The Last Man in Russia: The Struggle to Save a Dying Nation
Russia’s population is plummeting for various reasons, alcohol abuse among them. Statistics on the problem sprinkle this work, and Bullough seeks out explanations that he develops through recent travels in Russia in biographical pursuit of one man, Dmitry Dudko (1922–2004). He was an Orthodox priest whose life span and experiences roughly reflected major events of the Soviet era: collectivization, WWII, the gulag, and the dissident movement. As Bullough journeys to Dudko’s birthplace, seminary, churches, and gravesite in Moscow, and the Arctic sites of his gulag, he portrays Dudko’s character through recollections of acquaintances and Dudko’s underground writings. Able to attract and inspire congregations, Dudko offered hope and mutual trust through an antialcohol message. Unfortunately, Dudko’s popularity also attracted the KGB, which harassed Dudko until he did its bidding. Though not sympathetic to Dudko’s collapse, which he contrasts with the stories of dissidents who went to prison in the 1970s, Bullough portrays it as a result of the waythe Soviet state atomized society and drove it to drink. An inquisitive traveler, Bullough conveys a vividly descriptive impression of contemporary Russia. --Gilbert Taylor