A review by hazy_amber
The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War by Arkady Ostrovsky

4.0

I think i am exactly the target audience of this book. I remember the events that are described, the names and all, but i was too young to comprehend them fully when they were happening. So the book served the purpose of filling in some gaps perfectly for me. I would say that if you are not well versed in who is who in USSR politics, it might be a bit of a stretch. There is also at least two pairs of people with same last names so it might be confusing. I also speak Russian so i didn’t care for the names being occasionally provided in Russian after they were once “explained” (like names of the newspapers and magazines) but it may be a bit more difficult to concentrate on for someone who isn’t a Russian speaker.

Overall it was a good crash course on media role in politics and society attitudes towards media.
I take away one star purely because i am surprised there wasn’t a single mention of Listyev - neither his work, nor his murder. It was something i wanted to hear about, and i think it was an important event, but it’s just not there.