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Expelled: A Journalist's Descent Into The Russian Mafia State (2011)

by Luke Harding(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1137048387 (ISBN13: 9781137048387)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Palgrave Macmillan Trade

review 1: I really enjoyed Hardings Snowden book so bought this straight after as of course it ties into what is happening with Edward Snowden now. Harding has a hard charging pulpy style that I really enjoy. Perhaps he lays it on a little thick at times but you won't die wondering what he thinks. And indeed I did find it shocking to learn about the routine harassment from the FSB that most diplomats and journalists apparently endure, let alone the appalling murders of local Russian journalists. Most depressing was what seems to be the true nature of the Russian state: if not a mafia state at least an oligarchy made up of cronies of V Putin. It might be argued that strong central authority is the only option for Russia, a country after all that lurched from feudalism to communism a... morend has never been a fully functioning democracy with the kind of strong independent institutions that those of us in liberal democracies take for granted, but billionaire toughs allied to a Kremlin which appears to be a branch of the FSB doesn't seem to bode well for Russian democracy.
review 2: I picked this book up in hardback with 75% off at Waterstones, after picking it up, changing my mind and putting it down almost every time I went into a book shop for about six months.I'm glad I bought it in the end, because it is an excellent account of Putin's Russia, which is, as Harding, the former Guardian man in Moscow, says, a Mafia State. I studied Russia as a student, and wrote my dissertation on Gorbachev, but in the intervening years had not really paid much attention to Russian politics or society. I knew there were problems with corruption and nest-feathering at the top, but was not aware it was happening on such an enormous level.All in all, a very good read. Only two minor niggling things keep it from being five stars. Firstly, the edition I read had quite a few typographic errors, and had been sub-edited badly. Whether this is the reason it was in the 75% off, sale shelf, I don't know, but it was (very) mildly irritating. Secondly, the subtitle to the book, "how one reporter became an enemy of the brutal new Russia" is a bit misleading. Harding does get repeated break ins at his home and office - the FSB playing psychological games - and in the end is barred entry to the country, having annoyed so many people, but the subtitle could lead you to believe the book to be primarily about this harassment, which it isn't, it is more an expose' of the corruption ridden Russia of today, and a very good one at that. less

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