Masha Gessen

Un retrato de la vida de Vladímir Putin antes de ascender al poder.Autobiografía de un matón relata la primera etapa vital de Vladímir Putin antes de convertirse en presidente de Rusia. Putin nació en 1952 en Leningrado, una ciudad totalmente empobrecida, y paso su vida escolar bajo un gobierno comunista. Durante la adolescencia se vio envuelto constantemente en peleas y se enorgullecia de ser un maton. Putin decidio prepararse para llegar a ser espia del KGB, y llego a trabajar como agente secreto en Alemania. Gessen utiliza los años de formacion de Putin para mostrar al lector hasta que punto moldearon al hombre en el que se convirtio.El texto es un extracto del libro El hombre sin rostro: El sorprendente ascenso de Vladimir Putin, en el que la autora explica:A lo largo de los años noventa, mientras jovenes como yo intentabamos salir adelante en un pais nuevo, junto al nuestro existia un mundo paralelo. Yo habia estado en muchas zonas de guerra, habia trabajado bajo fuego de metralla, pero esta era la historia mas aterradora que habia tenido que escribir; nunca antes me habia visto obligada a describir una realidad tan desprovista de emociones y tan cruel, tan patente y tan despiadada, tan corrupta y con una falta tan completa de remordimientos. En unos años, Rusia estaria viviendo en esa realidad. Como sucedio es la historia que contare en este libro.

In 2006, an eccentric Russian mathematician named Grigori Perelman solved one of the worlds greatest intellectual puzzles. The Poincare conjecture is an extremely complex topological problem that had eluded the best minds for over a century. In 2000, the Clay Institute in Boston named it one of seven great unsolved mathematical problems, and promised a million dollars to anyone who could find a solution. Perelman was awarded the prize this year - and declined the money. Journalist Masha Gessen was determined to find out why. Drawing on interviews with Perelmans teachers, classmates, coaches, teammates, and colleagues in Russia and the US - and informed by her own background as a math whiz raised in Russia - she set out to uncover the nature of Perelmans astonishing abilities. In telling his story, Masha Gessen has constructed a gripping and tragic tale that sheds rare light on the unique burden of genius.

On February 21st 2012, five members of an obscure feminist post-punk collective called Pussy Riot staged a performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Dressed in their trademark brightly coloured dresses and balaclavas, the women performed their song 'Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!' in front of the altar. The performance lasted only 40 seconds but it resulted in two-year prison sentences for three of the performers - and has turned Pussy Riot into one of the most well-known and important protest movements of the last five years. This necessary and timely book is an account of the Pussy Riot protest, the ensuing global support movement, and the tangled and controversial trial of the band members. It explores the status of dissent in Russia, the roots of the group and their adoption - or appropriation - by wider collectives, feminist groups and music icons. Masha Gessen has unique access to the band and those closest to them. Her unrivalled understanding of the Russian protest movement makes her the ideal writer to document and explain the rage, the beauty and the phenomenon that is Pussy Riot.

The heroic story of Pussy Riot, who resurrected the power of truth in a society built on lies On February 21, 2012, five young women entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. In neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas, they performed a "punk prayer" beseeching the "Mother of God" to "get rid of Putin." They were quickly shut down by security, and in the weeks and months that followed, three of the women were arrested and tried, and two were sentenced to a remote prison colony. But the incident captured international headlines, and footage of it went viral. People across the globe recognized not only a fierce act of political confrontation but also an inspired work of art that, in a time and place saturated with lies, found a new way to speak the truth. Masha Gessen's riveting account tells how such a phenomenon came about. Drawing on her exclusive, extensive access to the members of Pussy Riot and their families and associates, she reconstructs the fascinating personal journeys that transformed a group of young women into artists with a shared vision, gave them the courage and imagination to express it unforgettably, and endowed them with the strength to endure the devastating loneliness and isolation that have been the price of their triumph.

Em 21 de fevereiro de 2012, cinco moças entraram na Catedral do Cristo Salvador, em Moscou. Usando vestidos, leggings e balaclavas de cores vivas, elas apresentaram uma "oraço punk", suplicando a "Me de Deus" para "livra-las de Putin". Foram rapidamente interrompidas pela segurança do local, e, nas semanas e meses que se seguiram, tres delas foram presas e julgadas, sendo que duas foram enviadas a colonias penais em locais remotos. No entanto, o incidente foi estampado em manchetes internacionais e seus videos se tornaram virais. Pessoas do mundo inteiro reconheceram no apenas a ferocidade de um ato de confrontaço politica, mas tambem uma inspirada obra de arte que, em um momento e local repletos de mentiras, encontrara uma nova maneira de manifestar a verdade. O fascinante relato de Masha Gessen conta como esse fenomeno aconteceu. Com base em seu amplo e exclusivo acesso as integrantes de Pussy Riot, suas familias e colegas, a autora reconstruiu as fascinantes jornadas pessoais que transformaram um grupo de moças em artistas com um ideal em comum, deram a elas coragem e imaginaço para expressa-lo de maneira inesquecivel e dotaram-nas de força para suportar a solido e o isolamento devastadores que tem sido o preço de seu triunfo.

