Pussy Riot: Speaking Punk to Power

Both more and less than a band, Pussy Riot is continually misunderstood by the Western media. This book sets the record straight.

After their scandalous performance of an anti-Putin protest song in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the imprisonment of two of its members, the punk feminist art collective known as Pussy Riot became an international phenomenon. But, what, exactly, is Pussy Riot, and what are they trying to achieve? The award-winning author Eliot Borenstein explores the movement’s explosive history and takes you beyond the hype.

Eliot Borenstein is Professor of Russian & Slavic Studies, Collegiate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Senior Academic Convenor for the Global Network at New York University, USA. His first book, Men without Women: Masculinity and Revolution in Russian Fiction, 1917-1919, won the AATSEEL award for best work in literary scholarship in 2000. In 2007, he published Overkill: Sex and Violence in Contemporary Russian Popular Culture, which received the AWSS award for best book in Slavic Gender Studies in 2008. His latest book, Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism, came out in 2009. Borenstein was also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009.