When did Russia lose its chance of freedom?1990: As a new openness sweeps Russia, a talented young physicist, Boris Nemtsov, begins his career in politics. Charismatic, confident, liberal and vehemently opposed to corruption, he swiftly rises to prominence. For the first time, another future seems possible.2015: Putin holds the country in the grip of tyranny once more. Nemtsov, now his fiercest and most unrelenting opponent, is assassinated on a Moscow bridge.This is the story of how a nation's dreams of democracy died.Drawing on buried archives and off-the-record interviews, exiled journalist Mikhail Fishman gives a gripping insider account of the tragedy of modern Russia, told through many lives of Boris Nemtsov - activist, playboy, leader-in-waiting, dissident and, finally, victim. From the economic reforms under Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin's oligarchy, through two wars in Chechnya and the invasion of Ukraine, this is the story of a man fired by the belief that Russia could, still, have another future.
"For anyone who wants to understand how Russia has turned back into one of the world's worst tyrannies, this excellent book is as good a place as any to start. It is less a biography of Nemtsov than the story of modern Russia seen through his subject's eyes... A vaulable reminder of one of Russia's important martyrs for freedom"
Sunday Times
"Searching, propulsive... Offers a glimpse of the open, pluralist Russia that almost was - and may yet be"
