Completed shortly before Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, the vysotkii, or "sky houses," still dominate the Moscow skyline today. Seven in all, they were the Soviet answer to the American skyscraper, transforming the Soviet capital from a feudal backwater into the city of the future. With their soaring towers and gothic architectural details, the vysotkas were intended to be enduring monuments to the workers state and to the glories of Communism-though they were built on the backs of slave laborers and, initially, the prerogative only of the Soviet elite. Now these imposing giants lie on the fault line between a world that has vanished and one still emerging from its ruins. When she moved to Moscow several years ago, journalist and Russia expert Anne Nivat settled into one of the vysotkas, the one that happens to overlook the Kremlin. She became fascinated by the building and learned everything she could about its history. As she got to know her neighbors and fellow tenants, Nivat discovered that they included some of the building's original inhabitants or their descendants, hand-chosen by Stalin and his henchman Lavrenti Beria (arrested and executed for high treason shortly after Stalin's death)-KGB operatives, Bolshoi ballerinas, and artists of Soviet agitprop. Living side by side with them were representatives of the "new Russia"---entrepreneurs, foreign investors, and oligarchs; as any Moscow real estate agent will tell you, Stalin-era buildings in today's market are some of the most coveted addresses in the city. By means of this decaying but still elegant Soviet icon, Nivat gives us a way of grasping the complexities of a country struggling to come to terms with its past and define its future. She allows the tenants of her vysotka to speak for themselves, to offer their perspectives on where Russia has been and where it is going. Some are keenly nostalgic for the days when the State dictated life. Others have prospered in the confusion that has reigned since the Evil Empire's fall and look to a market-driven economy to guide Russia to the Promised Land. Still others fall someplace between the two, anxious but hopeful, longing for yet also fearful of change. Taken together, the portraits of the vysotka's inhabitants provide a panorama of Russia today. The View from the Vysotka shows us life from the inside, evoking both the forces that have swept through this vast and fascinating nation over the course of the last half-century, as well as a n0 building that has managed to endure them.

The View from the Vysotka: A Portrait of Russia Today Through One of Moscow's Most Famous Addresses

Nivat, Anne

Biographies & Memoirs

St.Martin's Press

In the spring of 2003, acclaimed journalist Anne Nivat set off from Tajikistan on a six-month journey through the aftermath of the American invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Nivat felt compelled to meet and write about the lives of everyday people, whom she allows to speak in their own voices, in their own words--words of hope, sadness, anger, and, above all, the uncertainty that fills their everyday lives. Her new Preface for the paperback edition looks at the situation in Iraq today.

The Wake of War: Encounters with the People of Iraq and Afghanistan

History

Africa

Beacon Press

The acclaimed journalist shares her experiences traveling in both Iraq and Afghanistan after the outbreak of war in those countries, sharing the conversations she had with teachers, political leaders, engineers, and ex-soldiers.

The Wake of War: Encounters with the People of Iraq And Afghanistan

Todd, Jane Marie

Asia

Beacon Pr

Two years ago, when she was thirty years old, Anne Nivat decided to see first-hand what war was all about. Russia had just launched its second brutal campaign against Chechnya. And though the Russians strictly forbade Westerners from covering the war, the aspiring French journalist decided she would go. There are two very real dangers in Chechnya: being arrested by the Russians and being kidnapped by the Chechens. Nivat strapped her satellite phone to her belly, disguised herself in the garb of a Chechen peasant, and sneaked across the border. She found a young guide, Islam, to lead her illegally through the war zone. For six months they followed the war, travelling with underground rebels and sleeping with Chechen families or in abandoned buildings. Anne trembled through air raids; walked through abandoned killing fields; and helped in the halls of bloody hospitals. She interviewed rebel leaders, government officials, young widows, and angry fighters, and she reported everything back to France. Her reports in Libération led to antiwar demonstrations outside the Russian embassy in Paris. Anne's words move. They are not florid, but terse, cool, dramatic. More than just a war correspondent's report, Chienne de Guerre is a moving story of struggle and self-discovery—the adventures of one young woman who repeatedly tests her own physical and psychological limits in the extremely dangerous and stressful environment of war.

