Åsne Seierstad: Never Say War — Life in Russia Today

Overview

What do ordinary Russians really think about Vladimir Putin, the war in Ukraine, and the country their president has created? And how do you tell the story of a nation where telling the truth can be a crime?

Internationally acclaimed journalist and author of The Bookseller of Kabul, Åsne Seierstad joins us for a conversation about her new book, Never Say War: Life in Russia Today, a gripping, deeply reported journey into the lives, loyalties, and contradictions of Putin’s Russia.

Hailed by the Financial Times as “extraordinary… written with a reporter’s eye and a novelist’s touch,” Never Say War dives into the heart of modern Russia, from the impoverished Arctic north to the cultural elites of the big cities; from pro-Putin youth groups to dissident journalists struggling to report the truth. Along the way, Seierstad takes us behind closed doors to meet Russians from all walks of life: teachers, taxi drivers, war widows, and banned writers. She gets to know a young soldier who fled the battlefield in Ukraine, and the mothers, sisters, and wives of the fallen who may be last voices still able to protest the regime. Drawing upon Seierstad’s deep knowledge of Russia and her unparalleled access, the book paints an illuminating and expansive portrait of a misunderstood people, showing how they are navigating life under an increasingly authoritarian regime — a story with urgent resonance for readers around the world today.

What makes people embrace a war, quietly resist it, or simply look away? How does authoritarianism take root in everyday life? Hear Seierstad discuss the reporting behind the book, the moral complexities of telling these stories, and what the lives of ordinary Russians reveal about the future of their country and our world.