The author spent much of 1989 and 1990 living within the Muscovite community and came into contact with people at all levels, from pimps to philosophers. He provides a portrait of a society which is struggling to survive the traumas and changes of the Gorbachev years. In some ways more medieval and Oriental than modern and Western, Moscow is a city in which tales of flying saucers and masonic conspiracies co-exist with endless queues, corruption, anti-semitism and a black market in guns. Durden-Smith also discovered in Moscow an intellectual passion and energy which puts most Western capitals to shame and which makes Moscow not only one of the most important, but also one of the most complex, contradictory and fascinating cities on earth.
The author spent much of 1989 and 1990 living within the Muscovite community and came into contact with people at all levels, from pimps to philosophers. He provides a portrait of a society which is struggling to survive the traumas and changes of the Gorbachev years. In some ways more medieval and Oriental than modern and Western, Moscow is a city in which tales of flying saucers and masonic conspiracies co-exist with endless queues, corruption, anti-semitism and a black market in guns. Durden-Smith also discovered in Moscow an intellectual passion and energy which puts most Western capitals to shame and which makes Moscow not only one of the most important, but also one of the most complex, contradictory and fascinating cities on earth.
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