★The book that should be seen by people, and the book which is not restricted to appearance, media and rendering, based on rationality, objective, and profound thinking, telling the differences between Russia and the West, and helping people understand the Russian kernel!
★This book comes from Mikhail Hashkin -the potential Nobel Prize winner, one of the most outstanding writers of contemporary Russia, the only one to collect The Russian Booker Prize and The Big Book Award (Gold Award) and The National Bestseller Prize, the three major literary prize writer of Russia!
★Rights sold to UK, France, Italy, Poland, Norway, Finland, Estonia, and Lithuania!
★This book was initially written in German, published by Random House as a dialogue between Mikhail Shishkin and Fritz F. Pleitgen (only the rights of text of Mikhail Hashkin can be authorized), its profound thoughts and smooth languages ​​are well received in German media and society! On this basis, Mikhail Hashkin recently wrote a preface and last two chapters, writing and discussing the current and future Russian -Ukraine conflicts.
★Tyutchev once said that "rationality cannot understand Russia, and Russia cannot be measured with ordinary ruler, Russia has her special personality, you can only believe in Russia." This book answers and explores some of the most important "Russia "Question", can be a lighthouse for readers to interpret Russia.
★The author believes Russia is a mirror, which only reflects the image of the people who look at it, all Western travelers and researchers about Russia may be surprised, admired, contempt, or try to understand and explain, but in fact, they wrote about themselves, creating the image of the West reflected in Russia. This book is about these reflections, and about Russia itself.
★This book is both an explanation of Russia and a declaration of the author's love in his beautiful and at the same time monstrous motherland.

Is there a reason to fear Moscow? Could Russia have any reason to distrust the West? How are the tensions between the East and the West fuelled? And could they be solved?

This book is a collection of essays about Russia, written specifically for the western reader. Having lived in Europe for so many years helped me recognize the general misconceptions about Russia and Russians that western people often nourish. This book is for the reader who refuses to accept clichés and platitudes as ultimate truth.
This book answers some of the most important “Russian questions”.
Why do 21st century westerners travelling the world write about my country as if it were another planet? What is wrong with my country, and why? What is this whole notion of “Russianness”? Why do revolutions and attempts at democratic reforms only lead to new dictatorships? Why can't the West and Russia reach understanding, after centuries and centuries of war and peace? What does it mean to love Russia? Can one still believe in Russia, as Tyutchev once bequeathed?

The essays are devoted to such eternal topics as "the mystery of the Russian soul" (here is a spoiler: there is no mystery, only the lack of knowledge that adds to a mysterious glare); patriotism and tyranny; "Live not by lie" (but neither by the truth); "Neither the church nor the tavern"; “Russian universality” and hybrid wars; writers and power, and many others.
The future is a glove, and the past is a hand. This is a book about the future of Russia. Therefore, it has a lot of history. I explain to the Western reader its underwater, deep currents, invisible from the outside, but determining its course. Without this, the present of my country cannot be understood. The last two chapters are devoted to what awaits us in the coming years and in the not so distant future.
In this book, I have tried to explain how the history has affected my own family’s history. This is not a theoretic work, but the living pain and hope of the people who make Russia what it is, who are its past and future.

Russia is a mirror casting a reflection of the one looking into it. All Western travellers and researchers who wrote about my country, may it be with surprise, admiration, contempt or attempts to understand and explain, wrote in fact about themselves, creating the image of the West reflected in Russia. My book is about these reflections, and about Russia itself.
This book is both an explanation of Russia and a declaration of love in my beautiful and at the same time monstrous motherland.

【Mikhail Shishkin】
Mikhail Shishkin, born January 18, 1961 in Moscow, based in Switzerland since 1995, is one of the most prominent names in the modern Russian literature. Before becoming a writer he worked as school teacher and journalist. His writing debut in 1993, Calligraphy Lesson, a short story translated into French and Finnish, has won him the prize for the Best Debut of the Year. Since then his work – both fi ction and non-fi ction – has been translated into over 25 languages and have received a large number of prestigious national and international awards, including Haus der Kulturen der Welt International Literature Award, The Big Book Award, The National Bestseller Prize, and many others.
Mikhail Shishkin’s prose fuses the best of the Russian and European literary traditions. The richness and sophistication of the language, the unique rhythm and melody of a phrase, the endless play with words and the nuanced psychological undercurrent are reminiscent of Nabokov and Chekhov. The change of narration styles and narrators within a text yield a fragmented, mosaic structure of composition that focuses on the language itself, recalling James Joyce’s genius.

Selected list of prizes and awards:
2013 Shortlisted for the The Leipzig Book Fair Prize, Germany
2011 The Big Book Award, Russia
2011 Haus der Kulturen der Welt International Literature Award, Germany
2007 Halpérine-Kaminski Prize for the Best Translation (Laure Troubeckoy), France
2007 Shortlisted for Giuseppe Berto Prize, Italy
2007 Grinzane Cavour Prize, Italy Peoples Literature Publishing, Peking: The Best Foreign Book of the Year of the 21st Century, China
2006 Shortlisted for Bunin Literary Award, Russia
2006 The Big Book Award, Russia
2006 Shortlisted for Andrei Belyi Literary Award, Russia
2005 The National Bestseller Prize, Russia
2005 The Best Foreign Book of the Year / Le prix du meilleur livre étranger (essay), France
2002 The Main Literary Prize of Zürich (Werkjahr), Switzerland
2000 The Russian Booker Prize for the Best Russian Novel of the Year, Russia
2000 The Globus Prize, Russia
2000 Literary Prize of Canton Zürich, Switzerland
1994 Prize for the Best Debut of the Year, Russia

【Fritz F. Pleitgen】Born in Duisburg in 1938, worked as a correspondent for the ARD studio in Moscow from 1970 onwards during the Soviet time. After taking over the management of the ARD studio in East Berlin in 1977, he moved to the USA in 1982, initially as head of the ARD studio in Washington, and from 1987 the ARD studio in New York. In 1988 Fritz Pleitgen returned to the WDR in Cologne and was appointed editor-in-chief for television and head of the political and current affairs program. From 1995 to 2007 he was acting as director of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Pleitgen has been President of German Cancer Aid since 2011.