Abstract

This is as if Levitan and Berggolts were podcasting from hell, trying to out-joke Kafka.

Studying history from this book is the same as studying France through Dumas.

Offensive, scary, and impossible to put down.

In a world where kings pretend to rule, aces wait, and "sixes" decide fate, war is waged not only with weapons, but with meanings. Military briefings, streaming spats, backstage conversations, family remarks, and ironic afterwords combine into a many-voiced portrait of a time in which even silence becomes a political statement.

The main character is a man who found himself too close to power to remain a private citizen, and too far to influence events directly. Putin's double, the deposed Emperor, goes on the air to finally tell the truth — and to make sure his own son hears it.