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Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin's Moscow
A memoir of revolution, reaction, and Russian men’s fashion
In this crackling memoir, the journalist and novelist Michael Idov recounts the tempestuous years he spent living alongside—and closely observing—the media and cultural elite of Putin’s Russia. After accepting a surprise offer to become the editor in chief of GQ Russia, Idov and his family arrive in a Moscow still seething from a dubious election and the mass anti-Putin rallies that erupted in response. Idov is fascinated by the political turmoil but nonetheless finds himself pulled in unlikely directions. He becomes a tabloid celebrity, acts in a Russian movie with Snoop Dogg, befriends the members of Pussy Riot, punches an anti-Semitic magazine editor on the steps of the Bolshoi Theatre, sells an autobiographical sitcom pilot that is later changed into an anti-American farce, and writes Russia’s top-grossing domestic movie of 2015. Meanwhile, he becomes disillusioned with the splintering opposition to Putin and is briefly attracted to a kind of jaded Putinism lite—until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine thoroughly changes his mind.
In Dressed Up for a Riot, Idov writes openly, sensitively, and stingingly about life in Moscow and his place in a media apparatus that sometimes undermined but more often bolstered a state system defined by cynicism, corruption, and the fanning of fake news. With humor and intelligence, he offers a close-up glimpse of what a declining world power can become.
In this crackling memoir, the journalist and novelist Michael Idov recounts the tempestuous years he spent living alongside—and closely observing—the media and cultural elite of Putin’s Russia. After accepting a surprise offer to become the editor in chief of GQ Russia, Idov and his family arrive in a Moscow still seething from a dubious election and the mass anti-Putin rallies that erupted in response. Idov is fascinated by the political turmoil but nonetheless finds himself pulled in unlikely directions. He becomes a tabloid celebrity, acts in a Russian movie with Snoop Dogg, befriends the members of Pussy Riot, punches an anti-Semitic magazine editor on the steps of the Bolshoi Theatre, sells an autobiographical sitcom pilot that is later changed into an anti-American farce, and writes Russia’s top-grossing domestic movie of 2015. Meanwhile, he becomes disillusioned with the splintering opposition to Putin and is briefly attracted to a kind of jaded Putinism lite—until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine thoroughly changes his mind.
In Dressed Up for a Riot, Idov writes openly, sensitively, and stingingly about life in Moscow and his place in a media apparatus that sometimes undermined but more often bolstered a state system defined by cynicism, corruption, and the fanning of fake news. With humor and intelligence, he offers a close-up glimpse of what a declining world power can become.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published February 20, 2018
35 people are currently reading
761 people want to read
About the author
Michael Idov
9 books112 followersMichael Idov is a novelist, director, and screenwriter. A Latvian-born American raised in Riga under Soviet occupation, he moved to New York after graduating from the University of Michigan. His writing career began at New York magazine, where his features won three National Magazine Awards. Michael has also been the editor-in-chief of GQ Russia. He is the author of Ground Up and Dressed Up for a Riot. Michael has worked on numerous film and TV projects, including Londongrad, Deutschland 83, Leto, and The Humorist. Along with his wife and screenwriting partner, Lily, they divide their time between Los Angeles, Berlin, and Portugal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
March 3, 2018
Вряд ли книгу прочтут сторонники популярной теории «либералы слили протест», но Миша на голубом глазу выдает деталь, которая для меня оставалась непонятной: а как у журналиста Сергея Пархоменко вообще появились переговорные позиции (с мэрией и АП) по месту проведения митинга «За честные выборы»? А это, оказывается, веселые хипстеры из «Жан-Жака» (важные герои этой книги, которые сначала обожали автора за то, что он из Нью-Йорка и типа Набоков нашего поколения, а потом прокляли за поход в глянец), потрудились: пасынок Пархоменко Илья Файбисович сделал его админом группы ФБ, в которой было уже несколько десятков тысяч участников. В остальном же книга, несмотря на периодическое очевидное сведение счетов, must read для всех очевидцев событий, людей из мира медиа и кино, которые захотят увидеть себя со стороны. Хорол, что кто-то взял на себя труд остроумно описать все то, что остальным кажется рутиной, например, феномен Собчак, которая помимо воли автора также становится важной героиней книги (длинноты с описанием нашей политической реальности для американцев можно пропускать, но там все аккуратно изложено, претензий по фактам, несмотря на очень личный фокус, почти нет).
May 4, 2019
I am one of the target audiences for this book: Russian/American and interested in an analysis of recent Russian politics and culture. Similar immigrant identity to Idov. And yet, in spite of all of that I could not get myself to like this book at all. It reads like being at a fancy, snobby dinner party with someone who is constantly namedropping people and expecting you to be impressed that he knows them,shits on everyone who's more talented than him (Pelevin, Sorokin, etc.), and expects you to be impressed with him, rather than talking to you, talking at you almost the entire time. So, I guess it's not unlike getting a taste of what running with the GQ Russia crowd is like, after all. His wife and daughter float like ghosts in the background while he checks Twitter for the millionth time to find out who did what and where. I was expecting a much more personal, nuanced memoir. For a much ,much better memoir of the Russian fashion industry that's done with heart, vim, and humor, read Alina Doletskaya's memoir.
April 2, 2022
3.5
“Ukraine was exactly like Russia, except it wasn’t. Even the word Ukraine meant “heartland” in its own language or “outskirts” in Russian, the two interpretations uncannily reflecting the two vantage points. Ever since the breakup of the U.S.S.R., the largest of the former Soviet republics occupied a strange place in the Russian psyche. Ukraine was a cautionary tale and an aspirational one, a provincial backwater that also happened to be more confidently European. While Russia spent centuries flailing around in search of its identity, Ukraine’s was self-evident, grounded in its own rich soil. Its language, to the Muscovite ear, sounded like a parody of Russian but underpinned a robust pop culture that often left Moscow behind, especially when it came to music. Similarly, the political Kiev often seemed like a joke—fisticuffs in the Parliament, a merry-go-round of shifting alliances at the top—but at least IT WAS ALIVE; the chaos was the best proof that things weren’t staged.”
Knjiga je poduža reportaža o moskovskoj kulturnoj i opozicionoj sceni iz vremena (2012-2014) dok je Michael Idov službovao na mestu glavnog urednika magazina GQ Россия. Izvrsno se dopunjuje sa knjigom
Ništa nije istina i sve je moguće Petera Pomerantseva. Obe su zanimljive hronike apsurdne, ruske svakodnevice, pune pasusa u kojima promiču Pelevin, Sorokin i brojna druga zvučna imena.
Osim sveprisutne, sistemske korupcije, dokumentuju, pre svega, uvođenje drakonske kontrole nad ruskim medijima - pedantno striktne nakon ruske aneksije Krima; pri čemu je preferencijalna metoda vlasti, plansko obesmišljavanje čak i najbenignijih informativnih sadržaja i silovita estradizacija kako profesija tako i svih segmenata života. Nude, dakle, odgovore na pitanja - zašto nema opozicije, čime je ruska javnost pasivizirana, pa i kompletno paralisana; i otkad je počelo to, sad već uveliko i odigrano, isterivanje pameti iz zemlje.
Domaćoj publici obe su instruktivne, koliko zbog ruskog rata u Ukrajini, toliko i zbog lokalno, poražavajuće prepoznatljivljih, mehanizama kontinuiranog “ispiranja mozga” koje, očigledno, autokratske zemlje prepisuju jedna od druge.
Podsetiću vas ujedno i da su sutra/danas (već kad ko čita) izbori u Srbiji, na svim nivoima, što je, ma koliko unapred izgubljeno, farsično ili uzaludno, retka prilika kad se i 'miševi' nešto pitaju!
Ovo su knjige koje beleže kako su Rusi tu olako stečenu demokratsku privilegiju, za sada, izgubili.
