'The Future Is History' is a dark examination of what went wrong in Russia

The future is history because, as the Russians say, “Budushego net," there is no future. 

Masha Gessen, the sterling Russian-American journalist and activist, has been outspoken in recent press articles about the threat of totalitarianism in America. But in her latest book, Future Is History, she never mentions America’s problems.

Here, instead, she examines what is wrong in her native country and lets readers, wide-eyed, draw the parallels. She notes that, in Russia, “a constant state of low-level dread made people