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Nothing is True but Everything is Possible Paperback – November 10, 2015

by Peter Pomerantsev (Author)

4.3 3,297 ratings

Editors' pick Best History

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A journey into the glittering, surreal heart of 21st century Russia, where even dictatorship is a reality show

Professional killers with the souls of artists, would-be theater directors turned Kremlin puppet-masters, suicidal supermodels, Hell's Angels who hallucinate themselves as holy warriors, and oligarch revolutionaries: welcome to the wild and bizarre heart of twenty-first-century Russia. It is a world erupting with new money and new power, changing so fast it breaks all sense of reality, home to a form of dictatorship-far subtler than twentieth-century strains-that is rapidly rising to challenge the West.

When British producer Peter Pomerantsev plunges into the booming Russian TV industry, he gains access to every nook and corrupt cranny of the country. He is brought to smoky rooms for meetings with propaganda gurus running the nerve-center of the Russian media machine, and visits Siberian mafia-towns and the salons of the international super-rich in London and the US. As the Putin regime becomes more aggressive, Pomerantsev finds himself drawn further into the system.

Dazzling yet piercingly insightful, Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible is an unforgettable voyage into a country spinning from decadence into madness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Shortlisted for the 2015 Guardian First Book Award
Longlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize
An Amazon.com Best Book of the Month, November 2014

"Captivating...keen observations."―New York Times Book Review

"Sparkling collection of essays."
―Wall Street Journal

"This is a gripping and unsettling account of life in grim post-Soviet Russia."―Washington Post

"A scintillating take on a twisted reality."―Prospect Magazine

"A patchwork tapestry that leaves you shaking your head in disbelief."―The Guardian

"Everything you know about Russia is wrong, according to this eye-opening, mind-bending memoir of a TV producer caught between two cultures... the stylish rendering of the Russian culture, which both attracts and appalls the author, will keep the reader captivated."―Kirkus, Starred Review

"Sometimes horrifying but always compelling, this book exposes the bizarre reality hiding beneath the facade of a 'youthful, bouncy, glossy country.'"―Publishers Weekly

"It is hard to think of another work that better describes today's Russia; Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible may very well be the defining book about the Putin era. This might seem like excessive praise for a relatively short, non-academic memoir by a reality-TV producer now living in London, but it is justified by the author's gimlet eye and reportorial skill."―Commentary Magazine

"A brilliant, entertaining, and ultimately tragic book about not only Russia, but the West."―Tablet Magazine

"Enthralling... his exquisite rendering of mind-control techniques is chilling."―Times Literary Supplement

"Brilliant collection of sketches...powerful, moving and sometimes hilarious."―Washington Times

"Hauntingly perceptive and beautifully written."―New Statesman [UK]

"[A] tale of descending into and eventually emerging from Moscow's hallucinogenic reality."―Foreign Affairs

"[A] riveting, urgent book ... Pomerantsev is one of the most perceptive, imaginative and entertaining commentators writing on Russia today and, much like the country itself, his first book is seductive and terrifying in equal measure."―The Times (UK)

"This is the strangest book of note I have ever read... a dark and grotesque comedy of manners... His reporter's straightforward and unlimited curiosity, his willingness to plow and harrow the widest fields for facts, and his exacting descriptive details give him credibility. Plus, what he tells us is so incredible."
―P.J. O'Rourke, World Affairs Magazine

"A riveting portrait of the new Russia with all its corruption, willful power and spasms of unforgettable, poetic glamor. I couldn't put it down."―Tina Brown

"Peter Pomeranzev, one of the most brilliant observers of Putin's Russia, describes a country obsessed with illusion and glamor, but with a dangerous, amoral core beneath the surface. Nothing is True and Everything is Possible is an electrifying, terrifying book."―Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag and Iron Curtain, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction

About the Author

Peter Pomerantsev is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics, an author and TV producer. He studies propaganda and media development, and has testified on the challenges of information war to the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the UK Parliament Defense Select Committee. He writes for publications including Granta, the Atlantic, Financial Times, London Review of Books, Politico, and many others. His first book, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, won the 2016 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, was nominated for the Samuel Johnson, Guardian First Book, Pushkin House and Gordon Burns Prizes. It is translated into over a dozen languages.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ PublicAffairs; Reprint edition (November 10, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1610396006
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1610396004
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.64 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #50,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #15 in Russian & Soviet Politics
- #30 in Human Geography (Books)
- #79 in Russian History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 3,297 ratings

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Customers find the book engaging and insightful. They praise the writing quality as amazing, vital, and skillful. The stories are described as interesting, surreal, and colorful. Opinions differ on the scariness level - some find it chilling and realistic, while others describe it as terrifying.

