My Russia: War or Peace?

In his timely new book, Mikhail Shishkin, argues that Russia is not a `riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma`: we just don`t know enough about it. So what is the real story behind Putin`s autocratic regime and its invasion of Ukraine? In My Russia: War or Peace? Shishkin traces the roots of Russia`s problems, from the `Kievan Rus` via the Grand Duchy of Moscow, empire, revolution and Cold War, to the now thirty-year-old Russian Federation. He explores the uneasy relationship between state and citizens, explains Russian attitudes to people`s rights and democracy, and proposes that there are really two Russian peoples: the disillusioned and disaffected, who suffer from `slave mentality`, and those who embrace `European` values and try to stand up to oppression. Both deeply personal and taking a broader historical view, My Russia is a passionate, eye-opening account of a state entangled in a complex and bloody past, as well as a love letter to a conflicted country. Will Russia continue its vicious circle of upheaval and autocracy, or will its people find a way out of history - and how can we help?