The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past

In his first book, Walker, the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, explores the way Vladimir Putin exploits a sanitized version of Russia’s history, especially its role in WWII, to unite its populace behind the goal of returning to major-power status. The book mixes historical analysis with original reporting, using the modern- day Russia-Ukraine conflict as its central example. Walker proves an able historian and clearly guides the reader through the context necessary to support his thesis. For instance, as a counterexample to the Kremlin’s straightforwardly heroic account of the Soviet WWII record, he recounts Stalin’s relocation of an entire ethnic group, the Kalmyks, accused of backing Hitler. Walker’s original reporting is exemplary and differentiates the book from equally well-informed but more scholarly analyses with its eye for the idiosyncratic and telling detail. While interviewing a prominent Crimean supporter of Putin, he observes that the man “seemed defensive, almost angry, as he answered my questions while doodling stick trees in his notebook.” Walker proves an empathetic interviewer throughout, willing to hear both pro- and anti-Putin viewpoints but also willing to hold his subjects accountable. Intelligent and ambitious, Walker’s book succeeds in providing insight into the recent history of a nation at the center of world attention. (Jan. 2018)