PENGUIN The Last Man in Russia: And The Struggle To Save A Dying Nation

Reveals an aspect of life in Russia today that we don't hear much about and how average Russians are dealing with it.

This book is definitely worthy of a place in the library of any student of Russia. For some reason, this country has always been best learnt about from books in the form of travelogue cum historical investigation ever since the Marquis de Custine created the genre in 1839. I find it particularly frightening for Russia that Custine's observations then remain as true today as they evidently were then. The following are from the Wikipedia entry on the Marquis de Custine:"Russia is a nation of mutes; some magician has changed sixty million men into automatons.""Nations have always good reasons for being what they are, and the best of all is that they cannot be otherwise.""The love of their country is with them only a mode of flattering its master; as soon as they think that master can no longer hear, they speak of everything with a frankness which is the more startling because those who listen to it become responsible.""I came here to see a country, but what I find is a theater... The names are the same as everywhere else... In appearances everything happens as it does everywhere else. There is no difference except in the very foundation of things.""I don't reproach the Russians for being what they are; what I blame them for is their desire to appear to be what we [Europeans] are.... They are much less interested in being civilized than in making us believe them so... They would be quite content to be in effect more awful and barbaric than they actually are, if only others could thereby be made to believe them better and more civilized."Quotations are from George F. Kennan, The Marquis de Custine and his Russia in 1839, Princeton University Press, 1971. Oliver Bullough's book confirms the undiminished actuality of those 150 year old observations and is an excellent addition to this line of enquiry. It will be enjoyed by anyone interested in this benighted country that, despite occasional inchoate urges to do so and the efforts of its ever less numerous intelligentsia, somehow never seems to be able to extricate itself from its more and more diminished position in the axis of evil. The Last Man in Russia sadly confirms that all we can expect from this wonderfully sympathetic and long-suffering people and country is that they will go on and on stumbling from one self-created humanitarian disaster to another, spoiling the world for themselves and possibly for us too. If only "they" were the ones to be reading and writing such books - about "themselves" and/or about "us"! All that's really lacking is a little bit of insight!

At first, I found this book a little tough going. What was it about? Was it about Russian alcoholism? Was it about the co-opting of the Orthodox Church by the Soviet (and now the Russian state)? Was it about one man, Father Dmitry, and his struggle to remain true to himself and his followers in the face of the psychological repression of the KGB? Was it about the culture of dissidence in the 1970s - and the meaning of dissidence in a totalitarian state?But in the manner of the best long-form journalism, The Last Man in Russia is about all these things and much more. The book creeps up on you, and envelops you. Stealthily you are drawn into the same questions that must have been pulsating around Oliver Bullough's mind in writing this book. And you feel that Bullough has got at something deeper than a single narrative - he has got at Russia itself. There are lots of books about Russia and its history - about the collapse of the Soviet Union, the disasters of the 1990s, the rise of the Putin regime, the resurgence of Russia now - and how fragile and false that resurgence is. This book is different. It is more in the nature of a meditation. A little perplexing at first, ultimately it is all the more elegant and mesmerising for it.

Oliver Bullough's The Last Man in Russia is, first of all, a travelogue of his recent journeys in (mostly rural) Russia, which document the devastating legacy -- social, humanitarian, economic, and environmental -- of the Soviet Union. Secondly, it is a history of the dissident movement of the 1970s, focusing on the biography of one individual, the priest Dimitry Dudko, on his journey from Gulag survivor, to inspirational figure, to irretrievably compromised and ruined individual. The juxtaposition of the travelogue and the biography is an apt one, for the tragedy of Fr. Dimitri parallels the tragedy of late- and post-Soviet Russia. In this, Bullough' work is compelling. Distracting from the book's merits are odd inconsistencies in terminology and perspective, mostly, if not exclusively, relating to his treatment of the Russian Orthodox Church. For example, sometimes individuals are baptized, at other times christened; sometimes the iconostases of Russian churches are icon screens, at other times a 'pyramid screen'(?); sometimes the Eucharistic service is a liturgy, at other times a mass; Prince (St.) Vladimir is referred to as 'King' Vladimir; and so on. These are minor points, but odd coming from someone fluent in English and Russian and writing the biography of an Orthodox priest. Perhaps these inconsistencies represent the work of an inexpert editor, rather than Bullough's own words. In an apparent effort for currency, there are some passing remarks at the end of the book regarding recent events, such as the Pussy Riot incident, where, regrettably, he merely reiterates conventional media wisdom rather than discussing the range and nuances of reactions to the event. Throughout the book, Bullough has an outsider's perspective on what he observes and learns. He has spent a good deal of time in Russia, without developing much sympathy for Russians. This is both the strength and the weakness of the book. On the one hand, it facilitates objective reporting of his observations, and on the other hand, it limits his understanding of the people whom he encounters. Still, highly-recommended for those wishing to gain a deeper understanding of contemporary Russia.

This book is a combination of trying to explain why Russia is going downhill fast and also trying to paint some kind of portrait of one of the most famous Soviet dissidents.In the first and most interesting category Mr.Bullough focuses on the consumption of alcohol and the falling birth rate in Russia. He draws on official statistics and the picture he presents is both frightening and accurate. Having had many drinks with Russians in all sorts of circumstances I can only verify that what he presents is the actual situation. Many commentators focus on official statistics and forget that a huge amount of alcohol is also produced as Samagon (=Moonshine) and more and more people are turning to that. This is a decease in Russia that has so far not a good prognosis.The Falling birth rates is not only a Russian problem, we have the same problem in the rest of Europe and the US but in Russia it is by far worse. Few countries have so far come up with a solution to this, but it is one of the greatest problems we have in the modern world. So far, only minor attempts have been made to solve this problem in Russia but without any long-term effects.The Other part of the book focus on presenting the life of an Orthodox priest that started out as a dissident and ended as a KGB supporter and an anti-Semite. It is an interesting story but maybe not for a full book.The Combination of these two attempts to explain where Russia is heading in the future is slightly unfocused and not all together that rewarding but it is well worth reading. If you been to Russia and know Russians you will recognize the country in this book.