Recorded on November 12, 2014
Russian-American journalist, author, and LGBT activist Masha Gessen voluntarily left Russia last year when tightening anti-gay and lesbian policies threatened her family. Her account of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and its devastating impact on the nascent democratic government of Russia (The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin) opened a window onto changing culture of Russia as well as the nature of its powerful and enigmatic leader.
Her newest book, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, recounts the arrest, trial, and imprisonment of Pussy Riot.
What do Gessen’s experience and insights tell us about Russia today? How might this new understanding change America’s international policies?
Watch Masha Gessen on Putin’s War Against The West.