Download Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia AudioBook Free
Long before the meteor attack, longtime NPR correspondent Anne Garrels experienced Chelyabinsk in her sights. More than a decade ago, she started visiting the city in order to comprehend what life really was like in post-Soviet Russia, beyond the confines of the glitzy Moscow metropolis. In Chelyabinsk, she learned a populace for whom the new democratic freedoms were as traumatic as these were delightful. A closed nuclear city throughout the Freezing Warfare, Chelyabinsk was tossed into disarray in the first '90s as its formerly state-controlled factories were exposed to the free market. And another 20 years would only bring more turmoil. The town became richer and much more cosmopolitan, even as the makes of problem and intolerance became more entrenched. In Putin Country: A Journey in to the Real Russia, Garrels crafts a romantic portrait of the nation's heartland. We meet ostentatious mafiosos, upwardly mobile pros, impassioned activists, scheming taxi cab individuals with dark secrets, and beleaguered steel individuals. We discover shocking subcultures, like the LGBT residents of Chelyablinsk who bravely go through an increase in homophobia fueled by Putin's rhetoric of Russian "moral superiority" but still nurture a vibrant if clandestine community of their own. And we watch doctors and educators try to do their finest in a corrupt system. Through these encounters, Garrels shows why Putin commands the support and commitment of so many Russians, even those who decry the abuses of electric power they come across from daily. Her portrait of Russia's silent bulk is essential hearing at the same time when Cold Warfare tensions are resurgent.
