Howard Amos

Russia

Mostly Russia. Author @BloomsContinuum & editor @CEIP_Politika. My book 'Russia Starts Here - Real Lives in the Ruins of Empire' is out now

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Articles

The Best Nonfiction Books on Russia: The 2025 Pushkin House Prize

3 weeks ago | fivebooks.com | Howard Amos |Lucy Ash |Benjamin Nathans |Alexei Navalny

Russia is a lot in the news at the moment, but the Pushkin House Book Prize has been around for a while. For those who don’t know it, could you say a bit about the prize and what kind of books you, as judges, were looking for? The Pushkin House Book Prize has been awarded annually since 2013 to celebrate the best nonfiction book written in relation to Russia. Indeed, the judges’ attention extends beyond Russia. Russia’s imperial legacies, for example, are very much on the agenda now.
The Soviet plan to reverse Siberia's rivers with 'peaceful nuclear explosions'

1 month ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Howard Amos

Share To the west of Russia's Ural Mountains lies a picturesque body of water called Nuclear Lake. It's difficult to access, and visitors have to travel north by boat along the Kolva and Visherka rivers from the small town of Nyrob, where the tsars once exiled their political opponents. The lake itself, which is about 690m (2,300ft) at its widest point, is not linked directly to the dozens of nearby waterways, and the final approach is on foot along a boggy track.
The Soviet plan to reverse Siberia's rivers with 'peaceful nuclear explosions'

1 month ago | bbc.co.uk | Howard Amos

In the 1970s, the USSR used nuclear devices to try to send water from Siberia's rivers flowing south, instead of its natural route north. The project was a grand failure – but 50 years on, the idea still won't completely go away. To the west of Russia's Ural Mountains lies a picturesque body of water called Nuclear Lake.
The Soviet plan to reverse Siberia's rivers with 'peaceful nuclear explosions'

1 month ago | bbc.com | Howard Amos

The Soviet plan to reverse Siberia's rivers with 'peaceful nuclear explosions'Andrei FadeevIn the 1970s, the USSR used nuclear devices to try to send water from Siberia's rivers flowing south, instead of its natural route north. The project was a grand failure – but 50 years on, the idea still won't completely go away. To the west of Russia's Ural Mountains lies a picturesque body of water called Nuclear Lake.
The Soviet plan to reverse Siberia's rivers with 'peaceful nuclear explosions'

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Howard Amos

A 3D Model Reveals What the Parthenon and Its Interior Looked Like 2,500 Years AgoStanding atop the Acropolis in Athens as it has for nearly 2,500 years now, the Parthenon remains an impressive sight indeed. Not that those two and …
Pushkin House Announces Short List for 2025 Book Prize

2 months ago | themoscowtimes.com | Michele A. Berdy |Howard Amos |Lucy Ash |Alexei Navalny

Pushkin House has announced the short list for this year’s Book Prize.
Holidays in hell: summer camp with Russia’s forgotten children - podcast

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Howard Amos |Nicola Alexandrou |Hattie Moir |Ellie Bury

At the rural orphanage where I volunteered, the place resembled a Dickensian workhouse. The staff’s main tools were antipsychotics and violence. The experience gave me a window into Putin’s Russia
Holidays in hell: summer camp with Russia’s forgotten children

Feb 25, 2025 | theguardian.com | Howard Amos

In the summer of 2007, I joined a group of 30 Russian and English students to work on a month-long summer camp at a state orphanage for mentally and physically disabled children in the Pskov region, south of St Petersburg. We lived in a house nearby, or in tents pitched in the garden. Every day, we walked up to the orphanage to put on developmental activities, sporting events, solve puzzles, play games, stage shows and go on camping trips.
Four New Books Attempt To Reckon With Russia’s Recent Past

Oct 10, 2024 | newlinesmag.com | Howard Amos

The journalist Sarah Rainsford was in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in the early hours of the morning on Feb. 24, 2022, firing a barrage of missiles at targets across the country and sending columns of tanks across the border. As she tried to brush her teeth with shaking hands amid the sound of distant explosions, Rainsford felt a burgeoning sense of shame. Rainsford’s connection with Russia went beyond the professional.
Falling Out of Love With Sports - And the Russian Regime

Jul 30, 2024 | newlinesmag.com | Howard Amos

A champion snowboarder didn’t want to bite the hand that fed her, but Moscow’s attack on Ukraine strengthened her moral conviction Early on the morning of Jan. 31, 2018, snowboarder Alena Zavarzina was with a group of Russian athletes at the Sports Ministry in Moscow. It was a few days before their departure for the Winter Olympics in South Korea. They were driven out of the city to one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences, where they were to meet the Russian leader.