Selected essays and journalism

Russia: The Hidden Opposition- The New York Review of Books

There Is Something Putin Can’t Control- The New York Times

What Will Russia without Putin Look Like? Maybe This- The New York Times

They Are Stuck in Freezing Woods, and ‘Fortress Europe’ Won’t Let Them In- The New York Times

The Kazakh Domestic Violence Murder Trial that Captivated Russia- Foreign Policy

Moscow’s Story- New Left Review

The Little Picketers of Russia- The Nation

The View from Warsaw- The Baffler

The Discontent of Russia- Aeon

Miłosz’s Magic Mountain- The Baffler

From Ravensbruck to Papal Advisor: The Life of Wanda Półtawska- Aeon

Putin’s War in Ukraine Looks More and More like a Failure. Past Leaders Haven’t Survived Similar Mistakes- Business Insider

Soviet Failure in Afghanistan Hints at Outcome of Putin’s War- Business Insider

How Afghanistan Changed a Superpower- The Atlantic

Poland’s Abortion Ban Protests Changed the Country Forever- Foreign Policy

Russia by Numbers- New Left Review

In the Woods: Fortifying the EU’s Eastern border- New Left Review

Darkness at Noon: On History, Narrative, and Domestic Violence- The American Historical Review

Burying Homo Sovieticus- New Left Review

The Unruly Masses: Andrei Konchalovsky’s Cautionary Tale- The Los Angeles Review of Books

The Political History of Concealing Illness, from Brezhnev to Trump- The Washington Post

Beyond Borders: Journeying into Olga Tokarczuk’s Divided Homeland on the Eve of her Nobel Prize Win- The Calvert Journal

Nureyev: Kirill Serebrennikov's Bolshoi Ballet about the Dancer Is Finally Unleashed- The Calvert Journal

The Death of Stalin: Russia's Ministry of Culture Stages Its Own Censorship Farce- The Calvert Journal 

Inside the Soviet Union's Secret Pornography Collection- The Guardian

A Visit to Moscow's Brain Institute- VICE

Socialist Realism's Russian Renaissance- ARTNews

Bringing the Pushkin into the 21st Century- ARTNews

From Vodka to Vino- Modern Farmer

Moscow: Insider Travel Guide- CNN

Designers of New York's High Line Set Their Sights on Moscow's Former Ghetto- Tablet Magazine

A Look at the History of Gay Cruising in Moscow- The Moscow News (via The Huffington Post)

Moscow's Killing Fields: Inside a Stalinist Execution Site- The Moscow News (via Johnson's Russia List)

Mayakovsky Anniversary Reveals Struggle over Poet's Legacy- The Moscow News (via Johnson's Russia List)

Stalin's Secret Kill Lists- The Moscow News (via Johnson's Russia List)

Exhibits Grapple with Gorbachev, Yeltsin's Legacies- The Moscow Times

Memories of Soviet Emigres, Dissidents Go on Show- The Moscow Times

The Death Artist- Russian Life

The Khachaturyan Sisters and Russia’s History of Fighting Terror at Home- NYU Jordan Center

Mourning the Martyred Tsar: Notes from Ekaterinburg on the Centenary of the Romanovs’ Execution- Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, UC Berkeley