Lisa Dickey and David Hillegas did a great job with their Russian Chronicles project. I’m truly amazed. This is one of the most unbiased and honest report on life in Russia I ever read made by a journalist not by a casual tourist. Someone said, “If in Russia you find a dilapidated house in a god forgotten Siberian village. If there’s a dead drunk Russian wino lying in dirt near that house. If that drunk is shouting “Down with Putin”, then be sure to find a Washington Post reporter nearby interviewing the man.” The last book from Washington Post reporters “Kremlin Rising” is a true example of this kind of junk journalism. Here’s a very good review of the book by Mark Ames “Bullshit Rising”. Nice title.
Russian Chronicles is a quite different report although the blog is hosted by WP.
Lisa writes:
It's been a long, illuminating trip. I really didn't know what to expect when I arrived here in August; though I'd lived in St. Petersburg from 1994 until the end of 1996, I'd only been back to Russia twice in the nine years since, for a week each time. All I knew about what was going on in Russia was what I gleaned from the news. And the news, of course, is mostly focused on politics and catastrophic events, such as the Kursk submarine sinking and terrorist attacks.
For that reason, I wanted to keep this blog as apolitical as possible, and as focused on the ordinary lives of ordinary people as I could make it. I wanted to know how Russians were really living -- not just how their politicians and oligarchs were faring.
She and David spent more than two months traveling by rail from Vladivostok to Moscow, then to Murmansk and to St. Peterburg. They visited 12 cities and met dozens of people.
I’m looking forward to the release of the book “Russian Chronicles. 10 Years Later". I’ll definitely be the one of the first to buy it.
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4 comments:
I'll be surely one of the buyers of the book too!!
:)
Dear Konstantin,
I like the openmindedness of your blog. and the choice of colors. I was never a big fan of brown, but it works with you.
And I am a little surprised that you found a charitable use for an Exile link. I think they wrote themselves into a corner sometime in 1998. Seriously.
I have lived in Russia (from Calif.) for the past 8 years and just recently began a blog: maaskva: nashimi glazami (maaskva.blogspot.com). Милости просим!
I'll be sure to list you in my "nogs: blogs worth drinking" section.
best,
raffi (mng)
“If in Russia you find a dilapidated house in a god forgotten Siberian village. If there’s a dead drunk Russian wino lying in dirt near that house. If that drunk is shouting “Down with Putin”, then be sure to find a Washington Post reporter nearby interviewing the man.”
Seen quite a few of terrible houses and god forgoten Siberian vilages, not talking about drunks, but not a single reporter in site, unfortunately. Other wise i would have used the chance to say what I, not a drunk by any standards, think about it.
Why are Russian people taken in by such a scheming personality cult figure as Putin? There have been similar figures in Russia's past, promising much, creating a facade, but delivering an awful reality.
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