For all the Russophiles (like me) who enjoy reading about the country’s history and culture, Jill Dougherty's My Russia: What I Saw Inside the Kremlin is one for your reading list: A curiosity seeker’s background into contemporary Russian history and culture.
It may be too lengthy (330 pages; I skipped most of the chapter on vodka) and the font size, too small, but the content is a must.
That the few pictures are not chronologically arranged is a wonder and confusing.
The book has lots of background on Vladimir Putin, now in his second term as Russia's president and maybe president for life. (In 2013 in St. Petersburg, a Russian guide laughingly told my tour group of mostly British citizens: "I am sure Putin will be leader for life.")
Ms. Dougherty and her twin sister, Pamela, studied Russian in high school, and the book goes on to detail Jill's ascent at CNN becoming its Moscow bureau chief for almost a decade.
She mentions Mr. Putin's autobiography, written many years ago with some falsehoods contained therein. She provides her psychoanalysis of him and why he is as he is, perhaps having a Napoleonic complex (he is 5'7") or an inferiority complex.
His quirks (we all have) and more are outlined.
To make him more of an "average guy," a p.r. campaign was instituted.
She mentions three times, I think, the mysterious kiss Putin planted on her for... why? It was anyone's guess, but he is another Mr. Macho, after all.
Ms. Dougherty recounts the decline of Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) who served as Russia's first popularly elected president (1991-1999) before Yeltsin named his favorite deputy, Mr. Putin, to succeed him when Yeltsin retired six months early.
Remember the Kursk? Putin didn't want to. August 12, 2000 brought the explosion of Russia's nuclear sub, the Kursk, and the deaths of 118 sailors in the Barents Sea, a tragedy which Putin initially ignored, vacationing on the Black Sea but finally appearing several days later to recognize the deaths and the accident... wearing a golf shirt.
Ms. Dougherty describes the evolution of U.S./Russian relations since 9/11, and their graduation deterioration with the growth of NATO, Russia always blaming the West, particularly the U.S., for its problems.
About the time of Ted Turner's death (May 6, 2026) was about the time I got to the chapter on his visit to Russia in 2000, there to meet with Putin and discuss business and Turner's possible purchase of a stake in the NTV, the Russian-owned free television channel, now owned by Gazprom, a purchase Putin shot down.
She ended her stay in Russia on March 6, 2022, sadly, she writes, probably the last time she'll be there. (I feel the same, Jill! How can we visit Russia again?)
Amanda Wilson's jacket design is exceptional, better than most covers, drawing attraction from bookstore browsers, no doubt. It contrasts the author's photo and her white hair with a dark cover and colorful Russian domes, dominated by the title in white.
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