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Readability Insight Writing quality Insight into russia Story quality Scariness level Sadness Look

101 customers mention "Readability"101 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and entertaining. They find the content effective and true. Many readers consider it a good choice for those familiar with the subject matter. The first third of the book is considered worth the price.

"...Nothing is True and Everything is Possible is a fascinating read and while it did satisfy some of my curiosity it also heightened my quest to learn..." Read more

"...reviewers, the author is a very good story-teller and has included many entertaining and--to some extent--informative vignettes in this book...." Read more

"...this book has a lot of sales, not only to reward the author for a first class job, but also to give the reader an inside, and immensely entertaining..." Read more

"...With all the criticisms however, the book is definitely a good choice for those who are familiar with the topic." Read more

97 customers mention "Insight"92 positive5 negative

Customers find the book insightful and fascinating. They say it provides a unique perspective on life in Russia. The author captures the psyche of subcultures and details conflicting views Russians have about the country. The book also examines the media and how it influences society.

"...is Possible is a fascinating read and while it did satisfy some of my curiosity it also heightened my quest to learn even more...." Read more

"As noted by other reviewers, the author is a very good story-teller and has included many entertaining and--to some extent--informative vignettes in..." Read more

"...only to reward the author for a first class job, but also to give the reader an inside, and immensely entertaining, look at the cogs that make the..." Read more

"...The content is an effective, abrasive, true, and spectacular indictment of the bad behavior that is certainly seeping from Russia into all worldwide..." Read more

73 customers mention "Writing quality"58 positive15 negative

Customers find the writing quality amazing and engaging. They describe it as highly readable and spellbinding, with skillful storytelling that gets to the heart of the issues. The author's writing is anything but shallow, and it's a must-read for anyone wanting to understand how the Putin propaganda machine took shape. It's presented in a unique and catchy manner, guiding you through life as a guide.

"...What he found in his former native land was at times hilarious, sad, evocative and sobering...." Read more

"...I flew through the breezy and effective prose, and was surprised to learn that Galbraith/Rowling certainly had real-life inspiration for The Cuckoo..." Read more

"...pursuit of questionable values and foolish desires, all captured perfectly in this book...." Read more

"...A must read for anyone wanting to understand HOW the Putin propaganda machine took shape." Read more

62 customers mention "Insight into russia"57 positive5 negative

Customers find the book provides useful insights into Russia. They say it's an important cultural review of modern day Russia. The author's core argument about Russia is good, though at times they feel he oversells it. The country and its people are fascinating, fallible, and functioning under a set of principles. The book does a great job of putting the New Russia pre-Ukraine and oil bust in perspective.

"...The country and its people are fascinating, fallible and functioning under a set of principles completely different from how we live life in the west..." Read more

"...the stories make the book worth reading and provide an unsettling gist of modern Russia." Read more

"...This is by far the best book about modern Russia today that I have read...." Read more

"...A reminder of the larger global world and how blessed our lives are - or can be - strongly suggest googling the author and hear some of the newer..." Read more

29 customers mention "Story quality"23 positive6 negative

Customers find the stories interesting and engaging. They appreciate the author's storytelling ability, bringing life and energy to the narrative. The book has a catchy beginning that draws readers into the world of post-Soviet reality. It blends humor and tragedy with a kaleidoscopic swirl of fantasy, money, poverty, sex, and servitude.

"...While many of the author's stories are very entertaining, the result is sort of a grotesque caricature of Moscow, which in fact is a huge and..." Read more

"...Part memoir, part history, part political commentary, it is a mixed bag but quite entertaining and engaging...." Read more

"...Mostly human interest stories; always warm and gentle, both about victims and criminals, both about the beneficiaries of the weightless social..." Read more

"...It describes a cult the likes of which exist world wide. It is a detective story. The two parts do not belong in the same volume...." Read more

27 customers mention "Scariness level"18 positive9 negative

Customers find the book frightening and disturbing. They describe it as a chilling read that builds like a psychological thriller. However, some readers find the content too realistic and disturbing to continue reading.

