Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible
{{short description|2014 book}}
{{for|the album by Enter Shikari|Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible
| author = Peter Pomerantsev
| image = File:Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible.jpg
| caption = First edition
| subject = Russian history
| pub_date = 2014
| publisher = PublicAffairs
| pages = 256 p.
| isbn = 9781610394567
}}
Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia is a 2014 book by Peter Pomerantsev. It focuses on the political developments in Russia in the early 21st century and the culture of Russian media.
Background
Miriam Elder of The New York Times wrote that the "prism" that Pomerantsev perceived the subject through was his previous career in reality television, to imply the lack of authenticity of Russian institutions.{{cite news |title=‘Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible,’ by Peter Pomerantsev |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/books/review/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-possible-by-peter-pomerantsev.html |date=2014-11-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129211522/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2014/11/30/books/review/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-possible-by-peter-pomerantsev.html? |archive-date=2014-11-29 |url-status=live |work=The New York Times |last1=Elder |first1=Miriam |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |df=mdy-all}}
Work
The author recounts his experiences in Russia when he worked there in the reality television field in the 2000s.{{cite news |title=‘Nothing is True and Everything is Possible,’ by Peter Pomerantsev |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-possible-by-peter-pomerantsev/2015/02/13/1668f2ae-9c17-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html |date=2015-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216180828/http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-possible-by-peter-pomerantsev/2015/02/13/1668f2ae-9c17-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html |archive-date=2015-02-16 |url-status=live |work=The Washington Post |last1=McDonough |first1=Megan |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |df=mdy-all}} Elder describes the work as "Part reportage and part memoir". The author also includes stories of various figures who succeeded or faced hardships in that time period.
Pomerantsev only occasionally explicitly mentions the name of Vladimir Putin. Elder argued that this strategy "can be taken as a suggestion that we focus too much on him, that he’s so big he no longer requires discussion — or that we do not and cannot ever know who he truly is, so why even bother?"
Tony Wood of The Guardian wrote that the book shows that the "roots" of the psychological order was "the tumult and delirium of the country’s post-Soviet transformations".{{cite news |title=Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev review – Putinism and the oil-boom years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/04/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-permitted-peter-pomerantsev-review-russia-oil-boom |date=2015-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324004606/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/04/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-permitted-peter-pomerantsev-review-russia-oil-boom |archive-date=2015-03-24 |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |last1=Wood |first1=Tony |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |df=mdy-all}}
Reception
Megan McDonogh of the Washington Post wrote that the work is "gripping and unsettling".
See also
- This Is Not Propaganda, 2019 book by the author
References
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Further reading
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- {{Cite journal |last1=O'Rourke |first1=P. J. |title=The Land of Magical Thinking: Inside Putin's Russia |journal=World Affairs |volume=177 |issue=6 |pages=73–79 |date=2015 |issn=0043-8200 |jstor=43555272 |df=mdy-all }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Yaffa |first1=Joshua |title=Putin's Hard Turn: Ruling Russia in Leaner Times |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=128–135 |date=2015 |issn=0015-7120 |jstor=24483672 |df=mdy-all }}
{{refend}}
External links
- {{official website|https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/peter-pomerantsev/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-possible/9781610394567/}}
{{Portal bar|Russia|Politics|Books}}
Category:2014 non-fiction books
Category:English-language non-fiction books
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