Gessen ably weaves [the four protagonists'] lives into a gripping, if grim, tapestry * Economist * A finely-wrought narrative of Russia's turbulent history... Fascinating... The Future is History presents a Russia whose [...] people are condemned decade after decade to rehearse the same drama of tyranny and obedience -- Daniel Beer * Guardian * Excellent and readable -- Mark Mazower * Observer *