Review by Booklist Review
Journalist Herszenhorn's biography of Alexey Navalny celebrates the currently imprisoned Russian opposition figure's lifelong persistence, including his surviving an assassination attempt. His grandparents displaced by the Chernobyl nuclear accident, Navalny came of age as the Soviet Union crumbled and cultivated a deep skepticism about government. Educated as a lawyer, he leveraged "shareholder rights" to draw attention to corporate fraud at major Russian companies, attracting both praise and powerful enemies. Navalny's political career, including an unsuccessful run for mayor of Moscow, was propelled by skillful use of internet platforms and a confrontational style. But with larger audiences and the stated goal of ending the Putin regime, Navaly's agitation would become more perilous. In 2020, Navaly narrowly survived being poisoned with a nerve agent; at present, he remains imprisoned for "extremism," among other charges. Herszenhorn notes Navalny's quirks (an affection for animated TV shows, especially Rick and Morty) and documents his flaws (racist and xenophobic views and a willingness to court far-right elements). But Herzenhorn ultimately lionizes Navalny as a patriotic activist who could one day dethrone Putin, if he endures long enough.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this propulsive debut biography, Washington Post editor Herszenhorn portrays 47-year-old Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny as a "deeply patriotic, even nationalist Russian" with a "keen sense of justice and outrage that often morphs into vigilantism." Herszenhorn describes how Navalny--who grew up as a "military brat" (his father was a Soviet officer)--channeled his angst over "the lies and hypocrisy of the Soviet state" into becoming an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. Among other tactics, Navalny created videos and blogs accusing high-level officials of corruption, including a "tongue-in-cheek" 2007 video depicting Putin as the Devil. Navalny also set up an antigraft website, RosPil, and organized the Anti-corruption Foundation. Herszenhorn notes that some of Navalny's investigations lacked compelling evidence, such as his attempt to prove the Kremlin meddled in the 2020 U.S. elections. Nevertheless, his watchdogging prompted a series of reprisal investigations into his business ventures, and in 2020 FSB agents poisoned Navalny with a deadly nerve agent (which had been applied to his underwear), but he survived the attack. In 2021 he was arrested on fabricated charges and is now serving a nearly 12--year prison sentence. Herszenhorn shies away from delivering a conclusive political analysis of this complex figure, instead aiming for a balanced and informative "news driven" recap of Navalny's career. The result is an immersive look at the cutthroat world of Russian politics. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Comprehensive study of Vladimir Putin's chief domestic opponent, who exercises his resistance from behind prison walls. According to Washington Post Russia, Ukraine, and East Europe editor Herszhenhorn, Alexey Navalny is the most iconic of all the political leaders to have resisted Putin's totalitarian rule. After all, he survived a poisoning attempt that, Navalny said, "inflicted a mortal offense against him by the fact that I just survived after they tried to kill me on his order." He returned to Russia soon thereafter, after having testified before the European Parliament that it needed to do more to stand up to the regime and that "Russia is degrading in every sense." The return earned him an 11.5-year prison sentence. Herszhenhorn's title is somewhat ironic, for Navalny believes that he is not a dissident, which he describes as a minority view. He insists that he speaks for most Russians, despite the apparent indifference of so many of them. Indeed, a minority position makes it easy for the government to crack down on dissent, which Putin has done by, among other things, imposing a fine of 1 million rubles on protest organizers. For all that, Navalny, at least one of whose convictions in Putin's courts has been declared invalid by the European Court of Human Rights, continues to speak out against tyranny and official corruption. While the conviction technically makes him ineligible to run for office, he shows no signs of slowing down. Herszhenhorn closes with Navalny's recently appearing outside prison for a courtroom hearing only to learn of Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted coup. "Navalny, whose only crime had been working to expose corruption and pleading for a chance to run in a free and fair election, was on trial for extremism charges," writes the author, while the "murderous warlord" Prigozhin, "Putin's chef," faced no criminal charges. A valuable addition to the literature surrounding a tyrannical Russian state. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
