Never Speak to Strangers and Other Writing from Russia and the Soviet Union

David Satter has been one of the world’s leading commentators on Russian affairs for almost five decades. He was the Moscow correspondent of the Financial Times from 1976 to 1982 and has written five books about Russia. After 1982, he was prevented from traveling to the Soviet Union but allowed back in 1990 and expelled in December 2013 with the explanation that the Russian intelligence services regarded his presence as “undesirable.” This made him the first US journalist to be barred from Russia since the Cold War.

For Satter, as for Solzhenitsyn, Russia's key problem was not economic, as American and Russian reformers imagined, but spiritual and moral. He repeatedly warned of the situation we see unfolding in Ukraine today. -Gary Saul Morson, First Things

For Satter, as for Solzhenitsyn, Russia's key problem was not economic, as American and Russian reformers imagined, but spiritual and moral. He repeatedly warned of the situation we see unfolding in Ukraine today. —Gary Saul Morson, First Things

Long a thorn in Putin's side, Satter was expelled from Russia, underscoring his pivotal role in disclosing the Kremlin's deepest and darkest secrets, of which there are many. David Satter is the anti-Duranty of our times. [Walter Duranty was the New York Times's Stalin apologist and Moscow bureau chief from 1922 to 1936.] […] Taken together, [Satter's] essays give us a much-needed framework for understanding Russia under Putin: where it came from, what it is like now, and—the most difficult question of all—where it is headed. —Paul R. Gregory, Defining Ideas: A Hoover Institution Journal

In this collection, the reader not only gets a sense of the practical matters that plagued Soviet citizens but also an in-depth understanding of ideology and the chaos it has caused for decades. […] The essence of Russia is Satter's underlying theme, brilliantly presented with real knowledge and understanding of the Russian character and the horrific impact Marxist-Leninist ideology has had on it."—Emina Melonic, Law & Liberty

If David Satter’s career has shown anything, it is that even in times when it seems impossible, a true understanding of what is happening in Russia is within reach, provided one has the right moral framework and the courage to see reality as it is. —Nat Brown, National Review

Never Speak  to Strangers [volume 1] is an enlightening and, in some places, downright fascinating read: a multi-genre, meticulous chronicle of the life of a vast country at the most critical moments of its history. —Andrey Shary, Radio Liberty