Scan barcode
A review by robthereader
Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia by Joshua Yaffa
5.0
A journalistic work for the current geopolitical times, Between Two Fires is a peep in to Putin’s Russia that Westerns usually only get a glimpse of if anything at all. Joshua Yaffa sets the book up with a prologue that dives into a sociologists research into the collective psyche of the Russian people which has them bargain with whatever political system is in power at the time and their own ambitions. This theme is stretched over the stories of seven unique individuals from around Russia. The reader is introduced to an avande garde director turned propaganda television executive, a humanitarian turned mouth piece and others. Each start their careers with a sense of purpose but they eventually must either join or work with the Soviet and eventually Putin’s governments to gain the acclaim they desire or spread the help they originally believed in.
Yaffa’s interviews and accounts are fair in that he talks to the subjects as well as those who have seen their rise and sometimes fall on all sides of the political spectrum. Yaffa leaves the extrapolations on their moral fibers to his subjects and readers. The stories provide layers of context as it becomes evident that even the facets of life we take for granted for being free from state interference such as religion and art, are succumbed to the wielding of power and influence.
Yaffa’s interviews and accounts are fair in that he talks to the subjects as well as those who have seen their rise and sometimes fall on all sides of the political spectrum. Yaffa leaves the extrapolations on their moral fibers to his subjects and readers. The stories provide layers of context as it becomes evident that even the facets of life we take for granted for being free from state interference such as religion and art, are succumbed to the wielding of power and influence.