Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism by Eliot Borenstein


Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism
Title : Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : -
Language : English
Format Type : Kindle Edition
Number of Pages : 307
Publication : Published April 15, 2019
Awards : Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize (2020)

In this original and timely assessment of cultural expressions of paranoia in contemporary Russia, Eliot Borenstein samples popular fiction, movies, television shows, public political pronouncements, internet discussions, blogs, and religious tracts to build a sense of the deep historical and cultural roots of konspirologiia that run through Russian life. Plots against Russia reveals through dramatic and exciting storytelling that conspiracy and melodrama are entirely equal-opportunity in modern Russia, manifesting themselves among both pro-Putin elites and his political opposition. As Borenstein shows, this paranoid fantasy until recently characterized only the marginal and the irrelevant. Now, through its embodiment in pop culture, the expressions of a conspiratorial worldview are seen everywhere. Plots against Russia is an important contribution to the fields of Russian literary and cultural studies from one of its preeminent voices.

Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism Reviews

  • Анна

    Sure, I could make this review about the substantive merit of the book: thoughtfully engaging with each - or any - of its multidisciplinary conceptual facets, digging through its theses piecemeal, painstakingly - so as to make this even a *potentially* useful review for other readers, whose interests were similarly piqued by the title.....
    but I'M NOT deadass my rating is right there you know what my verdict is.
    I just want to say this man is funny as shit; the deadpan sieves through his writing with the subtlety of a brick. I'd read a cookbook by Borenstein if he wrote one.

    Also I personally thank the author for reminding me of the perfect way to pronounce Barack HUSSEIN Obama. It is...truly timeless.

  • Dmitry

    Краткий обзор российских конспирологических теорий. О некоторых теориях я слышал, но они всё же маргинальные. Книга как-то не зацепила.

    (It's) a brief overview of Russian conspiracy theories. I have heard of some theories, but they are still marginal. The book didn't catch my eye.