Masha Gessen - The Brothers

“Gessen… compels us to see the story as part of a much bigger global conflict… [and] is an ideal person to contextualize much of this story, even if her conclusions make us uncomfortable… Most importantly… The Brothers relentlessly observes an overreach of power in response to the bombings… an often painful account of our system’s moral failings, the ways in which we’re inhospitable to those seeking asylum on our shores, and the ways our law enforcement acts in a manner as draconian as law enforcement was in the strife-torn places they fled. That may not be the story we’re looking for, but it is a story we very much need.”

“Two parts forensic anthropology, one part activism, The Brothers is a forceful… passionate exploration of the events that preceded and followed the [Boston Marathon bombing]… Gessen is at her best when she takes the reader through the Tsarnaevs’ wildly complicated social history… The origins of their story, itself dizzyingly complex, sets the stage for our understanding of the permanent state of exile and cultural confusion the Tsarnaev clan seemed to endure.”

“[Gessen’s] own background… make[s] her an ideal author for this story… her knowledge of Soviet and Russian history, and her reporting on the ground in Dagestan, Kyrgyzstan and Chechnya, lend a resonance and weight… to the Tsarnaev family’s peregrinations in that region… Gessen explains how the history of Chechnya — and the radicalism that took root there — might have affected family members, and she also brings an understanding of the dislocations often faced by immigrants to her account.”

“The fearless Russian-American journalist brings equal parts sympathy and skepticism to… the Tsarnaev family… fascinating and illuminating.”

“Gessen has done valuable work, shoe-leather reporting rather than the reflexive condemnation that flows after any murder, any attack… she is to be commended for humanizing rather than demonizing the brothers.”

“Gessen… paint[s] an evocative picture of the impoverished and strife-torn region the Tsarnaevs left behind, and… the Boston area community that they joined when they immigrated in the early 2000s.”

“Meticulously researched and provocative… Gessen asks courageous questions about the dark side of the justice system, providing a vital counternarrative to the account of the bombing given by mainstream media.”

“Urgent… damning.”

“[An] unflinching indictment of the most powerful man in Russia.”

“Fascinating, hard-hitting reading.”

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Copyright © 2015 by Masha Gessen

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ISBN 978-0-698-14870-3

MAPS © 2015 BY DARYA ORESHKINA

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In Arabic, the “highest part of paradise.”

Martyr (inshallah).

Abbreviation for “Peace be upon him.”

Nation; community; a people.