Books - The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen

The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Simply, one of the best books I've read in the last several years.

Gessen provides a glimpse into the history of Russia over the last four decades that I found informative, enlightening, and engaging. I was old enough to remember the Soviet Union existing, and aware generally of events surrounding its collapse, the various former soviet States, Boris Yeltsin and Russia, but Gessen's research and writing contextualizes everything, and does so from the perspective of those living in the country.

Gessen primarily narrates this history through seven individuals - four who would likely be considered ordinary citizens who all came of age during this time period; and three individuals who would be considered part of the intelligentsia. This tension - between the small pictures of how events affected these individuals to the overarching view taken by the intelligentsia - truly provided the book with great balance and flow.

What will stick with me more than the history of the last four decades that Gessen provides is the impact of her thesis. She presents modern Russia (I think), despite the book's subtitle, as neither authoritarian or totalitarian; rather, she equates the modern governance to an akin of a mafia. She demonstrates how the long shadow of the oppressiveness of the Soviet Union, which was totaliarianist, essentially created the perfect environment for what happened when the Soviet Union collapsed.

The infrastructure of the Community party governance, and thus the Soviet regime's techniques, were all still in place. While there was hope for something new and different resulting from newly found political freedom, the economic insecurity and loss of identity doomed any chance at real success. The end result, as we see in our world today, is not a democratic government or society.

In any event, such is likely the thought or conclusion that will stick with me the most from reading this book. Gessen's work provides everything you want as a reader when you select non-fiction; the book is engaging, readable, and highly informative. Definitely worthy of reading for anyone interested in recent Russian history and or understanding more about present-day Russia.

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