Reviews in brief: The Pilgrimage, Stalin’s Apostles and The Asset Class
New books from John Broderick, Antonia Senior and Hettie O’Brien
Josef Stalin
If you want to learn about Putin’s Russia, don’t start with the film starring Jude Law
A more accurate portrayal is to be found in a book published two centuries ago, Letters from Russia
The hidden Jewish history at the heart of a Kyiv painting
Composition, painted in 1918-20 and slated for destruction by Stalin, has an intriguing fragment of text in Yiddish at its centre
The Illegals by Shaun Walker: The Russian agent who couldn’t get Irish people to shut up, and other spy stories
Shaun Walker’s thrilling account of deep-undercover spies also serves as a potted history of communist Russia
One Man in His Time by NM Borodin: Powerful memoir of horror after Russia’s October 1917 revolution
Unsparing depiction of life under the brutal purges of Josef Stalin’s totalitarian rule
‘Fascinating and disturbing’: How our brains and genetics dictate our ideologies - and vice versa
Dr Leor Zmigrod has found differences in the brain structures and functions of people with different ideologies. Could this science be used by malicious agents?
Ukraine vows never to accept Kremlin control of Black Sea peninsula: ‘Most Crimean Tatars would regard it as betrayal’
Activist and politician Nariman Dzhelyal among latest generation of Crimean Tatars to be persecuted by Russia
The Sound of Utopia: Musicians in the Time of Stalin – Silencing tactics in the Soviet Union
Dutch journalist Michel Krielaars infuses a bleak subject with verve
‘For them, the Soviet past is something to protect’: History a political battleground in Stalin’s homeland
Georgia’s ruling party accused of slide towards Russia and autocracy before Saturday’s pivotal election
‘We are all just waiting for victory.’ Ukrainians learn routines grimly familiar to previous generations
Kremlin evokes crimes of 1940s independence fighters in ‘denazification’ of democratic Ukraine
Eurovision organisers ban Russia from 2022 song contest
European Broadcasting Union says its inclusion would bring event ‘into disrepute’
Putin pledges to repay Russians’ trust after ‘triumphant’ vote
Critics call plebiscite a farce staged to allow leader of 20 years to rule until 2036
Fintan O’Toole: We must not allow coronavirus pandemic to rob us of grief
There is no such thing as mass death – people die one by one and each is unique
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices