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Memory Makers
The Politics of the Past in Putin's Russia
Memory Makers
The Politics of the Past in Putin's Russia
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Description
Why aren't ordinary Russians more outraged by Putin's invasion of Ukraine? Inside the Kremlin's own historical propaganda narratives, Russia's invasion of Ukraine makes complete sense. From its World War II cult to anti-Western conspiracy theories, the Kremlin has long used myth and memory to legitimize repression at home and imperialism abroad, its patriotic history resonating with and persuading large swathes of the Russian population.
In Memory Makers, Russia analyst Jade McGlynn takes us into the depths of Russian historical propaganda, revealing the chilling web of nationwide narratives and practices perforating everyday life, from after-school patriotic history clubs to tower block World War II murals. The use of history to manifest a particular Russian identity has had grotesque, even gruesome, consequences, but it belongs to a global political pattern – where one's view of history is the ultimate marker of political loyalty, patriotism and national belonging. Memory Makers demonstrates how the extreme Russian experience is a stark warning to other nations tempted to stare too long at the reflection of their own imagined and heroic past.
Table of Contents
Note on Transliteration, Translation and Citation Style
List of Abbreviations
1. Taking Back Control of History
2. The Kremlin's Memory Policies
3. Past as Present: The Historical Framing of Ukraine, Sanctions and Syria
4. Amplifying the Call to History
5. Living Forms of Patriotism
6. Attaining Cultural Consciousness
7. The Endlessness of History
References
Index
Product details

Published | May 04 2023 |
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Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 248 |
ISBN | 9781350280779 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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With authority and skill … McGlynn gives what now ranks as the most reliable, up-to-date account of the use and misuse of history and memory in post-Soviet Russia.
Tony Barber, Financial Times
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McGlynn presents a powerful and disturbing case that the invasion had a convincing historical logic to it, for Vladimir Putin and for Russians more generally. . . . As if to prove McGlynn's point, historically based justifications for Russian policy and alleged plots by the West form terrifyingly explicit parts of Russia's most recent National Security Strategy. Her insightful and creative analysis suggests that we are in for a long conflict not just over the fate of Ukraine, but also over how differing memories of the past will continue to shape the future.
Washington Post
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McGlynn's informative study of Russia's “memory wars” shows just how easily performance, media narratives and cultural priming can slip into real violence.
Bradley A. Gorski, Times Literary Supplement
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Memory Makers makes for fascinating reading … [It] should be required reading for anyone wishing to engage in Russian politics, scholars, journalists, policy-makers alike.
Usman Butt, Middle East Monitor
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Pithy and tightly argued.
Christopher Silvester, The Critic
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Scholarly, revelatory and deeply unsettling … Dr McGlynn's brilliant, remorseless study inculpates almost the entire Russian nation.
Allan Mallinson, Country Life

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