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tschmitty's review against another edition
3.0
I have been following this, so not a lot of this is new to me, but it is beneficial to those who need to be informed. Trump is a disaster. Russia helped him get elected. I hope we as a country see a resolution one day. I miss sleep.
brianlokker's review against another edition
5.0
This is a must-read book for anyone interested in the Trump-Russia scandal. Harding does a masterful job of laying out the myriad connections between Trump and his team and the Russian government and financial interests. If there is any truth to the adage that "where there's smoke, there's fire," in this case there's a blazing inferno.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This book came out near the end of 2017. I tried to read it then but was too nauseated by the saturation of Trump/Russia coverage so I set it aside. Last summer, I saw it in a used book store for $2 and figured “What the heck?” So I picked it up.
I’m glad I did. Even though much of the information feels dated (especially considering today’s Manafort revelations on his dealings with Kilimnik), it will likely remain as one of the central works to understanding Trump and Russia. The author, a Russia expert who writes for The Guardian, actually had contact with Christopher Steele right before his famous dossier was leaked for the world to see. In the two years since it’s released, large parts of it have been verified.
Taking time to examine how the Russia scandal has affected Trump’s presidency, Harding mostly pulls back to show how the connections between Trump and Putin, as well as Trump and the USSR, were made. He has a good knowledge of the region and its political actors and does a great job tracing straight lines to the various players in the saga. He also eschews hyperbole and hysteria, both of which have been in ample supply from the media in the Trump age.
The book is far from perfect. Harding is a little too sympathetic to James Comey, coming off as almost admirable towards the man who helped put us in this circumstance. He also doesn’t do a great job of sussing out the banking stuff which, to be fair, is labyrinthian and almost completely shrouded in secrecy.
But for the most part, it’s a quality book, easy to read and will serve as a good primer for the novice who wants to learn more about Trump and Russia.
I’m glad I did. Even though much of the information feels dated (especially considering today’s Manafort revelations on his dealings with Kilimnik), it will likely remain as one of the central works to understanding Trump and Russia. The author, a Russia expert who writes for The Guardian, actually had contact with Christopher Steele right before his famous dossier was leaked for the world to see. In the two years since it’s released, large parts of it have been verified.
Taking time to examine how the Russia scandal has affected Trump’s presidency, Harding mostly pulls back to show how the connections between Trump and Putin, as well as Trump and the USSR, were made. He has a good knowledge of the region and its political actors and does a great job tracing straight lines to the various players in the saga. He also eschews hyperbole and hysteria, both of which have been in ample supply from the media in the Trump age.
The book is far from perfect. Harding is a little too sympathetic to James Comey, coming off as almost admirable towards the man who helped put us in this circumstance. He also doesn’t do a great job of sussing out the banking stuff which, to be fair, is labyrinthian and almost completely shrouded in secrecy.
But for the most part, it’s a quality book, easy to read and will serve as a good primer for the novice who wants to learn more about Trump and Russia.
elj_ne's review against another edition
5.0
all it's missing is a really satisfying ending, but hopefully we'll get to that in time. compulsively readable and weirdly entertaining- some of those source quotes about Trump and the anecdote about Kushner's jar of dirt. V good.
alba89's review against another edition
3.0
I should have read this earlier. At this point, we know a lot more about what happened between the Trump campaign and various foreign actors, as well as Trump's (probably corrupt) business practices. If you haven't followed the news on the Trump/Russia scandal, you might find this edifying. It draws on the author's deep knowledge of Russia, Putin and his repressive regime. He was The Guardian's Russia correspondent for several years and wrote a book on the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in the UK a few years ago. The section on the Steele dossier is very good and I did learn new things about Russian intelligence services and oligarchs. But I didn't feel that I learned that much about "collusion." Basically you get additional color and context, but not a lot of new substance. At some points, I wondered if the author rushed out this book to take advantage of his Russian expertise. It feels a bit thrown together. I got a little bored towards the end but I did manage to finish.
veefuller's review against another edition
5.0
Ho.Ly. Shit.
I am certainly no fan of the 45th president's administration. Their policies, let alone their continual vitriol and mockery of basic decency and decorum, leave much to be desired. That said, I'd like the office of the president to remain in tact and unscathed or untarnished beyond repair. I want my own country to succeed even if an administration I have very little respect for is at the helm.
