Awards

• Winner of AATSEEL Book Prize 2020 (United States)
• Winner of Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize 2020 (United States)
• Winner of Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize in Ukranian Studies 2020 (United States)

Overview

In this original and timely assessment of cultural expressions of paranoia in contemporary Russia, Eliot Borenstein samples popular fiction, movies, television shows, public political pronouncements, internet discussions, blogs, and religious tracts to build a sense of the deep historical and cultural roots of konspirologiia that run through Russian life. Plots against Russia reveals through dramatic and exciting storytelling that conspiracy and melodrama are entirely equal-opportunity in modern Russia, manifesting themselves among both pro-Putin elites and his political opposition. As Borenstein shows, this paranoid fantasy until recently characterized only the marginal and the irrelevant. Now, through its embodiment in pop culture, the expressions of a conspiratorial worldview are seen everywhere. Plots against Russia is an important contribution to the fields of Russian literary and cultural studies from one of its preeminent voices.

Full Product Details

9781501735776

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Reviews

Plots against Russia, written with Eliot Borenstein's characteristic flair, leads readers through an astounding maze of plots, paranoia, and apocalypse that sheds light on the timely topic of 'conspirology' and its links to issues of national identity and popular culture. -- Michael Gorham, Professor of Russian Studies, University of Florida, and author of <I>Speaking in Soviet Tongues</I> Plots against Russia is excellent. Eliot Borenstein has written a playful, witty, and invariably elegant book that makes complex theoretical concepts easily digestible and gives necessary retellings of crazy fantasies that are simply hilarious. -- Mark Lipovetsky, Professor of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Colorado, Boulder

Borenstein (NYU) has written a fascinating book with self-awareness and humility, which only lends greater credibility to his arguments overall * Choice *

A fascinating book written with self-awareness and humility, which only lends greater credibility to his arguments overall. * Choice * He offers close readings of how conspiracy manifests itself in Russian popular as well as political culture. In doing so, he pushes our understanding of how conspiracy has transcended the paranoid fringe and become widely accepted as credible. * East-West Review * A study that both answers a number of questions about the post-Soviet Russian public sphere and signals other possible ways to interrogate its workings. As such, it should be read by all specialists in contemporary Russian culture.... Borenstein's text is so well written and entertaining that it will easily hold the attention of undergraduate students of post-Soviet Russian culture, history, and politics. * Russian Review * Written with irony and wit, Eliot Borenstein's Plots Against Russia analyzes Russian national myths and disturbingly popular beliefs in the internet age. Borenstein's tour of the darker side of Russian internet, popular fiction, television, and movies, where conspiracy theories flourish with baroque profusion, opens a window onto the engaging and terrifying landscape of contemporary Russian fantasy. * Citation from the 2020 Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize Committee *

Author Information

Eliot Borenstein is Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University. He is the author of Men without Women and Overkill.

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