From the Bookshelf of The History Book Club…

[close] SIGN UP NOW - BEGINNING FEBRUARY 10, 2019 through APRIL 30, 2019 (A RESTART)
Link to event notification:
https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/...

Book of the Month Selection: Non Fiction - COUNTRY FOCUS - Russia

Introduction: Quote:
"In my first years as an activist I often said that Putin was a Russian problem for Russians to solve, but that he would soon be a regional problem and then a global problem if his ambitions were ignored. This regrettable transformation has come to pass and lives are being lost because of it. It is cold comfort to be told ‘You were right!’. It is even less comforting when so little is being done to halt Putin’s aggression even now. What is the point of saying you should have listened and acted when you still aren’t listening and acting?” -- from Introduction to “Winter is Coming”

“Brave, trenchant and convincing... The book gallops through the collapse of the Soviet Union and the chaotic 1990s and then charges full tilt at Vladimir Putin: a former KGB man who is a far more dangerous adversary than most outsiders realise. His rise to power in 1999 should have been a deafening alarm call to the West: as shocking as an ex-Gestapo officer coming to power in Germany… Western politicians who offer grand visions and bold leadership, such as Senator John McCain, don't get elected. Voters in democratic countries tend to prefer low key leaders and a quiet life to blood, sweat, toil and tears. How does one defend a free world that does not want to defend itself? Let us hope that Kasparov's book becomes a bestseller.” —The Sunday Times (UK)