“Ukraine was exactly like Russia, except it wasn’t. Even the word Ukraine meant “heartland” in its own language or “outskirts” in Russian, the two interpretations uncannily reflecting the two vantage points. Ever since the breakup of the U.S.S.R., the largest of the former Soviet republics occupied a strange place in the Russian psyche. Ukraine was a cautionary tale and an aspirational one, a provincial backwater that also happened to be more confidently European. While Russia spent centuries flailing around in search of its identity, Ukraine’s was self-evident, grounded in its own rich soil. Its language, to the Muscovite ear, sounded like a parody of Russian but underpinned a robust pop culture that often left Moscow behind, especially when it came to music. Similarly, the political Kiev often seemed like a joke—fisticuffs in the Parliament, a merry-go-round of shifting alliances at the top—but at least IT WAS ALIVE; the chaos was the best proof that things weren’t staged.”
Knjiga je poduža reportaža o moskovskoj kulturnoj i opozicionoj sceni iz vremena (2012-2014) dok je Michael Idov službovao na mestu glavnog urednika magazina GQ Россия. Izvrsno se dopunjuje sa knjigom
Ništa nije istina i sve je moguće Petera Pomerantseva. Obe su zanimljive hronike apsurdne, ruske svakodnevice, pune pasusa u kojima promiču Pelevin, Sorokin i brojna druga zvučna imena.
Osim sveprisutne, sistemske korupcije, dokumentuju, pre svega, uvođenje drakonske kontrole nad ruskim medijima - pedantno striktne nakon ruske aneksije Krima; pri čemu je preferencijalna metoda vlasti, plansko obesmišljavanje čak i najbenignijih informativnih sadržaja i silovita estradizacija kako profesija tako i svih segmenata života. Nude, dakle, odgovore na pitanja - zašto nema opozicije, čime je ruska javnost pasivizirana, pa i kompletno paralisana; i otkad je počelo to, sad već uveliko i odigrano, isterivanje pameti iz zemlje.
Domaćoj publici obe su instruktivne, koliko zbog ruskog rata u Ukrajini, toliko i zbog lokalno, poražavajuće prepoznatljivljih, mehanizama kontinuiranog “ispiranja mozga” koje, očigledno, autokratske zemlje prepisuju jedna od druge.
Podsetiću vas ujedno i da su sutra/danas (već kad ko čita) izbori u Srbiji, na svim nivoima, što je, ma koliko unapred izgubljeno, farsično ili uzaludno, retka prilika kad se i 'miševi' nešto pitaju!
Ovo su knjige koje beleže kako su Rusi tu olako stečenu demokratsku privilegiju, za sada, izgubili.
February 19, 2018
This book is brilliant. It's darkly comic and entertaining while also being informative. Idov's humor mirrors my own in a lot of ways, and I really enjoyed his book! The best part about this for me was seeing the events I followed on twitter and the news re-analyzed from a different perspective, put in chronological and/or logical (I know.) order. Loved this book and am looking forward to more work from M. Idov!
July 2, 2019
A terribly cynical and somewhat pretentious book that I found impossible to tear away from my eyes. The section on Kapkovianism crushed any disillusionment I had of a 'liberal' Moscow - in fact this book managed to crush many of my disillusionments regarding Russia. Maybe that's the point?
July 10, 2025
A weird peer into the inter- and im-personal world of modern Russian journalism under state control. Three stars because I'm far enough away from the content (headship of Russian GQ magazine) and context to care very much.
January 22, 2019
This is a delightful, often breezy, and always interesting, narrative of the author's two years in Moscow as the editor of a fashion glossy magazine - at a turning point in Russian politics, as opposition to Putin was evidently co-opted and effectively crushed. The book is a easy to read, clearly written, and a pleasure to read - the one complaint I will make though is that since 99.9% of the names of Russian personalities (media, political, literary, etc) figures are mostly not instantly recognizable, when they're cited pages after they've been initially mentioned, you have no idea who they are or what the reason is they're being cited. There is no index or index of "characters" - so you have to flip back through the book to find out who that person is, and thus figure out why he or she is being mentioned at that particular point in the book. However, even so, I found I got a lot out of reading the book - a lot of insight into today's Russia, especially the split that's occurred in that society between those who simply accept Putin's rather dictatorial rule, and those who still persist in trying to put up a resistance, have demonstrations etc. The book humanizes Russians - which is a good thing considering today's hysteria over Russiagate. Regular pro-democracy Russians and Americans have a common foe as it were - Putin. Russians suffer all sorts of hard knocks in trying to express disapproval of Putin - peaceful demonstrators are routinely arrested, and the independent press (or whatever is left of it) is marginalized. Most political parties are co-opted by Putin or his oligarchs, and the Russian parliament is therefore not much of a counterweight to Putin. Therefore, the system there is essentially one-man rule. Corruption is rampant - many investigative reporters who have reported on gov corruption have died under violent or mysterious circumstances. There are all sorts of censorship laws. Thus, Russia has fallen under a near-dictatorship once again despite having gotten rid of actual dictatorship about 25 years ago. I would recommend this book to anyone who seeks direct insight that is even oftentimes funny, into life in Russia today. It will not disappoint!
December 26, 2020
Fantastic read. Born in Russia, raised in Latvia and then primarily Cleveland, Ohio, Michael Idov returns to Russia in 2012 to take a job as editor of GQ magazine. This is his account of the life of Moscow's creative intelligentsia in that period. With dazzling prose and incisive wit, he brings to life the various hallmarks of Moscow society in the 2010's: angst and protest energy coopted into hipsterdom and bourgeois comforts; the paradoxes of late Putinism, Kapkovism, the Crimean annexation, etc. His exploration of widespread cynicism and egotism as a form of resignation and a defense mechanism is rather interesting. I.e., trying for something better is hopeless, so I might as well get every last drop of hedonistic enjoyment or selfish career advancement that I can... This is definitely one of the best books about contemporary Russia that I've encountered.
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December 25, 2019Having immigrated to New York from the Soviet Union as a teen, Michael Idov returns to Russia in 2012 to run the Russian GQ, then transitions into working as a scriptwriter. This is a very comprehensive account of Putin's second term in office and all the political and social turmoil of the contemporary Russia. The writer is clearly torn between the desire to live an ethical life, and the desire for a successful life (with power, money, and glory) -- and he presents his conflict with a decent amount of self-reflection.
January 28, 2025
(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)
Я иду, как слепой в окружении глухих,
Я иду мимо домов где добивают больных.
Я иду по переходу между небом и землей,
Между золотом и кровью, между кровью и водой.
Я иду по дорогам, я иду по траве,
Я иду по странным снам наяву и во сне
Я иду один по грязи и по лужам,
Я иду один, и мне никто не нужен!
Нечто похожее я уже читал. Хотя я не могу сказать, что эта книга и книга Rockin' the Kremlin: My Incredible True Story of Gangsters, Oligarchs, and Pop Stars in Putin's Russia являются схожими, но что-то общее между ними определённо есть. Книга Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin's Moscow является более политически ориентированной и более того, главной темой являются митинги в Москве 2011-2012 через призму гламура. Но насколько правильно называть эту книгу описанием тех событий через призму гламура? Мне кажется, такое о��ределение является достаточно точным хотя бы потому, что автор в серьёз воспринимает фигуру Ксении Собчак. Конечно, это сегодня понятно, что Собчак играет на стороне Путина, но насколько простые граждане Москвы, что выходили на самые известные и многочисленные демонстрации в современной России, видели в Собчак даже не оппозиционера и либерала, а хотя бы просто честного человека? Как мне кажется, Собчак интересна очень узкой группе жителей Москвы, т.е. тому самому гламуру, с позиции которого и рассматривает автор те знаменательные события 2011-2012 гг. Именно поэтому и не удивительно, что одним из главных действующих лиц этой книги является Собчак.
