The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
Masha Gessen
Journalist Masha Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children and grandchildren of the very architects of the new Russia, each with newfound aspirations of their own as entrepreneurs, activists, thinkers, and writers, sexual and social beings. Gessen charts their paths against the machinations of the regime that would crush them all, and against the war it waged on understanding itself, which ensured the unobstructed reemergence of the old Soviet order in the form of today's terrifying and seemingly unstoppable mafia state.
Award History
2 wins · 4 total
| Award | Year | Result | Category / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Book Award for NonfictionMajor | 2017 | Winner | Secondary source |
| Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism | 2018 | Winner | Secondary source |
| National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionMajor | 2017 | Finalist | Secondary source |
| PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize: Historical Nonfiction | 2018 | Shortlist | Secondary source |
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies
This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.
01 Central figures
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
02 Central places
- Russia78%
03 Suggested argument
The regime’s machinations and its war on understanding ensured the unobstructed reemergence of the old Soviet order as today’s mafia state in Russia.
Model confidence 62%
04 Reading orientation
32 / 100 academicSerious trade
An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.
Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 74%.