Good evening, [inaudible] [applause] to introduce our speaker for this evening who will tell you, Leeanna Keith teaches history at the Collegiate School for boys in new york city. She is the author of the colfax massacre. [inaudible] [inaudible] please join me in welcoming Leeanna Keith. [applause] thank you everybody. Forgive me for remaining seated. Im going to tell you what happened to me. I know you want to know how i broke my legs. They sideswiped me. I feel very lucky to be here at all. Now im going to tell you a story about the civil war and afterwards all i can remember is on the lady who a [laughter] what can i say, thats my story. Ive been traveling and one thing about my book is theres a lot of local history and their s, stories that happen in different places. This is not where much of the action takes place. Seeing how about how to organize this talk make me recognize a certain pattern to the geography of the civil war and the whole radical movement. Which in my story get
Anyway, congratulations on what is a terrific book. Im so glad youve returned this. We have written so many books and articles about the dissidents and opposition and that is like maybe 10 of the population we dont hear a lot of people in between make do and get by. The idea came to me slowly as i found i wasnt exactly able to capture what i was seeing and feeling and maybe because i wasnt understanding the picture myself when i arrived with that dichotomy that you mentioned looking for the oppressors. With stalin or neo and that makes for good journalism. With time i realized i wasnt doing justice to the country and there was a lot of left out of the story. But i didnt totally have the framework if it wasnt this battle between the position debate co opposition. We can talk about this a bit and it takes up most of the prologue of the book was the way of making sense of what was going on and helping me understand the way that most people the dynamics that guide people are ultimately so
Donald trumps trial in the senate, but some important things have been happening in russia as well, particularly the announcement wednesday by Vladimir Putin shifting Greater Authority to parliament which has left many wondering what this means about putins own plans to relinquish the presidency, or not, in a few years here so we are especially fortunate to have with us this evening an expert on putins russia, joshua yaffa, who is the moscow correspondent for the new yorker. Hes been covering russia from much of the past decade. His new book between two fires offers a truly fascinating and revealing look at the impact that the putin era has had on above all the nations psyche and the moral struggles and calculation that Many Russians confront. Josh has written a very nuanced portrait of russia, nothing le the simplistic view of that country, and oppressed people lorded over by a kgb trained dictator. Josh describes the people who fall somewhere in the middle between an oppressor and op
Particularly announced wednesday by Vladimir Putin shifting Greater Authority to parliament which has left many wondering what this means about putins own plans to relinquish the presidency or not in a few years. So we are especially fortunate to have with us this evening an expert on putins russia, joshua yaffa who is the moscow correspondent for thenew yorker. Been covering russia for much of the past decade and his new book between two fires truth, ambition, compromise in putins russia offers a truly fascinating and revealing look at the impact of the putin era has had on above all the nations psyche and the moral struggles and calculations that Many Russians confront. Josh has written a very nuanced portrait ofrussia. Nothing like the simplistic view of that country, oppressed people lorded over by a kgb trained dictator area josh describes a people who fall somewhere between oppressor and oppressed, prone to compromise and accommodation with the state but still double and resource
Industry, americas cabletelevision company, as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Reading everybody. Welcome to politics and prose. Im bradley graham, a coowner of the bookstore along with my wife lissa muscatine. While theres certainly been a lot of news this week, much of it of course about the start of Donald Trumps trial in the senate, but some important things have been happening in russia as well, particularly an announcement by Vladimir Putin shifting Greater Authority to parliament which has left many wondering what this means about putins on plans to relinquish the presidency, or not, in a few years. We are especially fortunate to have with us this evening an expert on putins russia, joshua yaffa, who is the moscow correspondent for the new yorker. Yorker. Hes been covering russia for much of the past decade, and his new book between two fires offers a truly fascinating and revealing look at the impact of the putin era has had on, above all,