Sobchak, meanwhile, was my next quest. The instruction was to try to keep her contributing to GQ by any means necessary. I felt a little conflicted about this. I could see her value: she was everywhere. I could also see the drawback: she was everywhere. I’d open Munipov’s Bolshoi Gorod and there was Sobchak, on page 36, interviewing some ex-Marines who had recorded an anti-Putin song. And there she was on page 53 of the same issue, hawking a new restaurant she had just opened. Sobchak was launching some new product, some new partial iteration of herself, seemingly every week. Along the road to Rublevka, the ultra-rich enclave west of Moscow, her face stared down from dozens of billboards, advertising some luxury or another; at the same time, her new political talk show on MTV, Gosdep (The State Department), was the toast of my Twitter feed.
<...>
She was a familiar type, I thought, and a very American one in fact: an insatiable media workaholic.
Хотя в книге упоминаются и другие участники тех памятных событий, к примеру, Filipp Dzyadko, Ilya Krasilshchik, Alexei Navalny и многие другие, но в основном это люди из состава культурной элиты. Я не могу сказать, что автор смотрит на ситуацию предубеждённо, но я определённо увидел в этой книге точку зрения человека, который живёт гламурной жизнью или проводит много времени среди представителей гламура (как говорится, скажи мне кто твой друг и я скажу кто ты). К сожалению это делает взгляд автора немного искажённым. Как мне кажется, многое, что описывает в своей книге автор, является не мнением автора, а мнением тех людей, которыми он окружён и с которыми постоянно общается, будучи главным редактором GQ.
A lawyer by education and trade, Navalny entered politics in 2000, through the ineffectual-by-design “systemic opposition” party named Yabloko. By the mid-aughts, he struck out on his own, trying on several populist messages to see which one would stick. Among them was a nationalist one; Navalny was involved with the so-called Russian March, an annual gathering whose mildest slogan was “Russia for Russians, Moscow for Muscovites,” and he cofounded a “democratic nationalist” organization that ended up merging with a full-on fascist group called Movement Against Illegal Immigration. It is not impossible that Navalny viewed all this in purely realpolitik terms, as a necessary way to amass muscle for a broad revolutionary coalition; in any case, he has been evasive on the subject, and it didn’t endear him to the intelligentsia.
Такая характеристика данная автором Навальному очень хорошо показывает, с кем общался автор большую часть времени. Да, у московской интеллигенции именно такой взгляд на любые националистические организации и движения. Для российской интеллигенции любой национализм в прямом смысле слова равен фашизму. Вдвойне забавно видеть сегодня, как эти интеллигенты в упор не видят украинский радикальный национализм, который сыграл существенную роль в обострении отношений между Россией и Украиной. Да что там украинский радикальный национализм, когда так называемый Российский Добровольческий Корпус, воюющий против путинской России, критикуется российскими иммигрантами очень и очень редко, а ведь руководитель РДК не скрывает своего национал-социалистического взгляда. Но, как говорится, это национал-социализм кого надо национал-социализм, т.е. этот национал-социализм на "правильной стороне истории". С моей точки зрения сменить олигархический ельцинско-путинский режим на фашистский, не очень хорошая идея. То, что Украинцы именно РДК выбрали в качестве "русского корпуса" воюющего против путинской России, много говорит о политической элите Украины. Но вернёмся к книге. На самом деле российский национализм с корнем выкорчёвывался не только в период правления коммунистов, но и в путинское правление он подвергался вытеснению и маргинализации. Конечно, радикальные русские националисты существуют, как например военизированное движение "Русич", но ни в российском обществе, ни в российской элите радикальные русские националисты не приветствуются именно по причине опасности расползания страны по национальным границам. В этом смысле российские власти доводят ситуацию до крайностей, запрещая национальным меньшинствам изучать свой язык и культуру.
Так на кого ориентирована эта книга? Как мне кажется, книга ориентирована на класс граждан, которых условно можно назвать "офисным планктоном", которые читают журналы типа GQ, Большой Город, книги издательства "Стрелка" и которые являются главной целевой аудиторией посещающие музеи современного искусства. Книга позволят вспомнить те времена мирных демонстраций, когда казалось, что ещё немного и авторитарный ельцинско-путинский режим рухнет. Но, увы, он не рухнул. Хотя сегодня принято ругать тех людей, что выводили людей на улицы Москвы за их решение "поставить на паузу митинги ", сегодня мне думается, что ни в этом была проблема, а в том, что элита в те дни не раскололась. И под элитой я подразумеваю не только олигархию, но и очень богатых россиян, которых в то время всё устраивало, ибо Путин давал возможность и дальше наслаждаться двойной жизнью - зарабатывать деньги в России, тратя их на Западе. Другими словами, российская оппозиция проиграла ровно потому, что на их сторону не перешла часть путинской элиты, а без раскола элит, как хорошо показал опыт Белоруссии, никакие митинги не способны привести к смене режима. К тому же не стоит забывать, что упрочнение режима происходило не только на протяжении всего путинского правления, но уже при Ельцине власть начала возвращать утраченную в начале 90-ых "вертикаль власти".
I've read something similar to this before. Although I can't say that this book and Rockin' the Kremlin: My Incredible True Story of Gangsters, Oligarchs, and Pop Stars in Putin's Russia are similar, there is something in common between them. The book Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin's Moscow is more politically oriented and the main theme is the rallies in Moscow 2011-2012 through the prism of glamor. But how correct is it to call this book a description of those events through the prism of glamor? It seems to me that such a definition is quite accurate, if only because the author takes the figure of Ksenia Sobchak seriously. Of course, today it is clear that Sobchak plays on Putin's side, but to what extent did the ordinary citizens of Moscow, who came out to the most famous and numerous demonstrations in modern Russia, see in Sobchak not even an oppositionist and a liberal, but at least a simple honest person? It seems to me, that Sobchak is interesting to a very narrow group of Moscow residents, i.e. to the very glamor from whose position the author views those significant events of 2011-2012. That is why it is not surprising that one of the main characters of this book is Sobchak.
Sobchak, meanwhile, was my next quest. The instruction was to try to keep her contributing to GQ by any means necessary. I felt a little conflicted about this. I could see her value: she was everywhere. I could also see the drawback: she was everywhere. I’d open Munipov’s Bolshoi Gorod and there was Sobchak, on page 36, interviewing some ex-Marines who had recorded an anti-Putin song. And there she was on page 53 of the same issue, hawking a new restaurant she had just opened. Sobchak was launching some new product, some new partial iteration of herself, seemingly every week. Along the road to Rublevka, the ultra-rich enclave west of Moscow, her face stared down from dozens of billboards, advertising some luxury or another; at the same time, her new political talk show on MTV, Gosdep (The State Department), was the toast of my Twitter feed.
<...>
She was a familiar type, I thought, and a very American one in fact: an insatiable media workaholic.
Although the book mentions other participants of those memorable events, such as Filipp Dzyadko, Ilya Krasilshchik, Alexei Navalny, and many others, they are mostly people from the cultural elite. I can't say that the author looks at the situation in a biased way, but I saw in this book the point of view of a person who lives a glamorous life or spends a lot of time among the representatives of glamor (as they say, tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are). Unfortunately, this makes the author's perspective a bit skewed. It seems to me that much of what the author describes in his book is not the author's opinion, but the opinion of the people he is surrounded by and constantly interacts with as editor-in-chief of GQ.
A lawyer by education and trade, Navalny entered politics in 2000, through the ineffectual-by-design “systemic opposition” party named Yabloko. By the mid-aughts, he struck out on his own, trying on several populist messages to see which one would stick. Among them was a nationalist one; Navalny was involved with the so-called Russian March, an annual gathering whose mildest slogan was “Russia for Russians, Moscow for Muscovites,” and he cofounded a “democratic nationalist” organization that ended up merging with a full-on fascist group called Movement Against Illegal Immigration. It is not impossible that Navalny viewed all this in purely realpolitik terms, as a necessary way to amass muscle for a broad revolutionary coalition; in any case, he has been evasive on the subject, and it didn’t endear him to the intelligentsia.
