Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile by Fiona Maddocks
Rachmaninoff left Russia for the US. He didn't have much interaction with fellow Russian musician Leonard Bernstein. Russians wanted to claim him back later. He did stuff and had family. Honestly, his life in the US did not seem very interesting.
The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned by John Strausbaugh
The Soviet Union built up its space program primarily by making crude copies of western technology. There focus was more on embarrassing the west than on technological innovation. They hid their failures while exaggerating their successes. They lacked some of the advanced technology, so they would over-engineer heavy machines. The program did send people to space and made celebrities out of initial cosmonauts. However, they never did get a man to the moon. After Khrushchev lost power, the USSR shifted resources away from the space race. This book is a very snarky take on the Soviet program, with an emphasis on the structural problems and ineptitude of the space program.
Chernobyl: A Stalkers’ Guide by Darmon Richter (Author), FUEL (Author), Damon Murray (Editor), Stephen Sorrell (Editor)
The exclusion zone where the Chernobyl nuclear disaster took place is now frozen in history. Radioactive material sinks into the ground, so digging is prohibited. It has now become a popular tourist attraction. The official way to visit the area is through an organized tour group. Tours are limited to certain areas and must be appropriately checked for radiation. The other route to explore the area is "stalking". This involves sneaking into the zone through back routes and hiding out from police patrols.
The author primarily explored the region via "official" means. However, he did go on one "stalker" trip. He had a guide that helped him through the area. They would camp in abandoned buildings and hide out when police were expected. The stalking trips allowed seeing areas that are off limits to regular tourists, though it did have some dangers. There were also some in-between trips where he would go in with people that would have have some rights, and just go off the beaten path for a bit.
The author also explored the area from Belarus. They are more strict about visitors and have fewer tourists. Belarus also has helped maintain Soviet monuments, while Ukraine has had a de-communization policy that has let old monuments decay.
The book is filled with many pictures of the zone and monuments.
The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky by Simon Shuster
Volodymyr Zelensky was a Jewish entertainer who ascended the presidency of Ukraine. Russia has not been too fond of Ukrainian independence and has tried to chip away at the territory. Issues have been ongoing for many years, but really heated up when Russia declared a full scale invasion. As a president, he stayed put and kept in the conflict zone. His entertainment background became useful as he put on a good show to rally the strength and identity of his countrymen.
This book provides a good background of the conflict in Ukraine as well as of the current president. It feels somewhat like the US Civil War. Russia had invested a lot of resources in its state of Ukraine and felt it is part of its territory. Ukraine feels more like Texas - they were independent, joined together, and now want to be back again. The Ukrainian desire to join NATO and EU were especially offensive to Russia.
Homo Zapiens by Victor Pelevin
After Soviet Communism fell, Russia fell into a capitalistic free-for-all. Homo Zapiens explores this world from the view of a few participants. It feels like a Russian version of Generation X. The rules of the capitalistic came are still being worked out. People try to make money, but the end result of success is often involvement of the mob and death. People get so much money that showing consumption is the point. Drugs may be smoked in currency just to show how much money somebody has.
In a capitalist world, you need to use marketing to get your message out and make sales. Making ridiculous ads may make you well known, but not respected. Serious ones may give a degree of success, but no memory. The goal is to get some balance. However, some of the characters just go for the most ridiculous ones they can, because they can.
The end of the book drifts off into more randomness. It is as if the book itself trips on a mixture of capitalism and drugs.
Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace by Dominic Lieven
The view we have of the Napoleon in Russia is influenced by Tolstoy. View writers have gone to the Russian sources to understand what happened from the Russian view. This book attempts to remedy that. It goes into details regarding the battles campaigns and society of Russia. The details were so extensive that I missed the big picture. Russians were often in their regiment for the long haul. They had a great deal of loyalty to their group. They worked to beat Napolean.
The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes
Stafan Rudniki narrates many of Orson Scott Card's science fiction works. Hearing his voice on a historical audiobook was an interesting experience. I half expected an alien invasion to suddenly occur.
This comprehensive history of Russia starts at prehistoric times and goes to Putin and the current days. For today, a thesis is that Russians look back with positive nostalgia at the communist times. Putin has been able to use that experience to help build his support. It is also clear that Russia has long had a chip on it's shoulder. It has felt inferior to other European countries. The Asian portion of the country is more "colony" than anything else. Ukraine has an interesting history that is claimed by Russia as part of the "birth" of the culture. Despite many political systems coming and going, Russians seem to always find themselves ruled by a dominant boss.