"...says in her dust jacket review, this is "an electrifying, terrifying book,"" Read more

"...Good stuff. But scary." Read more

"Interesting and quite shocking. My theory that the glass is half full and therefore the world and its people are getting better...." Read more

"...A chilling read. At times the reader is saddened by what he reads, other times, angry, and still at other times, perplexed at life in Russia...." Read more

14 customers mention "Sadness"9 positive5 negative

Customers have different views on the book's sadness. Some find it depressing and mysterious, while others describe it as dull and disturbing.

"...What he found in his former native land was at times hilarious, sad, evocative and sobering...." Read more

"...These individual stories are sad and mysterious...." Read more

"...This reading is going to leave you sad, with a Dair taste in your mouth and very pessimistic about the "Russian ways"...." Read more

"Never a dull moment in the book...." Read more

13 customers mention "Look"9 positive4 negative

Customers have different views on the book's portrayal of Russia. Some find it insightful and captivating, describing it as a fascinating look into modern postmodernism. Others describe the presentation as bizarre, disturbing, and jarring.

"...also to give the reader an inside, and immensely entertaining, look at the cogs that make the Russia machine work...." Read more

"...His portrait of beautiful girls chasing a Forbes (a super-rich man), the mini biography of Vladislav Surkov, the architect of the Orwellian..." Read more

"...I would agree with other readers that the presentation was slightly jarring...." Read more

"...It is a sobering, introspective look at a nation so cracked it seems weightless, its inhabitants now: "The Yuri Gagarins of the culture of zero..." Read more

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Boomerbroadcast
sad, evocative and sobering
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2015
Verified Purchase
Pomerantsev was born in Russia and moved to England as a child with his family. Working in broadcasting in the U.K. gave him the kind of experience Russian television was looking for when the iron curtain fell. Western cultural ideologies and practices found an entirely new audience in the millions of Russians who wanted to embrace this insurgence of new ideas. Taking this experience to Moscow where he lived for nine years, he worked originally for light-hearted local television, then later for Ostankino, the Kremlin’s official mouthpiece. What he found in his former native land was at times hilarious, sad, evocative and sobering. He describes the work of Golddigger Academies who offer classroom-style training for beautiful young Russian women on how to attract rich men to sponsor their lifestyles of nice apartments, glamorous clothes and financial security.

Russia’s attempts to embrace and emulate everything western has resulted in varying degrees of success and failure. As a broadcaster/producer, Pomerantsev describes the colossal failure of his attempt at a Russian version of Dragon’s Den or The Apprentice. After decades of Communism, corruption and graft, viewers and participants had no conception of western-style business philosophy based on hard work, market research, customer service and supply and demand. Accustomed to simply buying what they were told to buy and paying whomever and whatever they were told to pay without any consideration for market conditions, the Russian viewers simply could not comprehend the entrepreneurial concept. In fact, their entire value system is very different from our own.

Teaching Russians the capitalist principles of business resulted in growth industries in business training and education. Even the scary and questionable Western organizations like LifeSpring that were popular in the 80s gained a strong foothold as people experimented with new philosophies. The Rose of The World is based on LifeSpring and a modification of an earlier Stalinist personal growth and development program with incremental levels of training and financial outlay required to evolve into the perfect person (sound familiar?). Members are humiliated and intimidated into increasingly more controlling “personal training” and is considered by many to be a dangerous cult. Russia is also rife with racism and prejudice against segments of their own population.

In their enthusiasm to embrace everything western, Russia has undergone a circle of trial and error leading up to Putin’s current backpedaling toward old-style Communism. And like the ancient Egyptians, Russians systematically destroy physical and psychological evidence of previous rulers and governments to proclaim the virtues of the latest flavour-of-the-month running the country.

Throughout these transitions, however, the one constant is corruption. No one trusts the system and everyone is always looking over their shoulder to protect themselves. Former Russian crime bosses and oligarchs have been replaced by Putin’s appointees who are once again the official manipulators and rapists of the system. Organized crime bosses have expanded outside Russia to the U.K., United States and other countries where their activities are legitimized through laundered businesses and enterprises. Pomerantsev describes hyper-projects such as the Russian Winter Olympics in Sochi. At $50 billion “the project cost $30 billion more than the previous summer games in London and five times more expensive than any Winter Olympics ever”. The extra money is siphoned off to benefit and enrich those individuals and organizations loyal to the Kremlin bosses.

