The subtitle is How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia and the author is Masha Gessen (2017).
Told through the stories of seven people, the author explores Russian history since the 1980s. And how a country that moved past the Soviet Union still reverted to a rough approximation of totalitarianism under Putin. The notion that encapsulates it is homo sovieticus, which is the representative Russian who ultimately preferred the authority of Communism in the face of the uncertainty and possible failure that came with the end of the Cold War. Thus, as national tragedies, wars in Chechnya, and economic difficulties compound the situation, the archaic tribalism of Putin and his mafia is able to take hold. The overarching conclusion of many of the characters is that Russia has no future. To that end, an interesting data point is that the life expectancy of Russians continues to trend in the wrong direction -- the only exceptions were during Khrushchev's thaw and Gorbachev's perestroika, when hope for the future existed.
The author repeatedly draws on sociologists, political scientists and other theorists to demonstrate how Russia has reclaimed a totalitarian state, as evidenced by state terror, domination by a single party, and centralized economy. The missing link is an overarching ideology. It is on that basis that one could surmise that the current power structure is not sustainable if the economic situation does not improve. And why Putin has made so many efforts to increase Russia's status on an international basis, as if to distract from the problems at home.
