• 15.03.2022.
• Zagreb, HR

An excerpt from the book "The Long Hangover" in Nacional's "Feljton"

An excerpt from the 2019 book The Long Hangover was published in No. 78 of Nacional’s “Feljton” from March 8ᵗʰ. In this critical insight, British historian and journalist, expert in Eastern and Central European history, Shaun Walker, explains Putin’s wish of a reformed Soviet Union and the background of his current war in Ukraine.

This book maps Putin’s mission of filling the void left by the collapse of 1991, and building a new national consciousness and meaning in Russia, but it is in no way a chronological history of Putin’s era. The first part deals with the tailoring of the past in service of the present – an attempt to remodel the collective memory of pain and the complex Soviet decades into something that all Russians could be proud of. This is primarily concerning the exaltation of their victory in World War Two to the status of a national foundation myth. Putin wasn’t interested in reforming the Soviet system, but the feeling of injustice concerning to the way in which it collapsed has shown itself as a powerful meeting point.

The excerpt can be read here.