Between Two Fires

Starred review from October 28, 2019
Modern Russians strive to serve several masters—conscience, self-interest, and an overbearing government, among them—in this searching, vividly reported debut from New Yorker Moscow correspondent Yaffa. Russian sociologist Yuri Levada’s theory of the “wily man”—a personality type focused on coping with a repressive state that, though it can’t be defeated, can be manipulated for personal gain—provides the framework for understanding Russian society under President Vladimir Putin’s soft authoritarianism, Yaffa contends. He probes this dynamic in profiles of people pursuing worthy goals through unavoidable yet sordid compromises: a liberal television news producer who bends his talents toward glorifying Putin; a human rights activist who stifles criticisms of the Kremlin-backed government in Chechnya so she can help individual victims of the regime; a saintly doctor who tries to save medical refugees from the separatist war in Ukraine by soliciting aid from—and praising—the Russian officials who sponsored the war. Yaffa’s account unfolds like a great Russian novel as shrewdly observed characters wrestle with subtly ironic dilemmas. “One must know when to cower from the state’s blows,” he writes, “and when to slyly ask for a favor.” This superb portrait of contemporary Russia is full of insight and moral drama.

Starred review from November 1, 2019
Memorable portraits of Russians living under Vladimir Putin. In his first book, New Yorker Moscow correspondent Yaffa begins with Yuri Levada, a pioneering sociologist whose massive survey during the collapse of communism showed plummeting enthusiasm for a strong leader, desire for an honest appraisal of their nation's history, and more personal responsibility. He concluded that the passive if wily "Soviet Man" was disappearing in favor of a self-reliant individual yearning for freedom. In 2000, Levada reversed himself. Following the disastrous 1990s, Russians welcomed Putin, and they continue to give him approval ratings of over 80%. This is in "no small measure a product of the state's monopolistic control over television, the media with the widest reach, and its squelching of those who would represent an alternative." After this introduction, Yaffa delivers eight long, engrossing New Yorker-style profiles. One of the most significant of these figures is Konstantin Ernst, head of Channel One, Russia's largest TV network. "Even as Channel One faithfully transmits the Kremlin's line," writes the author, "it does so with a measure of professionalism and restraint" and demonstrates genuine creativity in apolitical areas such as culture and history. Among Yaffa's other powerful portraits are those of a saintly doctor who became a national hero caring for children during the gruesome Russian-Ukraine insurgency but found herself roped into endorsing the Russian side in a war she hated; a patriotic Russian entrepreneur in Crimea who despised living under the inefficient, corrupt Ukrainian government--while he rejoiced at Putin's takeover, he discovered that life was harder under a more efficiently corrupt Russia; and a human rights crusader who, frustrated at her impotence, took a job in the government human rights office, a largely ceremonial position that now and then allows her to do a good deed. Gripping, disturbing stories of life under an oppressive yet wildly popular autocrat.

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January 1, 2020

Moscow-based New Yorker correspondent Yaffa has been reporting on Russia since first traveling to the county as a college student. In his first book, Yaffa profiles various Russians, from politicians to artists to historians, who have grown up and lived in the shadow of Vladimir Putin's political regime. The narrative begins with a study of Russia shortly before the end of the Cold War, showing how those living in strict environments have the ability to accept harsh rule, yet still manage to manipulate the system in order to achieve personal success. For example, Yaffa follows a humanitarian in Chechnya who can only fulfill their duties by ignoring atrocities and persecutions in that region. With sensitivity, the author tells the stories of people living in a repressive, authoritarian era, how they deal with moral and ethical issues, and how they use the system to their advantage in order to survive. VERDICT A worthy addition to any collection studying contemporary Russia or authoritarianism.--Jason L. Steagall, Arapahoe Libs., Centennial, Colorado

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2019
As an outsider living in Russia, journalist Yaffa noticed that foreigners often missed nuances in the relationship between Russian people and the state. Many Russians had responded to its long history of authoritarianism by supporting government policy at the same time that they creatively manipulated, twisted, and circumvented its rules for their own purposes. They even had a name?wily men. Through a series of finely drawn and moving portraits, ranging from a Crimean zoo owner who lacks the flexibility to switch from Ukrainian to Russian rules when his region is annexed to a doctor whose laser focus on relieving suffering entangles her with Russia's wars in Ukraine and Syria, Yaffa describes how this system ensnares wily men and wily women, whatever their goals or motivations. Their experiences are, he argues, essential to understanding the resiliency and longevity of Putin's Russia and, as the cost of wiliness increases, and its benefits shrink, they may ultimately be the key to its decline. This subtle yet piercing work will help readers appreciate the complexity of an often-stereotyped society.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)