Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of the Brutal New Russia

Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of the Brutal New Russia
Luke Harding
RRP:
NZ$ 26.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 21.59
Paperback
h198 x 129mm - 336pg
1 Jul 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781783352517
Out Of Stock
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In February 2011, in scenes that evoked the chilliest moments of the Cold War, journalist Luke Harding was expelled from Moscow. His offence? To have reported on aspects of contemporary Russia that the authorities would have preferred to remain hidden from view. Moscow Ghosts is a clear-eyed and unflinching chronicle of Luke's often terrifying experiences in Russia in the months leading up to his expulsion. It describes his encounters with Russia's sinister FSB security service, the leather-jacketed agents who tailed him, and his summons to Lefortovo, formerly the KGB's notorious Moscow prison. It also details the secret psychological war the FSB waged against the journalist and his family. Emails were intercepted. Break-ins at his flat were routine and calculated. Luke might well return home to find that the smoke alarm had been tampered with, or a sex manual left by his bed, or a teddy bear left in his young son's room.
"Some of Mr. Harding's best reporting in the book consists of his account of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war . . . [His] chapter on WikiLeaks is essential. His description of the effect of the FSB's psychological torment on his children is heartbreaking. His reporting on neo-Nazi-inspired nationalists is worrisome, and his coverage of human rights activists and lawyers risking their lives to set Russia right is uplifting . . . [EXPELLED is] a good primer on what [Russians] hope to leave behind."--"The Washington Times""A keen, sensitive chronicle of the growing chasm between Russia's haves and have-nots. An astute testimony of a regime grown intractably dastardly." --"Kirkus Reviews""What is different [here] is the personal and family history at its core. Instead of attempting a conventional sketch of Kremlin politics, Harding focuses on the harassment he encountered in Russia - and the result is a gripping tale.... [and an] enthralling denunciation..."--Robert Service, author of Trotsky"A courageous and explosive expose of the "corrupt nexus at the heart of the Russian state."--Orlando Figes, author of "Natasha's Dance" "The importance of Luke Harding's book lies in its first-hand account of a relatively mild but telling bout of statement sponsored harassment, of a kind that, like much else in Russia, is intentionally opaque and deniable...The WikiLeaks files endorse the summary of the fictional Moscow correspondent in my novel, Snowdrops, who says that, in Russia, there are no politics or business stories: "There are only crime stories.""--AD Miller, author of the Booker-shortlisted novel "Snowdrops," "The Guardian" "Russia laid bare in an absorbing account of four years spent as head of the Guardian's Moscow bureau... There is now a vast literature describing the hard reality of Putin's Russia, but what Harding adds to our awareness is a sense of what it is like to live that reality every day. He does this by relating tragedies and absurditie
Luke Harding is the Guardian's Moscow correspondent. He was previously the Guardian's South Asia correspondent in New Delhi, and has reported for the paper from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Status: Indicates in stock with Supplier
ISBN-13: 9781783352517
Published: 1 Jul 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Guardian Faber Publishing
Publisher: Guardian Faber Publishing
Format: Paperback
Height: 198mm
Width: 129mm
Pages: 336

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