Overview

When did Russia lose its chance of freedom? 1990: As a new openness sweeps Russia, a talented young physicist, Boris Nemtsov, begins his career in politics. Charismatic, confident, liberal and vehemently opposed to corruption, he swiftly rises to prominence. For the first time, another future seems possible. 2015: Putin holds the country in the grip of tyranny once more. Nemtsov, now his fiercest and most unrelenting opponent, is assassinated on a Moscow bridge. This is the story of how a nation's dreams of democracy died. Drawing on buried archives and off-the-record interviews, exiled journalist Mikhail Fishman gives a gripping insider account of the tragedy of modern Russia, told through many lives of Boris Nemtsov - activist, playboy, leader-in-waiting, dissident and, finally, victim. From the economic reforms under Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin's oligarchy, through two wars in Chechnya and the invasion of Ukraine, this is the story of a man fired by the belief that Russia could, still, have another future.

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9781782277255

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Reviews

""Mikhail Fishman, a veteran journalist of the Putin era, tells the Nemtsov story with extraordinary reportorial detail and a profound sense of what could have been."" —David Remnick, author of Lenin's Tomb ""An engrossing account of Russia's fleeting brush with democracy and its slide back into authoritarian rule, told through the life of a man once expected to succeed Yeltsin. Fishman brilliantly evokes the charged atmosphere of those years, a time when anything seemed possible—until it wasn't."" —Daniel Treisman, co-author of Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century ""For anyone who wants to understand how, despite all the hopes for freedom and democracy as Soviet communism was dying in the 1980s, Russia has turned back into one of the world’s worst tyrannies, this excellent book is as good a place as any to start. It is less a biography of Nemtsov than the story of modern Russia seen through his subject’s eyes... A vaulable reminder of one of Russia’s important martyrs for freedom."" —The Times

""Mikhail Fishman, a veteran journalist of the Putin era, tells the Nemtsov story with extraordinary reportorial detail and a profound sense of what could have been."" —David Remnick, author of Lenin's Tomb ""An engrossing account of Russia's fleeting brush with democracy and its slide back into authoritarian rule, told through the life of a man once expected to succeed Yeltsin. Fishman brilliantly evokes the charged atmosphere of those years, a time when anything seemed possible—until it wasn't."" —Daniel Treisman, co-author of Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century

MikhaIl Fishman, a veteran journalist of the Putin era, tells the Nemtsov story with extraordinary reportorial detail and a profound sense of what could have been -- David Remnick, author of 'Lenin's Tomb'

Author Information

Mikhail Fishman is one of Russia's leading political journalists. Active since the late 1990s, he has chronicled Russia's dramatic political life. He served as editor-in-chief of Russian Newsweek and The Moscow Times, as well as hosting the Friday night news round-up at independent news network TV Rain. In 2017, Fishman and Vera Krichevskaya released The Man Who Was Too Free, a documentary feature on Boris Nemtsov. It was the highest-grossing documentary in Russia in at least a decade and laid the groundwork for this book, which was an instant bestseller on Russian publication in 2022. Fishman faced increasing intimidation and suppression from the state; when Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he left for Amsterdam, where he now lives in exile with his family.

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