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Patriot: A Memoir

Patriot: A Memoir

by Alexei Navalny; Алексей Навальный

Knopf ·2024 ·496 pages
Best of 2024 Top 25 Overall Top 25 Readers' Picks
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98/99
Top of the Pile

97/99

Critics' Rating Index

Top of the Pile

98/99

Readers' Rating Index

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About This Book

The powerful and moving memoir of a fearless political opposition leader who paid the ultimate price for his beliefs. Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change cannot be resisted—and will come. In vivid, page-turning detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime. Written with the passion, wit, candor, and bravery for which he was justly acclaimed, Patriot is Navalny's final letter to the world: a moving account of his last years spent in the most brutal prison on earth; a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom matter so deeply; and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life. "This book is a testament not only to Alexei's life, but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship—a fight he gave everything for, including his life. Through its pages, readers will come to know the man I loved deeply—a man of profound integrity and unyielding courage. Sharing his story will not only honor his memory but also inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter." —Yulia Navalnaya


Reviews

"A true profile in courage, written with verve and wit."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"This book as it stands sometimes feels like a palimpsest, a reconstruction of the memoir he would have written had he lived in health and liberty."

Owen Matthews· The Times (UK) Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Navalny is an engaging storyteller, interspersing the absurdities of 20th-century Russian life with the absurdities that dog all human lives ..."

Spencer J. Weinreich· Los Angeles Review of Books Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"This is a brave and brilliant book, a luminous account of Navalny's life and dark times."

Luke Harding· The Guardian Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"The chance to hear his own written voice, to spend serious time with him (nearly 500 pages), only reinforces this impression, along with the pain of having lost him ..."

Gal Beckerman· The Atlantic Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Though he narrates his dire predicament and Russia's concurrent plunge into darkness with his usual wit, knowing how things end makes this a sobering read."

Max Seddon· Financial Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"There's a deep pathos to this part of the book: the reader knows how his anti-Putin stand will end."

Con Coughlin· The Telegraph (UK) Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Navalny's indefatigable goodness is all the more poignant."

David Kortava· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Bittersweet ... Powerful."

Carole Cadwalladr· The Guardian Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"He wielded cheerfulness as a weapon and never lost faith that the right side must eventually prevail, even if he might no longer be around to see it."

Will Englund· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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