The Last Man in Russia

March 25, 2013
In this his latest work, British journalist Bullough attempts to shed new light on the present-day Russia that has made the once proud country a “dying nation.” Bullough surmises that by “assaulting religion and imprisoning priests,” communism destroyed Russia’s spiritual heart and its people’s faith, thereby doing damage that has not and may never be repaired. Bullough traces “the life and death” of Russia by following the life of Father Dmitry, a dissident Russian priest who was first a rebel and a later a KGB pawn. Pursuing Father Dmitry’s story takes Bullough on a crisscross journey of modern day Russia, affording glimpses into the lives of Russians, which is rich with vodka but little else, least of all hope. By incorporating facts (“Taxes earned from alcohol were greater than the defense budget”) and statistics (“By 1991, the average Russian woman had had 3.4 abortions over the course of her life”) into his retelling of Father Dmitry’s life, Bullough creates a historical narrative that is both procedural and personal. While most of what Bullough finds in the past and the present shows why one Russian priest told him, “I look at the future with pessimism,” the book does end with a glimmer of hope, which is a fitting tribute to Father Dmitry and to Bullough’s ability to find and illuminate a story worth telling. Karolina Sutton, Curtis Brown Ltd.

April 1, 2013
An exploration of Russia's demographic decline through the life of a dissident priest. "The Russian nation is shriveling away from within," writes Bullough (Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus, 2010), the Caucasus editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. More Russians are dying than are being born, and they are dying young, often from the results of chronic alcohol abuse. Bullough set out to understand why, examining the life of the nation through the life of a single man, Dmitry Dudko (1922-2004), a Russian Orthodox priest. Sent to the gulag for writing anti-Stalin poems, Dudko was rehabilitated under Khrushchev but became a notorious dissident by preaching hope and trust to people denied both by the Soviet state. Arrested again under Brezhnev, he was broken by the KGB, recanted his opposition to the state and ended up churning out anti-Semitic propaganda. "His fate parallels the fate of his whole nation," writes Bullough. "Through the twentieth century, the government in Moscow taught the Russians that hope and trust are dangerous, inimical and treacherous. That is the root of the social breakdown that has caused the epidemic of alcoholism, the collapsing birth rate, the crime and the misery." The author attempts to enrich his conception of the connection between Dudko's history and Russia's lamentable condition by undertaking a pilgrimage to sites significant in his subject's life: his seminary, the camp where he was imprisoned, the churches where he preached, his homes and his grave. In a vivid, colorful account of his journeys, Bullough starkly chronicles the visible evidence of Russia's despair in abandoned villages, ruined farms, shuttered factories and ubiquitous drunkenness. Though the author sees some hope in the new generation's resistance to Putin's electoral frauds, his optimism sounds like whistling past the graveyard of a dying society. Part biography, part travelogue, a perceptive, sad and very personal analysis of the decline of a once-great nation.

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April 1, 2013

Bullough (Caucasus editor, Inst. of War and Peace Reporting; Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus) presents an impassioned study of today's Russia that combines travel writing, biography, and social commentary. Alarmed by his observations of marked alcohol dependency and declining populations, Bullough concludes that a people oppressed and alienated by its government will revert to negative and destructive habits simply to get through a day. He notes that there is hope, as a new generation embraces initiatives that blend traditional Russian and modern technological cultures and is devoted to challenging the current authorities and unmasking dark truths about Russia's past. Relying on personal interviews, primary documents, government documents, and other, secondary literature, Bullough writes engagingly. His argument develops slowly, threading in and out of personal asides and biographical passages. While supporting his discussion with government and other census data, he frequently highlights the myriad oppressive tactics levied by former Communist and post-Communist governments. Yet often his personal vignettes are the most powerful passages here. VERDICT A compelling read, Bullough's book is a must for anyone interested in the sociological, psychological, or personal effects of faith and political change on a nation struggling to find its identity and sustain hope.--Elizabeth Zeitz, Otterbein Univ. Lib., Westerville, OH

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2013
Russia's population is plummeting for various reasons, alcohol abuse among them. Statistics on the problem sprinkle this work, and Bullough seeks out explanations that he develops through recent travels in Russia in biographical pursuit of one man, Dmitry Dudko (19222004). He was an Orthodox priest whose life span and experiences roughly reflected major events of the Soviet era: collectivization, WWII, the gulag, and the dissident movement. As Bullough journeys to Dudko's birthplace, seminary, churches, and gravesite in Moscow, and the Arctic sites of his gulag, he portrays Dudko's character through recollections of acquaintances and Dudko's underground writings. Able to attract and inspire congregations, Dudko offered hope and mutual trust through an antialcohol message. Unfortunately, Dudko's popularity also attracted the KGB, which harassed Dudko until he did its bidding. Though not sympathetic to Dudko's collapse, which he contrasts with the stories of dissidents who went to prison in the 1970s, Bullough portrays it as a result of the waythe Soviet state atomized society and drove it to drink. An inquisitive traveler, Bullough conveys a vividly descriptive impression of contemporary Russia.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)