My quest to become better informed about Russia and to better understand its people was somewhat satisfied but at the same time, having finished the book I know I would never like to live there although I definitely would like to visit. The country and its people are fascinating, fallible and functioning under a set of principles completely different from how we live life in the west. Many of their more unsavory characters are infiltrating western business and cultural practices and our law enforcement agencies are constantly monitoring their movements and activities. Nothing is True and Everything is Possible is a fascinating read and while it did satisfy some of my curiosity it also heightened my quest to learn even more. It was an amazing book and I highly recommend it.

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Thomas Reiter
Very Entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
As noted by other reviewers, the author is a very good story-teller and has included many entertaining and--to some extent--informative vignettes in this book.

I have lived in Moscow for many years and have been to many of the places mentioned in the book--unlike some other works I've read about Moscow, this author's descriptions and insights about places and events generally ring true. Moreover, he describes many interesting incidents/personalities that I was not previously aware of, so reading this book was certainly worthwhile for me. As a journalist, the author seems to have had a very good perch from which to observe a rapidly and constantly evolving Moscow.

Some other reviewers have criticized the book for not enabling them to "understand" Russia any better. Don't expect to read this--or any other--book and come away with an "understanding" of Russia, but at least it might help readers appreciate why Russia is such a difficult place to understand.

I enjoyed the book, so why not five stars? I had three basic concerns about the book:

1) Russia, and Moscow in particular, evolves rapidly and is changing constantly. Therefore, many of the author's observations seem a bit dated at this point. The author generally doesn't provide much of a timeline in the book, so it is often hard to determine whether he is writing about 2002 or 2012. Moscow in 2014 is a very different place from Moscow 2002 or Moscow 2012;

2) While many of the author's stories are very entertaining, the result is sort of a grotesque caricature of Moscow, which in fact is a huge and heterogeneous city, with millions of absolutely ordinary people very different from those described in this book. The author provides a good description of an interesting but freakish "froth" of people that provide good copy, but creates an impression that they, rather than ordinary citizens, define the city (which, admittedly, they do to some extent...). Therefore, as you read this book, bear in mind that millions of people are taking the subway/bus to work every day as book keepers, lawyers, account managers, etc., pretty much like everywhere else in the world...

3) In a few instances, the author seems to overdramatize things a bit. For example, he goes on and on about the constant fear of having your "documents checked", etc. In fact, I don't think I've had my "documents checked" even once in the last several years, and it is certainly not something I'm worried about (this kind of thing was indeed more common several years ago, hence my comment about some observations being somewhat dated...).

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Lucy
Loved it!
Reviewed in Spain on April 17, 2024
Verified Purchase
Very entertaining, mindblowing and necessary to understand what's happening in Russia today. I strongly recommend this book a must read.

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Adam
Bought on a whim and glad I did...
Reviewed in Canada on January 24, 2020
Verified Purchase
I loved this book for a few reasons, one being that they say "truth is stranger than fiction" and what transpires in this work for non-fiction does not sell short the second half of the title, "Everything is possible".
I often would look up various names and stories mentioned in this book to learn more. While the stories are true; such as the "Rose of the World" and the death of Ruslana Korshunova, it is as if so many people that author Peter Pomerantsev encounter are acting in their very own reality show. Fascinating read.

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Cristina M
Interessante!
Reviewed in Brazil on April 22, 2017
Verified Purchase
Muito esclarecedor sobre a atual sociedade russa.
Eu havia acabado de ler os Romanov, então a leitura deste livro foi muito proveitoso.

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Grant Crothers
Transition
Reviewed in Australia on October 13, 2022
Verified Purchase
Unique insights into not so old and current Russia. Bill Browder，Please take a bow beside Peter Pomerantsev - people who change societies.

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Evgeny
Russian elites: what you should know about them
Reviewed in Germany on June 6, 2017
Verified Purchase
I can recommend this book to those interested in Russia.

As a Russian (living now abroad) I can say it captures the gist of what modern Russian elites are. I found the book fascinating: it provided me a summary of ideas and driving forces that shape the country nowadays - it can be harder to get a helicopter view when you are in the system.

The main thing one should consider reading the book: it is merely about the elites, not about the ordinary Russians - these poor 90% of the population manipulated by politicians. Many of them do not even imagine how corrupt their country's elites are...

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Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars sad, evocative and sobering

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Entertaining

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!

5.0 out of 5 stars Bought on a whim and glad I did...

4.0 out of 5 stars Interessante!

5.0 out of 5 stars Transition

5.0 out of 5 stars Russian elites: what you should know about them

sad, evocative and sobering

Very Entertaining

Loved it!

Bought on a whim and glad I did...

Interessante!

Transition

Russian elites: what you should know about them