This characterization of Navalny by the author shows very well who the author has been in contact with most of the time. Yes, the Moscow intelligentsia has such a view on any nationalist organizations and movements. For the Russian intelligentsia, any nationalism is literally equal to fascism. It is doubly amusing to see today how these intellectuals do not see the Ukrainian radical nationalism, which has played a significant role in the aggravation of relations between Russia and Ukraine. Huh, of what kind of Ukrainian radical nationalism are we talking about when the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps, fighting against Putin's Russia, is criticized by Russian immigrants very, very rarely, although the head of the RVC does not hide his national-socialist views? But, as they say, this is the National Socialism of whom National Socialism is right, i.e., this National Socialism is on the “right side of history.” From my point of view, changing the oligarchic Yeltsin-Putin regime to a fascist regime is not a good idea. The fact that Ukrainians chose the RVC as the “Russian corps” fighting against Putin's Russia says a lot about Ukraine's political elite. But back to the book. In fact, Russian nationalism was uprooted not only during Communist rule, but during Putin's reign it was displaced and marginalized. Of course, radical Russian nationalists do exist, such as the Rusich paramilitary movement, but neither Russian society nor the Russian elite welcome radical Russian nationalists precisely because of the danger of the country sprawling along national borders. In this sense, the Russian authorities take the situation to extremes by prohibiting national minorities from learning their language and culture.
So who is this book aimed at? It seems to me that the book is aimed at a class of citizens who can be conditionally called “office plankton”, who read magazines like GQ, Bolshoi Gorod, books by Strelka publishing house, and who are the main target audience visiting museums of contemporary art. The book allows us to recall those times of peaceful demonstrations when it seemed that just a little more and the authoritarian Yeltsin-Putin regime would collapse. But, alas, it did not collapse. Although today it is common to berate those people who brought people onto the streets of Moscow for their decision to “pause the rallies,” today I think that this was not the problem, but the fact that the elite in those days did not split. And by elite, I mean not only the oligarchy but also the very rich Russians who were happy with everything at the time, because Putin made it possible to continue to enjoy a double life - making money in Russia and spending it in the West. In other words, the Russian opposition lost precisely because part of Putin's elite did not take their side, and without a split of the elites, as the experience of Belarus has well demonstrated, no rallies can lead to regime change. Besides, we should not forget that the regime was consolidated not only throughout Putin's rule but even under Yeltsin the authorities began to restore the “vertical of power” that had been lost in the early 90s.
Я иду, как слепой в окружении глухих,
Я иду мимо домов где добивают больных.
Я иду по переходу между небом и землей,
Между золотом и кровью, между кровью и водой.
Я иду по дорогам, я иду по траве,
Я иду по странным снам наяву и во сне
Я иду один по грязи и по лужам,
Я иду один, и мне никто не нужен!
Нечто похожее я уже читал. Хотя я не могу сказать, что эта книга и книга Rockin' the Kremlin: My Incredible True Story of Gangsters, Oligarchs, and Pop Stars in Putin's Russia являются схожими, но что-то общее между ними определённо есть. Книга Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin's Moscow является более политически ориентированной и более того, главной темой являются митинги в Москве 2011-2012 через призму гламура. Но насколько правильно называть эту книгу описанием тех событий через призму гламура? Мне кажется, такое о��ределение является достаточно точным хотя бы потому, что автор в серьёз воспринимает фигуру Ксении Собчак. Конечно, это сегодня понятно, что Собчак играет на стороне Путина, но насколько простые граждане Москвы, что выходили на самые известные и многочисленные демонстрации в современной России, видели в Собчак даже не оппозиционера и либерала, а хотя бы просто честного человека? Как мне кажется, Собчак интересна очень узкой группе жителей Москвы, т.е. тому самому гламуру, с позиции которого и рассматривает автор те знаменательные события 2011-2012 гг. Именно поэтому и не удивительно, что одним из главных действующих лиц этой книги является Собчак.
Sobchak, meanwhile, was my next quest. The instruction was to try to keep her contributing to GQ by any means necessary. I felt a little conflicted about this. I could see her value: she was everywhere. I could also see the drawback: she was everywhere. I’d open Munipov’s Bolshoi Gorod and there was Sobchak, on page 36, interviewing some ex-Marines who had recorded an anti-Putin song. And there she was on page 53 of the same issue, hawking a new restaurant she had just opened. Sobchak was launching some new product, some new partial iteration of herself, seemingly every week. Along the road to Rublevka, the ultra-rich enclave west of Moscow, her face stared down from dozens of billboards, advertising some luxury or another; at the same time, her new political talk show on MTV, Gosdep (The State Department), was the toast of my Twitter feed.
<...>
She was a familiar type, I thought, and a very American one in fact: an insatiable media workaholic.
Хотя в книге упоминаются и другие участники тех памятных событий, к примеру, Filipp Dzyadko, Ilya Krasilshchik, Alexei Navalny и многие другие, но в основном это люди из состава культурной элиты. Я не могу сказать, что автор смотрит на ситуацию предубеждённо, но я определённо увидел в этой книге точку зрения человека, который живёт гламурной жизнью или проводит много времени среди представителей гламура (как говорится, скажи мне кто твой друг и я скажу кто ты). К сожалению это делает взгляд автора немного искажённым. Как мне кажется, многое, что описывает в своей книге автор, является не мнением автора, а мнением тех людей, которыми он окружён и с которыми постоянно общается, будучи главным редактором GQ.
A lawyer by education and trade, Navalny entered politics in 2000, through the ineffectual-by-design “systemic opposition” party named Yabloko. By the mid-aughts, he struck out on his own, trying on several populist messages to see which one would stick. Among them was a nationalist one; Navalny was involved with the so-called Russian March, an annual gathering whose mildest slogan was “Russia for Russians, Moscow for Muscovites,” and he cofounded a “democratic nationalist” organization that ended up merging with a full-on fascist group called Movement Against Illegal Immigration. It is not impossible that Navalny viewed all this in purely realpolitik terms, as a necessary way to amass muscle for a broad revolutionary coalition; in any case, he has been evasive on the subject, and it didn’t endear him to the intelligentsia.
Такая характеристика данная автором Навальному очень хорошо показывает, с кем общался автор большую часть времени. Да, у московской интеллигенции именно такой взгляд на любые националистические организации и движения. Для российской интеллигенции любой национализм в прямом смысле слова равен фашизму. Вдвойне забавно видеть сегодня, как эти интеллигенты в упор не видят украинский радикальный национализм, который сыграл существенную роль в обострении отношений между Россией и Украиной. Да что там украинский радикальный национализм, когда так называемый Российский Добровольческий Корпус, воюющий против путинской России, критикуется российскими иммигрантами очень и очень редко, а ведь руководитель РДК не скрывает своего национал-социалистического взгляда. Но, как говорится, это национал-социализм кого надо национал-социализм, т.е. этот национал-социализм на "правильной стороне истории". С моей точки зрения сменить олигархический ельцинско-путинский режим на фашистский, не очень хорошая идея. То, что Украинцы именно РДК выбрали в качестве "русского корпуса" воюющего против путинской России, много говорит о политической элите Украины. Но вернёмся к книге. На самом деле российский национализм с корнем выкорчёвывался не только в период правления коммунистов, но и в путинское правление он подвергался вытеснению и маргинализации. Конечно, радикальные русские националисты существуют, как например военизированное движение "Русич", но ни в российском обществе, ни в российской элите радикальные русские националисты не приветствуются именно по причине опасности расползания страны по национальным границам. В этом смысле российские власти доводят ситуацию до крайностей, запрещая национальным меньшинствам изучать свой язык и культуру.
