The organizers of the “Prosvetitel” prize, awarded for the best popular-science books in Russian, have released a long list of nominees for the special “PolitProsvet” award.
The list includes 13 books “that help readers understand the contemporary sociopolitical realities of Russia: the nature and evolution of Russian autocracy, the phenomenon of the ‘digital Gulag,’ the crisis of legal institutions, and the country’s historical path from Batu Khan to the present day.”
Two books published by Meduza’s publishing house made the cut:
- Ilya Venyavkin. “Temple of War: The People and Ideas That Made Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Possible.”
- Konstantin Gaaze. “Where Are Dictatorships Drifting? Russian Autocracy and the Invasion of Ukraine.”
- Timur Atnashev. “Bureaucracy, or Order Without a Master.”
- Andrei Arkhangelsky. “The Country That Decided Not to Exist.”
- Roman Badanin, Mikhail Rubin. “The Tsar in Person: How Vladimir Putin Deceived Us All” (also styled in English as “Tsar in Propria Persona: How Vladimir Putin Fooled Us”).
- Sergei Girin. “From 3+5 to Z: The Language of One War.”
- Andrei Zakharov. “Russian Cyberpunk: How the Kremlin and Oligarchs Are Building a ‘Digital Gulag’ — and Who Is Resisting.”
- Elena Lukyanova. “The Basic Law: Constitutional Theory and Russian Practice.”
- Leonid Nikitinsky. “Concepts: A Short Course in Non-Law for Future Sociologists and Lawyers.”
- Konstantin Pakhalyuk. “In Search of ‘Russian Antiquity’: The ‘Conservative Turn’ and Memory Politics in the Regions of Central Russia (2010s — Early 2022).”
- Alexandra Prokopenko. “Accomplices: Why the Russian Elite Chose War” (published in English as “From Sovereigns to Servants: How the War Against Ukraine Reshaped Russia’s Elite”).
- Sasha Skochilenko, S.M. Favorski. “My Prison Trip.”
- Dmitry Travin. “Russia’s Paths from Yeltsin to Batu Khan: History in Reverse.”
The shortlist for the “Prosvetitel” prize will be announced in late September 2026.
The “Prosvetitel” prize was founded by Dmitry Zimin’s “Dynastiya” foundation, which ceased operations in 2015 after the organization was declared a “foreign agent.” Since then, the prize has been supported by the Zimin Foundation. It is awarded for the best popular-science books in Russian.
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