Robert Argenbright is associate professor (lecturer) of geography at the University of Utah.

There are some books that one knows, almost from the very first page, one will enjoy. For the present writer this is such a book. Its value is in the refreshing light it throws on the Russia that has emerged since 1991. In contrast to the picture which is painted by so many journalists, politicians, and Cold War publicists of Russia as a dreary, monolithic and authoritarian land verging on totalitarianism, a perspective based essentially on Kremlinology, this book looks at Russia from “below,” from the perspective of ordinary people (or at least ordinary Muscovites). What emerges is a picture which is much more interesting, colorful and, in a way, more optimistic than the mass media and its informants will commonly allow.... There is much to ponder in this excellent book.

• Chapter 1: City-MakingChapter 2: Two TransitionsChapter 3: Malyi Kozikhinskii Case StudyChapter 4: City Defenders vs. Luzhkov’s MachineChapter 5: City-Builders vs. City-Defenders in the First Decade of the New CenturyChapter 6: Accommodation of PurposesChapter 7: “Leave Us in Peace!”Conclusion: Moscow Citizens in a Changing Context

Robert Argenbright is associate professor (lecturer) of geography at the University of Utah.

There are some books that one knows, almost from the very first page, one will enjoy. For the present writer this is such a book. Its value is in the refreshing light it throws on the Russia that has emerged since 1991. In contrast to the picture which is painted by so many journalists, politicians, and Cold War publicists of Russia as a dreary, monolithic and authoritarian land verging on totalitarianism, a perspective based essentially on Kremlinology, this book looks at Russia from “below,” from the perspective of ordinary people (or at least ordinary Muscovites). What emerges is a picture which is much more interesting, colorful and, in a way, more optimistic than the mass media and its informants will commonly allow.... There is much to ponder in this excellent book.

• Chapter 1: City-MakingChapter 2: Two TransitionsChapter 3: Malyi Kozikhinskii Case StudyChapter 4: City Defenders vs. Luzhkov’s MachineChapter 5: City-Builders vs. City-Defenders in the First Decade of the New CenturyChapter 6: Accommodation of PurposesChapter 7: “Leave Us in Peace!”Conclusion: Moscow Citizens in a Changing Context

Robert Argenbright is associate professor (lecturer) of geography at the University of Utah.

There are some books that one knows, almost from the very first page, one will enjoy. For the present writer this is such a book. Its value is in the refreshing light it throws on the Russia that has emerged since 1991. In contrast to the picture which is painted by so many journalists, politicians, and Cold War publicists of Russia as a dreary, monolithic and authoritarian land verging on totalitarianism, a perspective based essentially on Kremlinology, this book looks at Russia from “below,” from the perspective of ordinary people (or at least ordinary Muscovites). What emerges is a picture which is much more interesting, colorful and, in a way, more optimistic than the mass media and its informants will commonly allow.... There is much to ponder in this excellent book.

• Chapter 1: City-MakingChapter 2: Two TransitionsChapter 3: Malyi Kozikhinskii Case StudyChapter 4: City Defenders vs. Luzhkov’s MachineChapter 5: City-Builders vs. City-Defenders in the First Decade of the New CenturyChapter 6: Accommodation of PurposesChapter 7: “Leave Us in Peace!”Conclusion: Moscow Citizens in a Changing Context