But,... if even a fraction of this book is true, 45 and this entire moment in history will make Nixon and his cronies look like saints. It will make Watergate seem like spilled milk rather than a betrayal of the highest order by those with a Constitutional duty to uphold the rule of law and act in the best interest of their country with honour and integrity.
Luke Harding, already a respected investigative journalist and a hero of mine given his work with Edward Snowden, weaves together and unpacks an incredibly complicated tale of how the current occupant of the White House in DC represents the ultimate long-game played out by the KGB and now FSB and Putin. Taking Christopher Steele's dossier apart bit-by-salicous-bit and carefully examining each layer as though it were a slowly rotting onion, leading inevitably to the demise of the US and the Western alliance as Putin's ultimate revenge on the collapse of the Soviet empire, this piece of journalism reads like a spy novel. Unfortunately, it's not reporting fiction, but actual events and describing real people. It's hard to imagine the pieces, each one of them, being refuted at this point. And, to be honest, I'd like to think that some of it is proven untrue, if only because the truth is simply too chilling and awful.
If anything, this book and it's portrayal of collusion by the now most powerful person on the planet who may merely play the role of the Kremlin's puppet, along with members of his cabinet, senior staff and more than a few other Congressional and DC insiders, make clear that Mueller's investigation must be protected. Whatever the outcome. And, at all costs. Should nothing come of it, then fine. So be it. But, there are too many convenient coincidences. Too many odd overlaps. Too many moments which might be explained away as innocent yet appear anything but. And, if true, those individuals must face the punishments --- judiciously and publicly --- they deserve.
I'm too young to really remember Nixon's resignation or the death spiral of his administration. But, I'm wide awake and all-too-aware for the current shit show, and can only wonder how long it will take us to recover. Whatever rabbit holes this all leads us down, we can only hope that we come out of it better equipped to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.
I am certainly no fan of the 45th president's administration. Their policies, let alone their continual vitriol and mockery of basic decency and decorum, leave much to be desired. That said, I'd like the office of the president to remain in tact and unscathed or untarnished beyond repair. I want my own country to succeed even if an administration I have very little respect for is at the helm.
But,... if even a fraction of this book is true, 45 and this entire moment in history will make Nixon and his cronies look like saints. It will make Watergate seem like spilled milk rather than a betrayal of the highest order by those with a Constitutional duty to uphold the rule of law and act in the best interest of their country with honour and integrity.
Luke Harding, already a respected investigative journalist and a hero of mine given his work with Edward Snowden, weaves together and unpacks an incredibly complicated tale of how the current occupant of the White House in DC represents the ultimate long-game played out by the KGB and now FSB and Putin. Taking Christopher Steele's dossier apart bit-by-salicous-bit and carefully examining each layer as though it were a slowly rotting onion, leading inevitably to the demise of the US and the Western alliance as Putin's ultimate revenge on the collapse of the Soviet empire, this piece of journalism reads like a spy novel. Unfortunately, it's not reporting fiction, but actual events and describing real people. It's hard to imagine the pieces, each one of them, being refuted at this point. And, to be honest, I'd like to think that some of it is proven untrue, if only because the truth is simply too chilling and awful.
If anything, this book and it's portrayal of collusion by the now most powerful person on the planet who may merely play the role of the Kremlin's puppet, along with members of his cabinet, senior staff and more than a few other Congressional and DC insiders, make clear that Mueller's investigation must be protected. Whatever the outcome. And, at all costs. Should nothing come of it, then fine. So be it. But, there are too many convenient coincidences. Too many odd overlaps. Too many moments which might be explained away as innocent yet appear anything but. And, if true, those individuals must face the punishments --- judiciously and publicly --- they deserve.
I'm too young to really remember Nixon's resignation or the death spiral of his administration. But, I'm wide awake and all-too-aware for the current shit show, and can only wonder how long it will take us to recover. Whatever rabbit holes this all leads us down, we can only hope that we come out of it better equipped to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.
fionak's review against another edition
3.0
If I had finished reading this in December when I first started, it would have been far more interesting. But we know all this information now and, since Harding's prose is functional but unlovely, I kindly suggest wasting your time elsewhere.
bookmarchitect's review against another edition
4.0
A puzzling and VERY thought-provoking book, quite convincingly put together. Partly a bit sketchy, though. Found it hard to get the big picture of Russian post-1990s politics, had to google up a lot of names mentioned. As they say, there’s no smoke without fire. I read the Finnish translation which was very good.