‘Exit Stalin’ by Mark B. Smith review
Compassion from the Kremlin often proved as short-lived as its critics. In Exit Stalin: The Soviet Union as a Civilization, 1953-1991, Mark B. Smith finds that terror was a feature rather than a bug.
Rodric Braithwaite
‘Outposts of Diplomacy’ by G.R. Berridge review
Outposts of Diplomacy: A History of the Embassy by G.R. Berridge shows us that debates about the role of the ambassador are as old as the institution itself.
George Orwell and Russia by Masha Karp review
The suggestion that Russia has become an Orwellian tyranny is an inadequate explanation as to why the country finds itself in its present situation.
Do You Exist?
The nightmarish power of the Soviet passport.
On the Defensive
From the founding of Kiev in the ninth century through to the present, the Russian Empire has been both a predator and a victim.