Russia: Myths and Realities by Roderic Braithwaite
Rather than a myth-debunking book, this is simply a history of Russia. It takes the "long view", starting with the early migration of the "Russ" people to the area and the birth of "Russians" a millenia ago. Kiev was once the center of the area. They converted to Orthodox Christianity. The leaders consolidated power, The arts become important. Then there was extended class warfare, with both Lenin and Stalin consolidating power in phases. Putin feels like an heir to the repetitive process.
Tetris: The Games People Play by Brian "Box" Brown
Tetris is a simple, addictive game with an interesting history. It was started as a text-based pet project in the Soviet Union. He liked to play it on his own. He shared with others. Soon it spread and eventually made it out of the Soviet Union. The cold war was in process, and Russia was little understood by the west. However, when people saw the game, they saw the potential. There were various businessmen involved in negationations and trading rights to the game. Eventually, one guy managed to cold-call the Russians and get the rights to the game. Nintendo was able to use those to distribute the game on the Gameboy further contributing to its popularity. Initially, the creator made no money from the game. However, he was later able to immigrate to the United States and share in the proceeds. This book tells the story of Tetris (and Nintendo) in the form of a graphic novel.
Red Sparrow: A Novel by Jason Matthews
The Soviet Union is gone, but the Russian intelligence aparatus lives on - just in a different form. Those that are out of favor with the government have a habit of dying from mysterious causes. There are also international matters to attend to. Sparrows are women trained in the art of seduction. They use their talents to reach vulnerabilities and attract information. The book focuses on a reluctant Sparrow that wanted to be a "real spy". She ends up in a relationship with an American Spy. They seem to know what is going on, yet want to continue. Yet, they still want to complete their tasks. It can become one confusing mess.
Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis by Susan Hood and Greg Dawson
As the Nazis were coming through Ukraine, the Jewish families were in danger. In the case of two girls, their family had sacrificed themselves so that they could live. The girls assumed new identities as orphans so they could get papers that would not identify them as Jewish. They fled from their town and were close to safety. However, the Nazis heard their talent playing instruments. They ended up performing for officers and were afraid of being identified. Luckily they survived the ordeal and ended up moving to the United States after the war. They kept their story to themselves until one grandchild asked them for their story. That ended up resulting in this book. This is concise personal account of the holocaust in Ukraine.
This is an extremely dense history of the Russian revolution. The parts that stood out to me were the relationships with other countries. There were some early treaties with Germany that would have given it more territory at the end of World War I. There were also many other countries involved with the Russian revolution. In spite of it being a "people's" revolution, people had to be forced to fall in line with the desired orthodoxy.
Russia has a lot of natural resources and is not very found of the United States. Putin has not had much respect for Bush or Obama. However, he did seem to get along fine with Trump. (Did he really like Trump, or just think he was easy to manage?) Putin does come across as a bully and is willing to use "KGB" techniques to get things done. There have been cases of political rivals being poisoned as well as "framed" bombing attempts and propaganda. However, he is much more calculating than a mere bully. He has a long term plan. He is well educated (with a PhD) and has spent plenty of time in the political system. He will "play by the rules" in a manner that suits him. He was able to take down oligarchs that were not toeing the line by convicting them of past fraudulent behavior. (Pretty much everyone accumulated their wealth through misbehavior, but only those that get on his bad side are subject to persecution.) The analysis is especially poignant today as parts of Ukraine are being invaded (or as he says "being protected with peacekeeping forces.)
Russia possesses a great deal of natural resources. It provides much of the oil and gas for Europe. However, this must go through pipelines. The "deals" with cheap energy had both benefited and hurt Ukraine. Things get worse when Russia cuts off the spigots. Russia also has the ability to impact other parts of Europe by curtailing shipments.
There are also many other regions rich in natural resources, yet poor in governance. Saudi Arabia is an important one that has an economy based almost entirely of oil and pilgrimages. However, the oil production has not been keeping pace with population growth, leading towards tensions.
The United States evolved to be the default world currency. Most energy transactions are in dollars. The dollar tends to be the reserve currency for foreign nations. Countries will often get dollars for the oil and then use those dollars to buy US debt. This helps the US to have access to cheap goods (but at the expense of a depressed internal manufacturing economy.) As countries such as China and Russia broker deals among themselves without dollars, that leaves the US in a more precarious situation. The economic boycott of Iranian oil had made things worse for the US in that it showed players how they can bypass the US to trade.
Our economy consumes large amounts of energy. This will leave us at least somewhat dependent on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. The dollar is at risk as other currencies become more common. The book did not cover crypto, which could be an existential threat on two levels (both as a means for settling transaction as well as an excessive consumer of electricity.) Renewables have their issues and nuclear is subject to a Russian dominance of uranium. There are plenty of challenges detailed in this book without much in the way of easy solutions. (Would heading the author's suggestion to hoard goal really work?)