I malgrat tot, crec que aquesta és la feina que ara mateix han de fer els escriptors . Descriure el que encara no veiem, o el que veiem però encara no podem descriure, que és una situació gairebé del

Ao analisar a cultura memorialista dedicada ao Holocausto dos judeus na Alemanha, Masha Gessen observa como o Estado alemo, sob imperativo da consciencia e da expiaço, passou a adoptar medidas legislativas para proteger as vidas dos judeus da Alemanha, perseguindo posiçes ou declaraçes de antissemitismo. Observa ainda como, a partir de 1990, com as obras, os grandes e pequenos monumentos, os museus de Berlim, a intenço original se cristalizou e imobilizou numa imagem dogmatica da memoria e da historia. E o caso da obscura definiço de antissemitismo da IHRA e das medidas de combate ao mesmo, que, ainda que desprovidas da força de lei, manifestam serios equivocos sobre o que se entende e preconiza, ao considerar como antissemitas tanto declaraçes que des-singularizam o Holocausto como criticas ao Estado de Israel. Ocorre, por esta via, que a apropriaço oportunista e cinica da extrema-direita, delas se serve para inflamar os discursos populistas contra os migrantes e os muçulmanos, e censurar a aço de artistas e manifestantes judeus. Neste contexto de ambiguidade, o/a autor/a, a partir da sua propria condiço de descendente de judeus na Polonia, descreve e analisa os usos contraditorios e desviantes da memoria do Holocausto, recorrentes na pratica do exercicio politico e diplomatico, que junta as posiçes do governo israeleneses com as dos europeus. Mas e sobretudo quando compara a situaço vivida no gueto de Varsovia com o gueto de Gaza, que irrompe o motivo da sua critica, ao considerar a cultura memorialista do Holocausto na Europa como um dos meios politicos responsavel por turvar e ofuscar o mundo ocidental sobre o que verdadeiramente se passa na Palestina.

Eran las elecciones de 2016 y el discurso, los gestos y los comentarios de uno de los candidatos a la presidencia de Estados Unidos no tenían precedente alguno. Cuarenta y ocho horas antes de que Donald Trump fuese elegido como presidente de Estados Unidos, el ensayo "Autocracia: reglas para la supervivencia", de Masha Gessen, se volvio viral. Hoy ese ensayo, ampliado y matizado, es este libro. Gessen aporta aqui una perspectiva inigualable, herencia de su infancia sovietica y de mas de dos decadas de testimoniar el totalitarismo ruso. Todo ello le otorga una cosmovision unica a la hora de analizar las lineas que delimitan la autocraciagalopante que vive hoy Estados Unidos.Este libro, polemico e incisivo, analiza como esta organizacion politica atraviesa todos los ambitos (el mediatico, el cultural, el judicial) y termina por afectar a toda una sociedad, abocada a sobrevivir a las ordenes de un unico individuo."El ideal platonico del trumpiano libro anti-; Trump", Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

When Gessen speaks about autocracy, you listen. The New York TimesA reckoning with what has been lost in the past few years and a map forward with our beliefs intact. InterviewAs seen on MSNBCs Morning Joe and heard on NPRsAll Things Considered: the bestselling, National Book Awardwinning journalist offers an essential guide to understanding, resisting, and recovering from the ravages of our tumultuous times.This incisive book provides an essential guide to understanding and recovering from the calamitous corrosion of American democracy over the past few years. Thanks to the special perspective that is the legacy of a Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Masha Gessen has a sixth sense for the manifestations of autocracyand the unique cross-cultural fluency to delineate their emergence to Americans. Gessen not only anatomizes the corrosion of the institutions and cultural norms we hoped would save us but also tells us the story of how a short few years changed us from a people who saw ourselves as a nation of immigrants to a populace haggling over a border wall, heirs to a degraded sense of truth, meaning, and possibility. Surviving Autocracy is an inventory of ravages and a call to account but also a beacon to recoveryand to the hope of what comes next.

