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The Dissident

Alexey Navalny: Profile of a Political Prisoner

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1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A news-driven biography of Vladimir Putin’s nemesis Alexey Navalny— lawyer, blogger, anti-corruption crusader, protest organizer, political opposition leader, mayoral and presidential candidate, campaign strategist, provocateur, poisoning victim, dissident, and now, prisoner of conscience and anti-war crusader.

THE DISSIDENT is the story of how one fearless man, offended by the dishonesty and criminality of the Russian political system, mounted a relentless opposition movement and became President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable rival—so despised that the Russian leader makes a point of never uttering Navalny’s name.
 
There’s an old saying that Russia without corruption isn’t Russia. Alexey Navalny refuses to accept this proposition. His stubborn insistence that Russians can defy the stereotype and create an entirely different country made him such a threat to Putin that the Kremlin wanted him exiled—or dead—and now seems intent on keeping him locked in a prison colony for decades. 
 
International correspondent David M. Herszenhorn, weaves together the threads of Navalny’s remarkable life and work:

  • The assassination attempt with a military-grade nerve agent by an FSB hit squad in Siberia, his recovery, and the vigilante-style investigation with news outlet Bellingcat to identify and confront his own would-be killers;
  • Navalny’s personal biography as part of the generation that straddled the end of the Soviet Union and birth of the Russian Federation, including childhood summers with his Ukrainian grandparents near Chernobyl, and his fellowship at Yale University, which spurred conspiracy theories about his ties to the U.S.;
  • His anti-corruption investigations that exposed billions in graft at Russia’s biggest state-owned companies and vast bribe-taking by top Russian officials, including his blockbuster revelations about Putin’s Black Sea Palace;
  • His political activism, including huge street protests, his bid for Moscow mayor in 2013, renegade run for president in 2017, his controversial views on nationalism, gun rights and Crimea, his transformation into a prisoner of conscience bravely denouncing Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine, and more. 
  • Riveting and complex, THE DISSIDENT introduces readers to modern Russia’s greatest agitator, a man willing to sacrifice his freedom—and even his own life—to build the decent, democratic country he wants to live in and hopes to pass on to his children.

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      • Kirkus

        September 1, 2023
        Comprehensive study of Vladimir Putin's chief domestic opponent, who exercises his resistance from behind prison walls. According to Washington Post Russia, Ukraine, and East Europe editor Herszhenhorn, Alexey Navalny is the most iconic of all the political leaders to have resisted Putin's totalitarian rule. After all, he survived a poisoning attempt that, Navalny said, "inflicted a mortal offense against him by the fact that I just survived after they tried to kill me on his order." He returned to Russia soon thereafter, after having testified before the European Parliament that it needed to do more to stand up to the regime and that "Russia is degrading in every sense." The return earned him an 11.5-year prison sentence. Herszhenhorn's title is somewhat ironic, for Navalny believes that he is not a dissident, which he describes as a minority view. He insists that he speaks for most Russians, despite the apparent indifference of so many of them. Indeed, a minority position makes it easy for the government to crack down on dissent, which Putin has done by, among other things, imposing a fine of 1 million rubles on protest organizers. For all that, Navalny, at least one of whose convictions in Putin's courts has been declared invalid by the European Court of Human Rights, continues to speak out against tyranny and official corruption. While the conviction technically makes him ineligible to run for office, he shows no signs of slowing down. Herszhenhorn closes with Navalny's recently appearing outside prison for a courtroom hearing only to learn of Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted coup. "Navalny, whose only crime had been working to expose corruption and pleading for a chance to run in a free and fair election, was on trial for extremism charges," writes the author, while the "murderous warlord" Prigozhin, "Putin's chef," faced no criminal charges. A valuable addition to the literature surrounding a tyrannical Russian state.

        COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • Booklist

        September 15, 2023
        Journalist Herszenhorn's biography of Alexey Navalny celebrates the currently imprisoned Russian opposition figure's lifelong persistence, including his surviving an assassination attempt. His grandparents displaced by the Chernobyl nuclear accident, Navalny came of age as the Soviet Union crumbled and cultivated a deep skepticism about government. Educated as a lawyer, he leveraged "shareholder rights" to draw attention to corporate fraud at major Russian companies, attracting both praise and powerful enemies. Navalny's political career, including an unsuccessful run for mayor of Moscow, was propelled by skillful use of internet platforms and a confrontational style. But with larger audiences and the stated goal of ending the Putin regime, Navaly's agitation would become more perilous. In 2020, Navaly narrowly survived being poisoned with a nerve agent; at present, he remains imprisoned for "extremism," among other charges. Herszenhorn notes Navalny's quirks (an affection for animated TV shows, especially Rick and Morty) and documents his flaws (racist and xenophobic views and a willingness to court far-right elements). But Herzenhorn ultimately lionizes Navalny as a patriotic activist who could one day dethrone Putin, if he endures long enough.

        COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • Publisher's Weekly

        October 9, 2023
        In this propulsive debut biography, Washington Post editor Herszenhorn portrays 47-year-old Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny as a “deeply patriotic, even nationalist Russian” with a “keen sense of justice and outrage that often morphs into vigilantism.” Herszenhorn describes how Navalny—who grew up as a “military brat” (his father was a Soviet officer)—channeled his angst over “the lies and hypocrisy of the Soviet state” into becoming an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. Among other tactics, Navalny created videos and blogs accusing high-level officials of corruption, including a “tongue-in-cheek” 2007 video depicting Putin as the Devil. Navalny also set up an antigraft website, RosPil, and organized the Anti-corruption Foundation. Herszenhorn notes that some of Navalny’s investigations lacked compelling evidence, such as his attempt to prove the Kremlin meddled in the 2020 U.S. elections. Nevertheless, his watchdogging prompted a series of reprisal investigations into his business ventures, and in 2020 FSB agents poisoned Navalny with a deadly nerve agent (which had been applied to his underwear), but he survived the attack. In 2021 he was arrested on fabricated charges and is now serving a nearly 12–year prison sentence. Herszenhorn shies away from delivering a conclusive political analysis of this complex figure, instead aiming for a balanced and informative “news driven” recap of Navalny’s career. The result is an immersive look at the cutthroat world of Russian politics.

      • Library Journal

        October 6, 2023

        In August of this year, Alexey Navalny, a 47-year-old Russian opposition leader, was sentenced to an additional 19 years (beyond his existing 11-year one) in a penal colony in Melekhovo, 150 miles east of Moscow. Few outside Putin's regime see any legal basis for Navalny's conviction for six counts related to inciting and financing extremism, creating an illegal NGO, and more. The Washington Post's Herszenhorn writes a detailed, convincing political biography that begins in 2020 with Navalny being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok and his dramatic recovery in a German hospital, then jumps backward in time to 2011-13, when Navalny ran for mayor of Moscow. It was also during that period that Navalny's popularity soared when he exposed the corruption in Putin's circle, and ensuing massive public protests challenged the notion that Russia has a politically passive population. Putin's fraudulent 2012 presidential election occasioned a new level of popular repression and Navalny's persecution, including horrific prison conditions and torture. VERDICT Herszenhorn expertly portrays Navalny as a resilient figure and as a "prisoner of conscience" who evolves from a crusader to a political leader symbolizing democratic Russia.--Zachary Irwin

        Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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