The book explains how authoritarian regimes can manipulate history of events. The book is well-written and researched and mostly describe how Russia and its leader - W Putin- manipulate history and historical memories to stay in power. Highly recommended book.

Since the Ukraine War started I have been puzzled by one aspect of the Russian propaganda machine. In a number of news reports and documentaries the Russian media and talking heads talk about denazification of Ukraine, and that they are fighting Nazi's again like in the Second World War (or Great Patriotic War as they call it). This seemed bizarre to me, if any of these sides seemed like a totalitarian state it was Russia, and nothing in my understanding of Ukrainian politics painted them as fascist aggressors.

Memory Makers explains this away quickly at the beginning whilst putting the Russian aggression within the context of Putin's history project since 2012. The thesis of the book, well argued and evidenced, is that Putin's Russia did not have a central idea to coalesce behind. After the fall of communism, and the free for all of Yeltsin and the criminal 90's, Putin needed an idea behind which to build consensus in the multi-ethnic, religiously diverse massive state. As he turned it into a one-party state, he needed a big idea to bring people together - and that wasn't going to be a political ideology. Instead the idea of ionizing the strong state within itself became the idea, with a shared agreed sense of history to back this up. This allowed figures like Stalin and Peter The Great to be identified as part of a particularly Russian tradition of strong-man politics, which Putin slots in perfectly with. Questioning the state's view of history became a crime, and much effort was put in to draw analogies between past glorious history (particularly the Great Patriotic War) and modern-day events.

McGlynn is an academic writer, and whilst this isn't that dry a book, it does fall into a few academic traps - such as constantly restating what is being proved in the chapters. She also perhaps over-does her descriptions of her evidence-gathering techniques, however, these are minor quibbles in a fascinating piece of work that gets under the skin of Putin's Russia. She is also not averse to comparing her conclusions to other recent events of mythologising history, such as in the Brexit campaign. And whilst largely written before the Ukraine war started, she has updated and used her argument to explain much of that away - not least because she had already concerned herself with the invasion of the Crimea, And as for the Ukranian Nazis? It all stems back to a Ukranian commander in World War II who swopped sides to fight with the Nazi's to try to achieve an independent Ukraine. And so Putin's history machine takes that memory and conflates it with all aspects of Ukrainian independence.

Memory Makers is a well-researched treatise on how memory and politics combine, specifically in the context of historical memory and Russia. I have studied memory politics in the Latin American context, and it was surprising to read the ways in which the Russian experience is different. McGlynn convincingly argues that most of the historical memory projects that the Russian government initiates have their start in a political desire to return to the authority they had in the USSR period, as well as establishing a victim-narrative that gives them the social ability to justify their global, imperialist ambitions.
While the writing style has all the hallmarks of academia, this book is truly interesting and thought-provoking and well worth a read for anyone who wants a greater understanding of the stakes the Russian government is playing for.

In this timely book, Jade McGlynn explains how history and cultural memory can be manipulated by authoritarian regimes to sway public opinion and quash dissent. Her research focus is Russia, but as she points out, this strategy is not limited to that particular place. Indeed, as I read I was reminded of what is going on in the US today--and other places as well. Cultural myths are powerful and can be used in very dark ways.

The book is well-researched and written. I learned a lot about how things got to where they are today. She states early on that the book was written before the invasion of Ukraine, "but the activities and rhetoric it describes will show that this was perhaps the only possible outcome of Russia's preoccupation with policing the past." The book provides much needed context to help readers understand why Russia started this war, why there is so much support for it within Russia, how Putin manipulates history and historical memory to stay in power, and how anyone who voices any facts or opinions outside the approved narrative is severely punished. Again, her examples are primarily from Russia, but we see these kinds of things happening across the world, albeit in ways culturally appropriate to each country. The details are different, but the overarching behaviour is the same.

This is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the world in which we live and I highly recommend it.