The Foreign Service Journal, December 2016

74 DECEMBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL sighted: by 1996, the private sector and the major media companies were suf- ficiently mature to understand what was at stake in the choice between Yeltsin and his communist rival. The back- room bribe was a tawdry own goal that helped discredit democratization, the media and big business all in one go. Having secured Yeltsin another term, this new elite then tore itself apart in the “bankers’ war” and associated battles. As a chronicle of the creative class of journalists, businessmen, campaign impressarios and reformers, Ostrovsky’s title is deceptive: the book is less about the invention of Russia and more about the failure of this new elite to invent a new Russia that embodied and safe- guarded the values they espoused. In Ostrovsky’s words, they lacked “the most important attribute of an elite —a sense of responsibility for, and historic consciousness of, their own country.” The failure to articulate, define and defend the new Russia left a huge void for a different cast of political and intellectual entrepreneurs to fill. These included nationalists, officers nostalgic for their fallen superpower and reborn communists who coalesced around the I n the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the new Rus- sia this year, a great many books have been written to chronicle, analyze and attempt to understand the momen- tous events and leading personalities involved in the dis- solution of the Soviet Union and subsequent emergence of a changed Russia and 14 independent nations. Several publications and think tanks have presented thoughtful reviews and useful lists of some of those titles. Among them, “Putin’s Russia” in the New York Review of Books , “Return to Cold War: Russia and the Former Soviet Union” in Foreign Affairs and the Center on Global Inter- ests’“Russia: A Reading Guide” stand out. Benjamin Nathans’ essay, “The Real Power of Putin,” in the Sept. 29 New York Review of Books , explores Putin, the individual, and his role in the evolution of Russia since the end of the USSR. Recognized as a “conservative patriot,” as Nathans puts it, Putin appeared to be soberly pursuing Russia’s national interest at the turn of the 21st century. “What happened? Why did Putin’s Russia jump the rails? Why is the talk (not to mention the book titles) in the West no longer of transition but regression, with a ‘new tsar,’ a ‘new Russian empire,’ and a ‘new cold war’?” Nathans asks. He draws on the insights offered in nine recent titles on Russia to frame the answers. In the process, we are reminded of Russia’s long history of authoritarianism, empire and the importance of ideas in its rich culture. With a focus on “Putin’s Russia,” the May-June issue of Foreign Affairs includes Columbia University Professo r Emeritus Robert Legvold’s brief review of six recent titles ranging from The RedWeb: The Struggle Between Russia’s Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries and Velvet Revolutions: An Oral History of Czech Society to On Stalin’s Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics. In the same “Recent Books” feature, Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University, reviews Legvold’s own new volume, Return to ColdWar. In August, to usher in the new academic year, the Cen- ter on Global Interests posted “Russia: A Reading Guide.” In this unique resource, a variety of experts share the books that shaped their own understanding of Russia and titles that policymakers should read to better understand Russian society, politics, culture and foreign policy. Twelve Russia experts—from former CNN Moscow correspondent Jill Dougherty and former New York Times Moscow correspondent Steven Lee Myers to former Senior Director for Russia on the U.S. National Security Council Thomas Graham (a former FSO) and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul—offer, as CGI puts it, an eclectic blend of fiction and non-fiction, new and old works, classic and more obscure. Anyone in search of just the right reading list to become informed about Russia and Vladimir Putin will certainly find these choices to be an excellent start. –The Editors READING RUSSIA