From the acclaimed author of The Man Without a Face, the previously untold story of the Jews in twentieth-century Russia that reveals the complex, strange, and heart-wrenching truth behind the familiar narrative that begins with pogroms and ends with emigration.In 1929, the Soviet government set aside a sparsely populated area in the Soviet Far East for settlement by Jews. The place was called Birobidzhan.The idea of an autonomous Jewish region was championed by Jewish Communists, Yiddishists, and intellectuals, who envisioned a haven of post-oppression Jewish culture. By the mid-1930s tens of thousands of Soviet Jews, as well as about a thousand Jews from abroad, had moved there. The state-building ended quickly, in the late 1930s, with arrests and purges instigated by Stalin. But after the Second World War, Birobidzhan received another influx of Jewsthose who had been dispossessed by the war. In the late 1940s a second wave of arrests and imprisonments swept through the area, traumatizing Birobidzhans Jews into silence and effectively shutting down most of the Jewish cultural enterprises that had been created. Where the Jews Arent is a haunting account of the dream of Birobidzhanand how it became the cracked and crooked mirror in which we can see the true story of the Jews in twentieth-century Russia.(Part of the Jewish Encounters series)

En 1999, l’entourage de Boris Eltsine lui cherche un successeur. Pourquoi pas un ancien agent du KGB sans envergure, Vladimir Poutine, parfaite marionnette ? Mais voilà que, dès son arrivée au pouvoi

A gripping and tragic tale that sheds rare light on the unique burden of geniusIn 2006, an eccentric Russian mathematician named Grigori Perelman solved the Poincare Conjecture, an extremely complex topological problem that had eluded the best minds for over a century. A prize of one million dollars was offered to anyone who could unravel it, but Perelman declined the winnings, and in doing so inspired journalist Masha Gessen to tell his story. Drawing on interviews with Perelmans teachers, classmates, coaches, teammates, and colleagues in Russia and the United Statesand informed by her own background as a math whiz raised in RussiaGessen uncovered a mind of unrivaled computational power, one that enabled Perelman to pursue mathematical concepts to their logical (sometimes distant) end. But she also discovered that this very strength turned out to be Perelmans undoing and the reason for his withdrawal, first from the world of mathematics and then, increasingly, from the world in general.Biography of a Genius: Follow the story of Grigori Perelman, from the specialized math schools of the Soviet Union to his groundbreaking proof and eventual, heartbreaking seclusion. The Poincare Conjecture: Discover the history behind one of mathematics greatest puzzles, the million-dollar Millennium Prize offered for its solution, and the controversy that followed. History of Mathematics: Delve into the fascinating and often brutal world of Russian mathematics, where intellectual purity battled against the pressures of the Soviet state. Narrative Nonfiction: Based on exhaustive interviews, Masha Gessens investigation pieces together the puzzle of a man whose mind could solve the universe but who chose to disappear from it.

From National Book Award winner Masha Gessen, the heroic story of Pussy Riot, who resurrected the power of truth in a society built on lies. On February 21, 2012, five young women entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. In neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas, they performed a punk prayer beseeching the Mother of God to get rid of Putin. They were quickly shut down by security, and in the weeks and months that followed, three of the women were arrested and tried, and two were sentenced to a remote prison colony. But the incident captured international headlines, and footage of it went viral. People across the globe recognized not only a fierce act of political confrontation but also an inspired work of art that, in a time and place saturated with lies, found a new way to speak the truth. Masha Gessens riveting account tells how such a phenomenon came about. Drawing on her exclusive, extensive access to the members of Pussy Riot and their families and associates, she reconstructs the fascinating personal journeys that transformed a group of young women into artists with a shared vision, gave them the courage and imagination to express it unforgettably, and endowed them with the strength to endure the devastating loneliness and isolation that have been the price of their triumph.

National Book Award winner Masha Gessen tells an important story for our era: How the American Dream went wrong for two immigrants, and the nightmare that resulted. On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston marathon, killing three people and wounding more than 264 others. In the ensuing manhunt, Tamerlan Tsarnaev died, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, was captured and ultimately charged on thirty federal counts. Yet long after the bombings and the terror they sowed, after all the testimony and debate, what we still havent learned is why. Why did the American Dream go so wrong for two immigrants? How did such a nightmare come to pass?Acclaimed Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen is uniquely endowed with the background, access, and talents to tell the full story. An immigrant herself, who came to the Boston area with her family as a teenager, she returned to the former Soviet Union in her early twenties and covered firsthand the transformations that were wracking her homeland and its neighboring regions. It is there that the history of the Tsarnaev brothers truly begins, as descendants of ethnic Chechens deported to Central Asia in the Stalin era. Gessen follows the family in their futile attempts to make a life for themselves in one war-torn locale after another and then, as new emigres, in the looking-glass, utterly disorienting world of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most crucially, she reconstructs the struggle between assimilation and alienation that ensued for each of the brothers, incubating a deadly sense of mission. And she traces how such a split in identity can fuel the metamorphosis into a new breed of homegrown terrorist, with feet on American soil but sense of self elsewhere.