Chienne de Guerre: A Woman Reporter Behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya

Historical

PublicAffairs

Véritable curiosité architecturale,La Maison haute, un des sept gratte-ciel de Moscou, est une ville dans la ville. Edifiée en 1952 par des détenus du Goulag, elle est l'un des emblèmes de l'« épopée » stalinienne. Pour approcher au mieux la Russie d'aujourd'hui, Anne Nivat s'est intéressée aux habitants de ce gratte-ciel. Qui sont-ils ? Comment ont-ils passé les cinq dernières décennies ? Comment acceptent-ils la transition vers la démocratie ? A travers une suite de portraits de ses occupants - des acteurs, écrivains, poètes et compositeurs célèbres, ainsi que des « nouveaux Russes » -, l'auteur déroule un tableau vivant, foisonnant, composite, parfois touchant, toujours nuancé, de la société russe contemporaine.

La Maison haute: Des Russes d'aujourd'hui

FAYARD

« Lendemains de guerre n?est pas une nouvelle analyse géopolitique de la situation «post-onze septembre» en Afghanistan et en Irak. Ce n?est pas non plus un pamphlet anti-américain. Ce livre est un long «grand reportage» dans le style qui n?a cessé d?être le mien depuis que je me suis intéressée au journalisme. J?ai interrogé des centaines de gens qui vivent sur place, aiment leur terre, tâchent de continuer à y vivre malgré le chaos régnant depuis les interventions militaires. J?ai vécu parmi eux, me suis habillée comme eux, ai partagé leur logis et leurs repas. J?ai avant tout voulu donner la parole à celles et à ceux qui ne l?ont jamais. » A. Nivat Anne Nivat aborde dans Lendemains de guerre la réalité de deux pays qui font la une de l?actualité depuis de longs mois, mais pour nous en donner une tout autre vision. Elle nous fait entendre des voix de femmes et d?hommes qui, en lui ouvrant leur maison, ont pu lui livrer ouvertement leur propre analyse de la situation. Elle nous révèle ainsi toute la densité humaine de ce conflit.

Lendemains de guerre: en Afghanistan et en Irak

Reference

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

La France de face

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

Cuando tenía treinta años, Anne Nivat decidió descubrir por sí misma qué era la guerra. Rusia acababa de lanzar su segunda campaña contra Chechenia y, aunque los responsables de aquel país habían prohibido el acceso a los periodistas occidentales, Nivat decidió ir de todos modos. Entonces existían dos peligros en Chechenia: ser arrestado por los rusos o ser secuestrado por los chechenos. Nivat se disfrazó de campesina y cruzó la frontera. Se hizo con un joven guía, Islam, que la condujo ilegalmente hacia el corazón del conflicto. Y durante seis meses permaneció allí, viajando con los rebeldes y durmiendo en las casas de las familias chechenas o en edificios abandonados. Soportó los bombardeos, contempló las mayores atrocidades y ayudó en los hospitales. También entrevistó a los líderes rebeldes, a los representantes del gobierno, a las viudas y a los soldados. Y sus reportajes para el diario Libération provocaron manifestaciones contra la guerra ante la embajada rusa de París. Por ello este libro logra conmover al lector. No hay en él florituras ni retórica, pues el punto de vista de Nivat es siempre sobrio y directo. Además de un reportaje sobre la guerra, esta obra maestra es una apasionante historia sobre una joven en busca de sí misma, que descubre su identidad en los basureros de nuestro tiempo, allá donde los límites físicos y psicológicos del ser humano se ponen realmente a prueba.

EL LABERINTO CHECHENO (Spanish Edition)

Europe

Ediciones Paidós

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