Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, And Compromise In Putin's Russia

"If you want to understand life in Russia under Vladimir Putin, this book is a must-read. Joshua Yaffa unspools a series of portraits, each of which reveals the choices, accommodations and compromises facing modern Russians who want to get ahead and get along in a state system that doesn’t leave much room for doing your own thing your own way. Each character portrayed is comfortable figuring out how to work within and occasionally gently around the system. The people, their stories and their decisions are utterly fascinating looks into an authoritarian mind game."