Overview

Since the invasion of Ukraine and ban on foreign reporters, Russia seems to have sunk into an even deeper shadow than in the darkest times of the Soviet Union. Only by presenting himself as an historian was Italian journalist Marzio G. Mian able to penetrate the Russian heartland, leading to his groundbreaking cover story for Harpers’ Magazine, “Behind the New Iron Curtain.” In Volga Blues, Russian history and literature inform every step of Mian’s revealing and perilous journey along Russia’s most culturally significant river, the fulcrum of its history, “the mother.” Along with Alessandro Cosmelli, his photographer; Vlad, their translator and fixer; and Katya, Vlad‘s girlfriend, Mian manages to gather firsthand accounts from ordinary Russians. They discuss not only the impact of the war, Western sanctions, and their country’s isolation, but how Russian culture has changed as a result. Stalin is back in favor, Lenin has been downgraded as a “Europeanized intellectual.” Newly sophisticated local and seasonal cuisine is all the rage. People cite centuries-old grievances to explain their fear of Western invasion, as they claim a willingness to accept nuclear apocalypse to save Russian pride. Talking with contemporary Russian intellectuals, entrepreneurs, priests, widows, mercenaries, and pacifists, Mian discovers how little the West knows about Russia and Russians. Deeply distrustful of democracy, yearning for the ideological and spiritual purity of the Orthodox Church, betrayed by and fearful of the West, and reassured by the brutal, fragile, ancient dream of an imperial civilization, they make clear that the Cold War has not yet ended. In visceral prose, Mian takes us across the floodplains where the Russian Orthodox faith first took root, where the Soviet empire asserted itself, and where the neo-imperial project of Vladimir Putin’s post-Soviet autocracy is currently being consolidated. The result is a harrowing, haunting vision of today’s great clash of civilizations—between Russia and the West—including a United States that at times seems uncannily similar.

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9781324111030

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Reviews

""Volga Blues blends history, myth, and comedy with the paranoia of a nation in which Stalin seems to be rising from the dead, minus the communism but with brutality intact.?Marzio?Mian is Alexis de Tocqueville in what has once again become a land of the czars, a Joan Didion for the new authoritarianism's absurdity and sorrow."" -- Jeff Sharlet,?New York Times?bestselling author of?The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War ""An instant classic.?Marzio?Mian, an Italian reporter undercover in a country that is one of the most dangerous for journalists, pulls us in the ship of his elegant writing and vigilant observation down the Volga on a powerful current of history and current events. After we’re done with this eminently readable and often funny book, we begin to understand the Stalin phenomenon, the thrall in which Putin holds his nation, and the Russian point of view in today’s conflicted world, as the Red Army pursues Putin’s goals in Ukraine."" -- Amy Wilentz, author of?Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti

""Braiding snapshots of the present with history, Mian depicts a country haunted by threats to its national integrity."" -- Best Books of 2026 So Far - New Yorker """"Volga Blues is an amazing journey story and a great book, part travelogue, part sketch of elements of Russian history, and part exploration of the dense, tragic Russian soul in a time of brutal war ... this is, without question, the best book on Russia I have ever read."""" -- Clay Jenkins - Listening to America ""Volga Blues blends history, myth, and comedy with the paranoia of a nation in which Stalin seems to be rising from the dead, minus the communism but with brutality intact. Marzio Mian is Alexis de Tocqueville in what has once again become a land of the czars, a Joan Didion for the new authoritarianism’s absurdity and sorrow."" -- Jeff Sharlet, New York Times best-selling author ofThe Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War ""An instant classic. Marzio Mian, an Italian reporter undercover in a country that is one of the most dangerous for journalists, pulls us in the ship of his elegant writing and vigilant observation down the Volga on a powerful current of history and current events. After we’re done with this eminently readable and often-funny book, we begin to understand the Stalin phenomenon, the thrall in which Putin holds his nation, and the Russian point of view in today’s conflicted world, as the Red Army pursues Putin’s goals in Ukraine."" -- Amy Wilentz, author of Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti ""The victory of Marzio G. Mian carries profound meaning for a form of journalism that still knows how to travel, to question, and to immerse itself in stories. One month, 6,000 kilometers along the Volga to recount a Russia rarely spoken of — the unfamiliar borders between territories that once formed the Soviet Union. It is a recognition of journalism still eager to understand and still committed to depth."" -- Alberto Faustini, jury president of the Estense Prize for Excellence in Journalism ""A tense and captivating chronicle of [Mian’s] illicit travels through wartime Russia… It’s an unsettling yet illuminating journey into an isolated and precarious society."" -- Publishers Weekly ""An unsettling but deeply insightful travelog that explains much about Russian life."" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) ""Mian’s fascinating examination of the Russian psyche and masterful travelogue connects everyday people to the Volga and its role in Russia’s past and present."" -- James Pekoll - Booklist """"A current of tension runs through the chapters...[a] valuable work of reportage."""" -- Maura Elizabeth Cunningham - Bookshelf

Author Information

Marzio G. Mian is an award-winning journalist, and his research has been funded by the Pulitzer Center. The author of five Italian books, he lives in Milan, Italy. Elettra Pauletto is a writer and a translator of French and Italian. She lives in Western Massachusetts. Alessandro Cosmelli is an award-winning photographer. He has published five monographic books and collaborates with the Pulitzer Center. He works out of Miami, Florida.

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