Так на кого ориентирована эта книга? Как мне кажется, книга ориентирована на класс граждан, которых условно можно назвать "офисным планктоном", которые читают журналы типа GQ, Большой Город, книги издательства "Стрелка" и которые являются главной целевой аудиторией посещающие музеи современного искусства. Книга позволят вспомнить те времена мирных демонстраций, когда казалось, что ещё немного и авторитарный ельцинско-путинский режим рухнет. Но, увы, он не рухнул. Хотя сегодня принято ругать тех людей, что выводили людей на улицы Москвы за их решение "поставить на паузу митинги ", сегодня мне думается, что ни в этом была проблема, а в том, что элита в те дни не раскололась. И под элитой я подразумеваю не только олигархию, но и очень богатых россиян, которых в то время всё устраивало, ибо Путин давал возможность и дальше наслаждаться двойной жизнью - зарабатывать деньги в России, тратя их на Западе. Другими словами, российская оппозиция проиграла ровно потому, что на их сторону не перешла часть путинской элиты, а без раскола элит, как хорошо показал опыт Белоруссии, никакие митинги не способны привести к смене режима. К тому же не стоит забывать, что упрочнение режима происходило не только на протяжении всего путинского правления, но уже при Ельцине власть начала возвращать утраченную в начале 90-ых "вертикаль власти".
I've read something similar to this before. Although I can't say that this book and Rockin' the Kremlin: My Incredible True Story of Gangsters, Oligarchs, and Pop Stars in Putin's Russia are similar, there is something in common between them. The book Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin's Moscow is more politically oriented and the main theme is the rallies in Moscow 2011-2012 through the prism of glamor. But how correct is it to call this book a description of those events through the prism of glamor? It seems to me that such a definition is quite accurate, if only because the author takes the figure of Ksenia Sobchak seriously. Of course, today it is clear that Sobchak plays on Putin's side, but to what extent did the ordinary citizens of Moscow, who came out to the most famous and numerous demonstrations in modern Russia, see in Sobchak not even an oppositionist and a liberal, but at least a simple honest person? It seems to me, that Sobchak is interesting to a very narrow group of Moscow residents, i.e. to the very glamor from whose position the author views those significant events of 2011-2012. That is why it is not surprising that one of the main characters of this book is Sobchak.
Sobchak, meanwhile, was my next quest. The instruction was to try to keep her contributing to GQ by any means necessary. I felt a little conflicted about this. I could see her value: she was everywhere. I could also see the drawback: she was everywhere. I’d open Munipov’s Bolshoi Gorod and there was Sobchak, on page 36, interviewing some ex-Marines who had recorded an anti-Putin song. And there she was on page 53 of the same issue, hawking a new restaurant she had just opened. Sobchak was launching some new product, some new partial iteration of herself, seemingly every week. Along the road to Rublevka, the ultra-rich enclave west of Moscow, her face stared down from dozens of billboards, advertising some luxury or another; at the same time, her new political talk show on MTV, Gosdep (The State Department), was the toast of my Twitter feed.
<...>
She was a familiar type, I thought, and a very American one in fact: an insatiable media workaholic.
Although the book mentions other participants of those memorable events, such as Filipp Dzyadko, Ilya Krasilshchik, Alexei Navalny, and many others, they are mostly people from the cultural elite. I can't say that the author looks at the situation in a biased way, but I saw in this book the point of view of a person who lives a glamorous life or spends a lot of time among the representatives of glamor (as they say, tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are). Unfortunately, this makes the author's perspective a bit skewed. It seems to me that much of what the author describes in his book is not the author's opinion, but the opinion of the people he is surrounded by and constantly interacts with as editor-in-chief of GQ.
A lawyer by education and trade, Navalny entered politics in 2000, through the ineffectual-by-design “systemic opposition” party named Yabloko. By the mid-aughts, he struck out on his own, trying on several populist messages to see which one would stick. Among them was a nationalist one; Navalny was involved with the so-called Russian March, an annual gathering whose mildest slogan was “Russia for Russians, Moscow for Muscovites,” and he cofounded a “democratic nationalist” organization that ended up merging with a full-on fascist group called Movement Against Illegal Immigration. It is not impossible that Navalny viewed all this in purely realpolitik terms, as a necessary way to amass muscle for a broad revolutionary coalition; in any case, he has been evasive on the subject, and it didn’t endear him to the intelligentsia.
This characterization of Navalny by the author shows very well who the author has been in contact with most of the time. Yes, the Moscow intelligentsia has such a view on any nationalist organizations and movements. For the Russian intelligentsia, any nationalism is literally equal to fascism. It is doubly amusing to see today how these intellectuals do not see the Ukrainian radical nationalism, which has played a significant role in the aggravation of relations between Russia and Ukraine. Huh, of what kind of Ukrainian radical nationalism are we talking about when the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps, fighting against Putin's Russia, is criticized by Russian immigrants very, very rarely, although the head of the RVC does not hide his national-socialist views? But, as they say, this is the National Socialism of whom National Socialism is right, i.e., this National Socialism is on the “right side of history.” From my point of view, changing the oligarchic Yeltsin-Putin regime to a fascist regime is not a good idea. The fact that Ukrainians chose the RVC as the “Russian corps” fighting against Putin's Russia says a lot about Ukraine's political elite. But back to the book. In fact, Russian nationalism was uprooted not only during Communist rule, but during Putin's reign it was displaced and marginalized. Of course, radical Russian nationalists do exist, such as the Rusich paramilitary movement, but neither Russian society nor the Russian elite welcome radical Russian nationalists precisely because of the danger of the country sprawling along national borders. In this sense, the Russian authorities take the situation to extremes by prohibiting national minorities from learning their language and culture.
So who is this book aimed at? It seems to me that the book is aimed at a class of citizens who can be conditionally called “office plankton”, who read magazines like GQ, Bolshoi Gorod, books by Strelka publishing house, and who are the main target audience visiting museums of contemporary art. The book allows us to recall those times of peaceful demonstrations when it seemed that just a little more and the authoritarian Yeltsin-Putin regime would collapse. But, alas, it did not collapse. Although today it is common to berate those people who brought people onto the streets of Moscow for their decision to “pause the rallies,” today I think that this was not the problem, but the fact that the elite in those days did not split. And by elite, I mean not only the oligarchy but also the very rich Russians who were happy with everything at the time, because Putin made it possible to continue to enjoy a double life - making money in Russia and spending it in the West. In other words, the Russian opposition lost precisely because part of Putin's elite did not take their side, and without a split of the elites, as the experience of Belarus has well demonstrated, no rallies can lead to regime change. Besides, we should not forget that the regime was consolidated not only throughout Putin's rule but even under Yeltsin the authorities began to restore the “vertical of power” that had been lost in the early 90s.
March 24, 2018
Overall I was disappointed with this book - why?
My expectation was to gain some insights into Putin's Russia from someone who had lived and worked in Moscow from 2011 through 2014. Mr. Idov was the editor-in-chief for GQ-Russia during the period. The title of the book, "Dressed Up for a Riot" subtly connects his GQ employment with the period when Pussy Riot was arrested and the aftermath of that, along with the rise and then decline of significant opposition to Putin. The sub-title, "Misadventures in Putin's Moscow" to me is suggestive of American travel narratives where the author, through no fault of his own, keeps getting into various difficult situations that are relayed in the book with some hilarity. Which is not what is going on in this book at all, so an odd (and inaccurate) choice.
There is no doubt Mr. Idov is a smart and intelligent guy, and a good writer. His parents and he (at a young age) left post-Soviet Latvia in 1992 to move to the US. Twenty years later, he is selected to be the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ for Conde Nast. The book is a collection of his observations about Russia - or some aspects of Russia - during the time he had that position.
The book is about 260 pages long. It takes about 60 pages of background before the reader (and Idov) arrive at his starting his position in Moscow with GQ. The next chapter is mostly about the challenges of gaining control of his assigned task, running the magazine. While this is all happening in a Russian context and "very Russian" (I suppose), the cast of characters are from the odd narrowly focused world he was inhabiting, a part of something like Russian high society (I guess that is how best to characterize them).
