Book Reviews: Wendy Z. Goldman and Donald Filtzer: Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front During World War II

Abstract

ultimately punishing anyone who attempts such a thing. But this is precisely what Alexei Navalny is dedicated to achieving. However, given the nature and structure of government under the presidency of Vladimir Putin this is about as likely as the Chief Druid becoming Archbishop of Canterbury. It is not enough simply to protest. One has to have a viable and realistic alternative. Navalny just does not have one. The final chapters of this book grapple with such questions as why, if Navalny has enjoyed such little political success, has the Kremlin – given the measures used to suppress his influence – treated him with such determined hostility? These measures range from banning, vetoing and denigration to arrest, imprisonment and even attempted assassination by poisoning. Despite Navalny’s continued incarceration (as of early 2022), the Kremlin still obviously regards him as something more than simply an irritant, more than a toxic thorn in the flesh. But can he plausibly be considered as ‘Putin’s Nemesis’, or ‘Russia’s Future?’ as the book’s subtitle postulates? Enthusiastic previews written by a number of distinguished pundits such as Mark Galeotti, Fiona Hill, Bridget Kendall and Richard Sakwa have already given encomiastic endorsements to this analysis of Navalny’s story. But it is surely too early in his career (he is still only in his 40s) to come to anything other than a very cautious, hesitant and equivocal answer to the question of Alexei Navalny’s ultimate place in the bigger picture of Russian – let alone global – history. Although, maybe, he deserves at least a footnote.