WINNER OF THE 2017 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTIONFINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS WINNER OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARYS HELEN BERNSTEIN BOOK AWARDNAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, BOSTON GLOBE, SEATTLE TIMES, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NEWSWEEK, PASTE, and POP SUGARThe essential journalist and bestselling biographer of Vladimir Putin reveals how, in the space of a generation, Russia surrendered to a more virulent and invincible new strain of autocracy. Award-winning journalist Masha Gessens understanding of the events and forces that have wracked Russia in recent times is unparalleled. In The Future Is History, Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children and grandchildren of the very architects of the new Russia, each with newfound aspirations of their own--as entrepreneurs, activists, thinkers, and writers, sexual and social beings. Gessen charts their paths against the machinations of the regime that would crush them all, and against the war it waged on understanding itself, which ensured the unobstructed reemergence of the old Soviet order in the form of todays terrifying and seemingly unstoppable mafia state. Powerful and urgent, The Future Is History is a cautionary tale for our time and for all time.

National Book Award winner Masha Gessens biography of a ruthless mans ascent to near-absolute power.In a country where journalists critical of the government have a way of meeting untimely deaths, Gessen has shown remarkable courage in researching and writing this unflinching indictment of the most powerful man in Russia. The Wall Street Journal Thanks to fearless reporting and acute psychological insights, Masha Gessen has done the impossible in writing a highly readable, compelling life of Russias mysterious president-for-life. Tina Brown, The Daily BeastThe Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to his own people and to the world. Handpicked as a successor by the "family" surrounding an ailing and increasingly unpopular Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin seemed like a perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the shadows, dreaming of ruling the world, was a public figure, and his popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see the progressive leader of their dreams, even as he seized control of media, sent political rivals and critics into exile or to the grave, and smashed the countrys fragile electoral system, concentrating power in the hands of his cronies. As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and for The Man Without a Face has drawn on information and sources no other writer has tapped. This account of how a "faceless" man maneuvered his way into absoluteand absolutely corruptpower is the definitive biography of Vladimir Putin.

Eran las elecciones de 2016 y el discurso, los gestos y los comentarios de uno de los candidatos a la presidencia de Estados Unidos no tenían precedente alguno. Cuarenta y ocho horas antes de que Donald Trump fuese elegido como presidente de Estados Unido

La fascinante historia de cómo Vladímir Putin, un agente mediocre del KGB, llegó a la presidencia de Rusia, deshizo años de avances y convirtió a su país de nuevo en una amenaza para sus ciudadanos y para el mundo. Masha Gessen gano el National Book Award de No Ficcion en 2017 Desde su llegada al poder en 1999, Vladimir Putin se ha hecho con el control de los medios de comunicacion, sus rivales politicos han acabado encarcelados, exiliados o muertos, y el fragil sistema electoral ruso apenas se sostiene. Pese a las valientes manifestaciones de protesta por el fraude en las elecciones de diciembre de 2011, Putin continuo en el poder y Rusia volvio a ser una amenaza para sus ciudadanos y para elmundo entero. Masha Gessen ha vivido esta historia de primera mano, con las amenazas, el asesinato, el exilio y las misteriosas desapariciones de muchos de sus amigos y colegas. A pesar de ello, volvio a Moscu para contar el asombroso ascenso de Putin, tras conversar con fuentes que nunca habrian hablado con periodistas. Su relato de como un hombre anonimo se abrio camino hasta alcanzar un poder absoluto, y absolutamente corrupto, es ya un clasico de la narrativa de no ficcion. A lo largo de los años noventa, mientras jovenes como yo intentabamos salir adelante en un pais nuevo, junto al nuestro existia un mundo paralelo. Yo habia estado en muchas zonas de guerra, habia trabajado bajo fuego de metralla, pero esta era la historia mas aterradora que habia tenido que escribir; nunca antes me habia visto en la obligada necesidad de describir una realidad tan desprovista de emociones y tan cruel, tan patente y tan despiadada, tan corrupta y con una falta tan completa de remordimientos. En unos años, Rusia estaria viviendo en esa realidad. Como sucedio es la historia que contare en este libro.