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Anna Stepanowna Politkowskaja

    August 30, 1958 – October 7, 2006

    This Russian journalist and human rights activist gained renown for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and President Putin's policies. She dedicated her career to documenting the horrors of Chechnya, frequently placing herself in grave danger. Her books expose the dark realities of war and political repression. With her uncompromising stance and courage, she became a symbol of the fight for truth.

    Anna Stepanowna Politkowskaja
    A Russian Diary
    Putin's Russia
    Is Journalism Worth Dying For?
    A Dirty War
    A Small Corner of Hell
    • 2011

      A collection of final dispatches by the famed journalist, including the first translation of the work that may have led to her murder Anna Politkovskaya won international fame for her courageous reporting. Is Journalism Worth Dying For? is a long-awaited collection of her final writing. Beginning with a brief introduction by the author about her pariah status, the book contains essays that characterize the self-effacing Politkovskaya more fully than she allowed in her other books. From deeply personal statements about the nature of journalism, to horrendous reports from Chechnya, to sensitive pieces of memoir, to, finally, the first translation of the series of investigative reports that Politkovskaya was working on at the time of her murder—pieces many believe led to her assassination. Elsewhere, there are illuminating accounts of encounters with leaders including Lionel Jospin, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, and such exiled figures as Boris Berezovsky, Akhmed Zakaev, Vladimir Bukovsky. Additional sections collect Politkovskaya’s non-political writing, revealing her delightful wit, deep humanity, and willingness to engage with the unfamiliar, as well as her deep regrets about the fate of Russia.

      Is Journalism Worth Dying For?
    • 2007
    • 2007

      Offers an insider's view of the Chechen War conflict. This work focuses her attention on those caught in the crossfire. It recounts the everyday horrors of living in the midst of war, examines how the Chechen war has damaged Russian society, and takes a look at the ways people on both sides profited from it.

      A Small Corner of Hell
    • 2004

      A former KGB spy, Vladimir Putin was named President of Russia in 2000. From the moment he entered the public arena he marketed himself as an open, enlightened leader eager to engage with the West. This book tells the story of Putin's iron grip on Russian life from the individual citizens whose situations have been shaped by his brand of tyranny.

      Putin's Russia
    • 2001

      A Dirty War

      A Russian Reporter in Chechnya

      • 368 pages
      • 13 hours of reading
      4.3(385)Add rating

      "My notes are written for the future. They are the testimon of the innocent victims of the new Chechen war, which is why I record all the detail I can" ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA The Chechen War was supposed to be over in i996 after the first Yeltsin campaign, but in the summer of iggg the new Putin government decided to "do the job properly". Before all the bodies of those killed in the first campaign had been located or identified, thousands more would be slaughtered in another round of fighting. The first account to be written by a Russian woman, A Dirty War is an edgy and intense study of a conflict that shows no signs of being resolved. Exasperated by the Russian governments attempt to manipulate media coverage of the war, journalist Anna Politkovskaya undertook to go to Chechnya, to make regular reports and keep events in the public eye. In a series of despatches from July 1999 to January 2001 she vividly describes the atrocities and abuses of the war, whether it be the corruption endemic in post-Communist Russia, in particular the government and the military, or the spurious arguments and abominable behaviour of the Chechen authorities. In these courageous reports, Politkovskaya excoriates male stupidity and brutality on both sides of the conflict and interviews the civilians whose homes and communities have been laid waste, leaving them nowhere to live and nothing and no one to believe in.

      A Dirty War