For the next three chapters, the focus is more on the Putin regime and organized opposition to it, but almost entirely the opposition from those within the circles he traveled in. I don't know who Mr. Idov thinks of as his reader here, but for most people this provides a fairly unbalanced picture of opposition to Putin among Russians generally.
Possibly the most interesting aspect of this narrative is Mr. Idov's description of his own migration from almost active participation in the anti-Putin movement (which he concedes isn't in keeping with being a journalist) to someone who is more interested in is successful in this version of Putin's Russia on his own terms. This transformation follows his migration from being the less-than-satisfactory editor of GQ to being a fully successfully developer of and writer for new television series for the Russian market, which includes close associations with many different people who have given up on any significant activities in opposition to Putin in favor career success and a "we can get along with his leadership" attitude. It's a surprising admission.
The final chapter starts with the Russian invasion of Ukrainian Crimea after the Sochi Olympics and works through various events with perhaps a larger scope of discussion than much of the rest of the book for its 40 pages. The main point is that things become such that Mr. Idov and his family leave Moscow for Berlin - he has had enough of Russia, although he will keep his apartment in Moscow and he's glad his daughter, age three, now speaks fluent Russian. Nevertheless, even having failed with GQ he is pleased with his success with TV, including the Londongrad series (about an agency that solves wealthy Russians' problems when living in the UK - there is a trailer here: https://youtu.be/R6a2duHWqgM).
Alas he is disappointed that his idea for a series about an American (basically about himself) who comes to Russia as a journalist is only realized by a Russian network that steals the idea - "How I Became Russian" (or perhaps, How I became a Russian) that he feels warps the concept and turns it into yet more pro-Russian, anti-American propaganda. (Which it certainly does - here is an episode online: https://youtu.be/FNPyVY8v9Kw.)
I'm not sure how to characterize this book - I guess it seems like inside baseball, more or less. What most people would get out of this to improve an understanding of Russia. Too much Michael Idov and his world and not enough observations of Russia outside the world.
My expectation was to gain some insights into Putin's Russia from someone who had lived and worked in Moscow from 2011 through 2014. Mr. Idov was the editor-in-chief for GQ-Russia during the period. The title of the book, "Dressed Up for a Riot" subtly connects his GQ employment with the period when Pussy Riot was arrested and the aftermath of that, along with the rise and then decline of significant opposition to Putin. The sub-title, "Misadventures in Putin's Moscow" to me is suggestive of American travel narratives where the author, through no fault of his own, keeps getting into various difficult situations that are relayed in the book with some hilarity. Which is not what is going on in this book at all, so an odd (and inaccurate) choice.
There is no doubt Mr. Idov is a smart and intelligent guy, and a good writer. His parents and he (at a young age) left post-Soviet Latvia in 1992 to move to the US. Twenty years later, he is selected to be the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ for Conde Nast. The book is a collection of his observations about Russia - or some aspects of Russia - during the time he had that position.
The book is about 260 pages long. It takes about 60 pages of background before the reader (and Idov) arrive at his starting his position in Moscow with GQ. The next chapter is mostly about the challenges of gaining control of his assigned task, running the magazine. While this is all happening in a Russian context and "very Russian" (I suppose), the cast of characters are from the odd narrowly focused world he was inhabiting, a part of something like Russian high society (I guess that is how best to characterize them).
For the next three chapters, the focus is more on the Putin regime and organized opposition to it, but almost entirely the opposition from those within the circles he traveled in. I don't know who Mr. Idov thinks of as his reader here, but for most people this provides a fairly unbalanced picture of opposition to Putin among Russians generally.
Possibly the most interesting aspect of this narrative is Mr. Idov's description of his own migration from almost active participation in the anti-Putin movement (which he concedes isn't in keeping with being a journalist) to someone who is more interested in is successful in this version of Putin's Russia on his own terms. This transformation follows his migration from being the less-than-satisfactory editor of GQ to being a fully successfully developer of and writer for new television series for the Russian market, which includes close associations with many different people who have given up on any significant activities in opposition to Putin in favor career success and a "we can get along with his leadership" attitude. It's a surprising admission.
The final chapter starts with the Russian invasion of Ukrainian Crimea after the Sochi Olympics and works through various events with perhaps a larger scope of discussion than much of the rest of the book for its 40 pages. The main point is that things become such that Mr. Idov and his family leave Moscow for Berlin - he has had enough of Russia, although he will keep his apartment in Moscow and he's glad his daughter, age three, now speaks fluent Russian. Nevertheless, even having failed with GQ he is pleased with his success with TV, including the Londongrad series (about an agency that solves wealthy Russians' problems when living in the UK - there is a trailer here: https://youtu.be/R6a2duHWqgM).
Alas he is disappointed that his idea for a series about an American (basically about himself) who comes to Russia as a journalist is only realized by a Russian network that steals the idea - "How I Became Russian" (or perhaps, How I became a Russian) that he feels warps the concept and turns it into yet more pro-Russian, anti-American propaganda. (Which it certainly does - here is an episode online: https://youtu.be/FNPyVY8v9Kw.)
I'm not sure how to characterize this book - I guess it seems like inside baseball, more or less. What most people would get out of this to improve an understanding of Russia. Too much Michael Idov and his world and not enough observations of Russia outside the world.
October 16, 2023
For anyone who lived through the brief excitement of Moscow opposition protests of 2011-12, for anyone who read Afisha, Bolshoy Gorod and GQ, followed the new generation of talented reporters and all the controversies of failed opposition leaders, and saw the city changing before their eyes. Too close for comfort, but too good to put down.
July 2, 2018
American Idov. Who is Michael Idov или прогулка по российским протестам с ех-главредом GQ и при чем тут Украина.
Этот год богат книжными новинками от бывших главредов. Алена Долецкая (уже прочитала) из Vogue Russia, Тина Браун из Vanity Fair (начала читать) и Михаил Идов из GQ Russia.
Книга от главного редактора-мужчины из мужского глянца - сама по себе сенсация. Ее даже позиционировали именно через эту призму - мол бывший главред GQ накатал свои мемуары. Катя Федорова, которая ведет один из самых популярных глянцевых тг-каналов «Good Morning, Karl!», написала, что «книга смешная, легкая и я всем ее советую». Мол читайте о похождениях честолюбивого американского журналистах по дебрям российского медиа-рынка со всеми его соблазнами в виде подарков, дорогих машин, и алчных рекламодателей.
Чушь! Это книга совершенно не о GQ и не о том, как талантливому американскому сценаристу не удалось привить российскому журналу основы международной журналистики. Идов, который на самом деле больше драматург, чем журналист (читая книгу вы поймете почему) сделал то, чего не сделали остальные российские журналисты - обернул описание анатомии российских оппозиционных движений и протестов 2011-2013 годов в глянцевую обертку и теперь продает это на международном уровне.
Не удивительно, что книга вышла на английском языке и в американском издании - думаю ее даже не переведут на русский. Идов пишет как сторонний наблюдатель, редко давай свою оценку происходящему и предоставляя читателям самим делать выводы. Тем не менее, вы определенно заметите, кому он симпатизирует, кого не понимает и кто ему откровенно омерзителен. Особенно это будет заметно по главе о Pussy Riot, за процессом над которыми он тщательно следил - его интервью с участницами вышло, когда уже был известен приговор и было опубликовано в других изданиях GQ по всему миру. Или о абсурдном законе Димы Яковлева, или о жгучей тяге московского общества к блеску и золоту.
Описывая будни главного редактора, которому приходится таскаться по гламурным приемам к личностям типа Капкова и удивлять всех отказами от дорогих подарков, он затрагивает и еще одну больную для России тему - журналистскую этику и политику изданий. Попав в страну в очень непростые годы, когда решалась будущая судьба страны и протесты, казалось, смогу многое поменять, у Михаила Идова была уникальная возможность наблюдать за этим всем находясь в эпицентре - в тусовке московской интеллигенции и золотой молодежи при этом, еще и общаясь с самыми именитыми журналистами. Какие они? Читайте и узнаете.
