Book in the news: a lively account of a turbulent relationship

By Dr Matthew Partridge

published 18 May 2018

in Features

The Inside Story of Russia and America

Allen Lane, £25

Buy at Amazon

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The latest book from academic Michael McFaul, who served as US ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, "doubles as a personal memoir and an overview of US-Russian relations over the past four decades", says Lloyd Green in The Guardian. McFaul aims to shed light on the "most geopolitically competitive relationship of the last 75 years". The result is a "lively" read that offers "an up-close account of how Washington tried to find common ground with a Kremlin crippled by suspicion", says Roger Boyes in The Times. Its weakness is that it ends up "revealing more about Western naivety in the struggle to deal with a thuggish autocrat than in analysing Putin's motives".

"McFaul does an impressive job of self-criticism, owning up to US mistakes both big and small," says Mary Sarotte in the Financial Times. He accepts that "the US, after the end of the Cold War, undermined those who were open to co-operation with the West by losing interest in Russian sensitivities". But he concludes that responsibility for the present situation lies with Putin and his return to the presidency in 2012. For this reason, "McFaul sees hope for improvement only in the distant future, once Putin leaves office". For now, the outlook is "bleak and frightening".

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri