Items related to Moscow Days: Life and Hard Times in the New Russia
Moscow Days is the wry, frank, and poignant personal account of life in the new Russia by writer and journalist Galina Dutkina.
In the first book by a Russian to detail everyday life in the post-Soviet era, Dutkina describes Moscow's newly rich, newly poor, and those caught in between. She tells of struggling Russian youths, increasingly violent gang members, conniving beggars, the new Russian intelligentsia, mafiosos-turned-politicians, and ailing pensioners who cannot afford doctors. She shows us the food stores bare of Russian staples such as beef or fish but crammed with French bonbons. She speaks about the difficulties of raising children, and the plight of the modern Russian woman. Along the way she offers new insights into why her country finds itself in such a predicament.
In the first book by a Russian to detail everyday life in the post-Soviet era, Dutkina describes Moscow's newly rich, newly poor, and those caught in between. She tells of struggling Russian youths, increasingly violent gang members, conniving beggars, the new Russian intelligentsia, mafiosos-turned-politicians, and ailing pensioners who cannot afford doctors. She shows us the food stores bare of Russian staples such as beef or fish but crammed with French bonbons. She speaks about the difficulties of raising children, and the plight of the modern Russian woman. Along the way she offers new insights into why her country finds itself in such a predicament.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Language Notes:
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian
From Publishers Weekly:
Original Language: Russian
Moscow journalist Dutkina will elicit gasps with her observation that the "Evil Empire" was "a great empire that gave its inhabitants a sense of national pride." Yet, although she does not yearn for communism, neither does she countenance capitalism, which has plummeted 25% of Russians into poverty, with food costs consuming between 40% and 60% of family budgets. Imported luxury goods dominate the marketplace, and Russians are in a buying frenzy because, according to Dutkina, they fear the abundance could soon disappear. She depicts a nation of layabouts and shysters: "Half of Russia is selling, half is buying; nobody is producing." In Dutkina's scenario, lotteries, TV game shows and the stock market have enslaved the public with promises of easy riches. Prostitution and crime are expanding; so are religious cults. In summing up the new Russia, Dutkina quotes Tolstoy: "Everything had gone wrong in the Oblonsky household." The despairing economic picture she presents will be familiar to readers who follow Russian events, but, contrary to the dour Dutkina, it's no secret that the command economy was also inequitable.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherKodansha USA Inc
- Publication date1996
- ISBN 10 1568360665
- ISBN 13 9781568360669
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages238
- Rating
Buy New
Learn more about this copy
US$ 96.45
Shipping:
US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
MOSCOW DAYS: LIFE AND HARD TIMES
Published by
Kodansha USA Inc
(1996)
ISBN 10: 1568360665
ISBN 13: 9781568360669
New
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1. Seller Inventory # Q-1568360665
Buy New
US$ 96.45
Convert currency