A01=Masha Gessen
Author_Masha Gessen
biography
Category=DNBM
Category=JBCC
Category=JBSA
Category=JP
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
espionage
feminism
geopolitics
gifts for history buffs
government
historical
historical books
history
history books
history buff gifts
history gifts
history lovers gifts
history of russia
history teacher gifts
international politics
journalism
philosophy
political books
political philosophy
political science
political science books
politics
revolution
russian
russian history
russian literature
russian revolution
socialism
sociology
stalin
stalingrad
war
world history
world politics
Product details
- ISBN 9781859841471
- Weight: 391g
- Dimensions: 157 x 236mm
- Publication Date: 17 Jun 1997
- Publisher: Verso Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Isaiah Berlin once argued that the concept of the intelligentsia was "Russia's greatest contribution to world civilization." Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Russian intelligentsia has shared a profound sense of responsibility for the fate of its country and a belief in the transformative power of the Word-a belief reinforced by the state, which has relentlessly tried to suppress any form of intellectual dissent. Starting in 1986, this belief has been sorely tested. The floodgates of information were opened, but no miracle followed. No new sense of morality was awakened, no one rushed to redeem the nation. Indeed, once the novelty of free speech wore off, people lost interest in it. While the intelligentsia was watching its most treasured dream disintegrate, it was also losing its social standing, its prestige and, finally, its money. As it had frequently done in the past, the intelligentsia responded by declaring itself dead, obsolete. Once again, it was the end.
Masha Gessen, one of the most perceptive of a new generation of correspondents in Russia, does not share this opinion. Her fascinating book is the first to examine the ways in which intellectuals are finding an identity in the new Russia. Through a series of extraordinary individual stories, she shows their quest for a new faith, be it religion or the paranormal, a commitment to nationalist ideology, or to feminist principles. She shows, too, their search for a place in the new society, as artist or politician, entrepreneur or neo-dissident. Some of those she describes as already famous (or infamous); others unknown. Her accounts of their careers and preoccupations can be inspiring or harrowing, and sometimes hilarious. Finally, Masha Gessen considers the prospects for future generations of intellectuals, giving a vivid, and disturbing, portrait of Russia's outcast Generation X, and of those younger still, who have largely abandoned any notion of society or hope for a place in it.
Masha Gessen, one of the most perceptive of a new generation of correspondents in Russia, does not share this opinion. Her fascinating book is the first to examine the ways in which intellectuals are finding an identity in the new Russia. Through a series of extraordinary individual stories, she shows their quest for a new faith, be it religion or the paranormal, a commitment to nationalist ideology, or to feminist principles. She shows, too, their search for a place in the new society, as artist or politician, entrepreneur or neo-dissident. Some of those she describes as already famous (or infamous); others unknown. Her accounts of their careers and preoccupations can be inspiring or harrowing, and sometimes hilarious. Finally, Masha Gessen considers the prospects for future generations of intellectuals, giving a vivid, and disturbing, portrait of Russia's outcast Generation X, and of those younger still, who have largely abandoned any notion of society or hope for a place in it.
Masha Gessen was born in Russia in 1967, and forced to leave in 1981 by state-enforced anti-Semitism. After working as a writer and editor on magazines including The Advocate and Outweek in the United States, she returned to Moscow in 1994. She is now staff writer on the magazine Itogi and political columnist for the journal Matador. She is a contributing editor to the American magazine Lingua Franca and writes regularly on Russia for the New Republic and the New Statesman. She edited and translated an anthology of contemporary Russian women's fiction and was a contributing editor to Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement.