Отдельно хочу отметить его наблюдения за тем, что чем активнее развивалась Москва, как культурный и урбанистический центр, тем меньше становились протестные настроения этой самой молодежи. Какой волшебный инструмент влияния изобрел Капков.
Последняя глава его книги начинается словами «Ukraine was exactly like Russia, except it wasn’t”. Она во многом посвящена нашей стране и особенно вопросу по захвату Крыма и настроениями в российском обществе в те годы.
Отдельно я хочу отметить, что именно Идов выступил соавтором сценария к фильму Кирилла Серебренникова «Лето», который участвовал в Каннах в этом году. Сам режиссер не смог приехать, так как находится под домашним арестом в России.
Книгу можно купить на Амазоне в электронном и бумажном виде.
Этот год богат книжными новинками от бывших главредов. Алена Долецкая (уже прочитала) из Vogue Russia, Тина Браун из Vanity Fair (начала читать) и Михаил Идов из GQ Russia.
Книга от главного редактора-мужчины из мужского глянца - сама по себе сенсация. Ее даже позиционировали именно через эту призму - мол бывший главред GQ накатал свои мемуары. Катя Федорова, которая ведет один из самых популярных глянцевых тг-каналов «Good Morning, Karl!», написала, что «книга смешная, легкая и я всем ее советую». Мол читайте о похождениях честолюбивого американского журналистах по дебрям российского медиа-рынка со всеми его соблазнами в виде подарков, дорогих машин, и алчных рекламодателей.
Чушь! Это книга совершенно не о GQ и не о том, как талантливому американскому сценаристу не удалось привить российскому журналу основы международной журналистики. Идов, который на самом деле больше драматург, чем журналист (читая книгу вы поймете почему) сделал то, чего не сделали остальные российские журналисты - обернул описание анатомии российских оппозиционных движений и протестов 2011-2013 годов в глянцевую обертку и теперь продает это на международном уровне.
Не удивительно, что книга вышла на английском языке и в американском издании - думаю ее даже не переведут на русский. Идов пишет как сторонний наблюдатель, редко давай свою оценку происходящему и предоставляя читателям самим делать выводы. Тем не менее, вы определенно заметите, кому он симпатизирует, кого не понимает и кто ему откровенно омерзителен. Особенно это будет заметно по главе о Pussy Riot, за процессом над которыми он тщательно следил - его интервью с участницами вышло, когда уже был известен приговор и было опубликовано в других изданиях GQ по всему миру. Или о абсурдном законе Димы Яковлева, или о жгучей тяге московского общества к блеску и золоту.
Описывая будни главного редактора, которому приходится таскаться по гламурным приемам к личностям типа Капкова и удивлять всех отказами от дорогих подарков, он затрагивает и еще одну больную для России тему - журналистскую этику и политику изданий. Попав в страну в очень непростые годы, когда решалась будущая судьба страны и протесты, казалось, смогу многое поменять, у Михаила Идова была уникальная возможность наблюдать за этим всем находясь в эпицентре - в тусовке московской интеллигенции и золотой молодежи при этом, еще и общаясь с самыми именитыми журналистами. Какие они? Читайте и узнаете.
Отдельно хочу отметить его наблюдения за тем, что чем активнее развивалась Москва, как культурный и урбанистический центр, тем меньше становились протестные настроения этой самой молодежи. Какой волшебный инструмент влияния изобрел Капков.
Последняя глава его книги начинается словами «Ukraine was exactly like Russia, except it wasn’t”. Она во многом посвящена нашей стране и особенно вопросу по захвату Крыма и настроениями в российском обществе в те годы.
Отдельно я хочу отметить, что именно Идов выступил соавтором сценария к фильму Кирилла Серебренникова «Лето», который участвовал в Каннах в этом году. Сам режиссер не смог приехать, так как находится под домашним арестом в России.
Книгу можно купить на Амазоне в электронном и бумажном виде.
May 26, 2018
I met Michael Idov in 2013 when I was doing interviews in Moscow of the young media folks who kicked off the Bolotnaya protest movement--people I had only heard of because of an article Idov wrote for New York, which is incorporated into this book. We went to an overwrought Versailles-esque restaurant that, in my memory, was entirely pale pink. Before being seated, I had interacted with two different door men for two different doors, a host to show me to the coat check person, the coat check person, someone to show me to the maitre d', the maitre d' herself. Idov insisted that I order something since he was eating, so I ordered a salad called something like "13 kinds of green things". It was probably the only salad I had on that whole trip. Idov seemed depressed, which wasn't unusual for the time. The protest movement had died. Someone I talked to drew a graph of the general zeitgeist that showed it peaking around the protests, and then a few months later returning to the old normal; now it was in free fall. Probably now it has reached the center of the earth. However now I know that that meeting was smack-dab in the middle of his time at GQ, which was indeed miserable.
I really liked this book. It was extremely satisfying to me that I had met many of the people he had mentioned, had heard of almost all of them, and had been to all the cool hipster locales that provide the settings. If you want to understand what the hell is up with Russia, from a cultural elite perspective, it is great. Also, Idov name drops like everyone I wanted him to name drop and spills dirt on them, from Timati to Julia Ioffe--though to appreciate some of these you'd need to have followed opposition politics or popular hipster culture (either works!) in Russia. This book is basically of the same genre as Pomerantsev's--emigre Russian returns to Moscow for media work, only to discover all media in Russia is hackish, most Russia contemporary culture is worse than hackish, absurdity reigns supreme, nothing is real and everything is possible except even one single good political thing, probably you have chosen the wrong career, rossiyu umom ne ponyat, better to just get out of the country if you can (so so many ways to arrive at that conclusion). But it's much better on contemporary issues than Pomerantsev--it seems possible (?) that whoever will replace Putin could have been name-checked by this book.
And also I loved the footnotes.
I really liked this book. It was extremely satisfying to me that I had met many of the people he had mentioned, had heard of almost all of them, and had been to all the cool hipster locales that provide the settings. If you want to understand what the hell is up with Russia, from a cultural elite perspective, it is great. Also, Idov name drops like everyone I wanted him to name drop and spills dirt on them, from Timati to Julia Ioffe--though to appreciate some of these you'd need to have followed opposition politics or popular hipster culture (either works!) in Russia. This book is basically of the same genre as Pomerantsev's--emigre Russian returns to Moscow for media work, only to discover all media in Russia is hackish, most Russia contemporary culture is worse than hackish, absurdity reigns supreme, nothing is real and everything is possible except even one single good political thing, probably you have chosen the wrong career, rossiyu umom ne ponyat, better to just get out of the country if you can (so so many ways to arrive at that conclusion). But it's much better on contemporary issues than Pomerantsev--it seems possible (?) that whoever will replace Putin could have been name-checked by this book.
And also I loved the footnotes.
May 9, 2018
Written by an American, who grew up his first twelve years in Riga, Lithuania, with Jewish parents of Russian descent. They emigrated to New York where he went to school and started his writing career. He accepted a position as editor of the Russian edition of GQ in the mid-late 200o's.
His book does give insight into the life of international magazine operations, and the politics of their target audiences as well as contemporary Russian culture, arts, and politics, with the end of President Putin's eligible number of terms and switch of positions with Prime Minister Medvedev, and back again, including the time pre and post the Russian Olympics.
There are times the book seems a bit featherweight, likely because if the somewhat rarified atmosphere of these "aspirational" publications and arts, other times requiring persistence to read on, and others with descriptions of first hand lived experiences that provide some illumination of events about which I had only read.
There may be better books to read about the arts and politics and their intertwining of the era, but not likely with the same unique perspective, given the importance of "the arts" in Russian culture. The lifestyle certainly wa
His book does give insight into the life of international magazine operations, and the politics of their target audiences as well as contemporary Russian culture, arts, and politics, with the end of President Putin's eligible number of terms and switch of positions with Prime Minister Medvedev, and back again, including the time pre and post the Russian Olympics.
There are times the book seems a bit featherweight, likely because if the somewhat rarified atmosphere of these "aspirational" publications and arts, other times requiring persistence to read on, and others with descriptions of first hand lived experiences that provide some illumination of events about which I had only read.
There may be better books to read about the arts and politics and their intertwining of the era, but not likely with the same unique perspective, given the importance of "the arts" in Russian culture. The lifestyle certainly wa
July 19, 2018
Maybe like a 2.7, 2.8?
What worked: The most interesting thing I learned from this book is the way cynicism and apathy pervades certain segments of Russian society that *could* be mobilized to resist autocracy. This is how democracy fails (or fails to start): people don't care enough to protest, or think it's futile, or are content to take their material comforts and shut up.
What didn't work: For someone without much of a background on Russian politics, I was lost for much of the book. Name after name flew by without me having the context to understand who was who. It probably took until about 100 pages in that the story moved beyond background and into interesting parts of Idov's experience in Russia.
My greatest criticism of the book, though, was that I didn't take away any major point about Russia other than the author isn't sure how to feel about it, either. The author and his family move away from Russia but he feels...somewhat more Russian? Or at least less American? after the experience. I know that real-life narratives don't sum up neatly, but I wanted there to be a *point* to all of this, a truth about the world or about Russia that this book illuminated. But there was none. And so I am left disappointed.
What worked: The most interesting thing I learned from this book is the way cynicism and apathy pervades certain segments of Russian society that *could* be mobilized to resist autocracy. This is how democracy fails (or fails to start): people don't care enough to protest, or think it's futile, or are content to take their material comforts and shut up.
What didn't work: For someone without much of a background on Russian politics, I was lost for much of the book. Name after name flew by without me having the context to understand who was who. It probably took until about 100 pages in that the story moved beyond background and into interesting parts of Idov's experience in Russia.
My greatest criticism of the book, though, was that I didn't take away any major point about Russia other than the author isn't sure how to feel about it, either. The author and his family move away from Russia but he feels...somewhat more Russian? Or at least less American? after the experience. I know that real-life narratives don't sum up neatly, but I wanted there to be a *point* to all of this, a truth about the world or about Russia that this book illuminated. But there was none. And so I am left disappointed.
January 10, 2019
I can't believe I am about to do this..... but I am about to recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what has been happening in Russia for the last, say 10 years and to anyone who wants to understand why I laugh at the idea of Russian hackers electing Trump.
On its pages you find some familiar names such as Emin Agalarov, Michael McFaul and yes, Trump (although Idov never met him at the now infamous Ms Universe Pageant). Idov's descriptions and assessments are just right.
If I ever end up writing a book about my own adventures in Russia (which I have been thinking about doing for years), this is the type of book that I would write. Michael Idov laughs at himself and his meteoric rise to "success" while managing to accurately depict very serious events taking place all around him, most of which are not funny at all.
He has the "inside" understanding while still remaining a foreigner, a perspective that I clearly lost after over 20 years of living in Moscow, and I like the book more for it.
July 11, 2018
Idov is in an interesting position to write about modern Russia: his Soviet childhood lasted enough to make him able to understand Russian mentality and way of thinking, while his American early adulthood influenced him enough to enable the outsider point of view -- not a bitter one but maybe a little bit more objective. It was an interesting read -- sometimes sad, sometimes funny it helped me to take one more look on the events of the last several years. When you live in a certain regime for at least a year your memory betrays you: you start feeling like it was always this way. The rallies were always prohibited, the TV always said what the government told it to say, sharing opinions on the Internet was always relatively dangerous and so on. This book allows to look at everything that happened one more time with fresh eyes. As a bonus, it gives a certain delicious insight into the media industry.
April 6, 2018
Overall a fun and interesting read. I think Idov's take is largely solid, though there are a few points where I have a different perspective (perhaps based on the fact that we've associated with different people in the Russian opposition). I also think the latter part of the book, where he tells of his flirtations with Putinists, went by a bit quickly. Though he gave explanations for this, and for his renewed disgust again, I think if he had probed himself a bit more, he could have drawn out valuable personal lessons that would be useful to others. But otherwise, a fairly clear-eyed and interesting read that provides a personal, half-insider/half-outsider take on the recent years in Moscow.
September 26, 2020
This memoir of the former Russian GQ editor starts strong and really loses momentum 2/3 of the way through. There’s not much narrative thread aside from “I did this, then I did this, then this happened, so I did this...” etc. Names are dropped constantly with little explanation; sometimes they return and other times they don’t, so I barely understood who was who in a given moment. At the same time, Idov does offer some interesting perspectives on how Russian society, especially media, works. Wouldn’t recommend unless you have some background knowledge on Putin-era Russia.
August 20, 2022
This was an interesting dive into a small bit of life in Russia. Idov lived there at an exciting time, one of energy and potential change, and I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the very different worldview of Russian opposition figures and ordinary Russians. Plus now is an interesting time to be reading about Putin and the changing attitudes toward the opposition. Also quite funny. A little bit arrogant and some parts I lost the thread, but overall enjoyable.
April 16, 2018
Consonant intensive work of interpretive non-fiction - fringing the edges of the many political and maniacal forces pushing Russia back into the Czarist era. Bless the Russian people for their flexibility and will to succumb to evil and deceit. Wishing that they have more to look forward to than the desperation and sorrow portrayed. All hail whomever.
April 27, 2018
One of the more engaging and informative books I've read recently. I read Mikhail Kalashnikov's memoir recently, and while he lived through fascinating times, he completely lacked the ability to write about it. In this book, Idov does a good job of chronicling a few years of the Moscow political and cultural elite during Putin's reign.
December 31, 2019
What should one expect when an American receives a job of the editor-in-chief of a glossy magazine in Russia? Predictably nothing good.
In a nutshell: Idov's recounting of his adventures in Russia is a funny story in itself but it also touches upon the modern history of Russia and the latest political events which will probably shape the country for the next decades.
In a nutshell: Idov's recounting of his adventures in Russia is a funny story in itself but it also touches upon the modern history of Russia and the latest political events which will probably shape the country for the next decades.
August 2, 2023
It was interesting to read about contemporary Russia (2010-2014) from someone who was born in the Soviet block, immigrated to the US as a child and then returned to Russia to work. It is rare to find a narrative about Russia not written from a Western viewpoint. Although I struggled with the names, I appreciated his perspective.
December 19, 2023
I am glad this book was written. If only as a reminder of all the things that could have been possible and how majestically we f**d it all up.
However, knowing that the author has since publicly renounced writing and publishing in the Russian language, I want to say that it is just as silly and petty as this book's plot after all.
However, knowing that the author has since publicly renounced writing and publishing in the Russian language, I want to say that it is just as silly and petty as this book's plot after all.
April 26, 2024
This guy is pretty funny with his writing. But it’s a good story of how a guy with Russian roots gets a chance grow his career in Moscow as the politics of Russia fall back under the rule of Putin. A good introduction into the Ukraine/Russia conflict as well, which I was unaware began in early 2014.
May 5, 2018
It turns out the personal life of a fashion magazine editor is not very interesting to me. My favorite parts were when he talked about what was happening in Russia. It was a pretty digestible primer on Russia's recent history and Putin's status there.
January 19, 2020
I didn't quite feel this landed either the fashion memoir or reflection on life in Putin's Russia (perhaps because it assumed some knowledge of Russia at the time) but it had fun snippets and was an interesting, if less personal, read.
March 24, 2018
A detailed, sometimes humorous look at life, politics, and the arts in Putin's Moscow.
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