Ben Judah

A Times, Financial Times and Telegraph Political Book of the Year'Illuminates some of the great trends of our time' - Gideon Rachman, Financial Times'Vivid, urgent and unsettling' - Tom Holland, author of Dominion_____In a series of vivid, empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet some of the people who call Europe their home. Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home? Who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries and steward our criss-crossing planes? And who risks life itself in search of safety and a new start? Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom. Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe._____'An astonishing achievement' - Evening Standard'Brilliantly told . . . highly readable' - The Times'Unflinching' - The Guardian

A portrait of Europe as it has never been seen before, told through twenty extraordinary stories of the people who live and breathe it.

A portrait of Europe as youve never before seen it, told through twenty extraordinary stories of the people who live and breathe it. 'Vivid, urgent and unsettling' - Tom Holland 'Judah paints another Europe with tense and dramatic detail' - Andrey Kurkov 'Will make you lurch between fascination, laughter and tears' - Sophy Roberts What does it now mean to call yourself European? Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home, and who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries, steward our criss-crossing planes, lovingly craft our legacy wines, fish our depleted waters, and risk life itself in search of safety and a new start? In a series of vivid, ambitious, darkly visceral but always empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet them. Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a frenetic and vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom. Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe.

This is London in the eyes of its the homeless, bankers, coppers, gangsters, carers and sex workers. This is London in the voices of Poles, Arabs, Afghans, Nigerians, Romanians and Russians. This is London as you've never seen it before. Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2016Shortlisted for the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage 2019'This is London is an important and impressive book' Telegraph'Full of nuggets of unexpected information about the lives of others . . . It recalls the journalism of Orwell' Financial Times'Ben Judah grabs hold of London and shakes out its secrets' The Economist

A lively, inside account of Putin’s years of rule and the impending crisis that threatens his tsar-like regime “A beautifully written and very lively study of Russia that argues that the political order created by Vladimir Putin is stagnating—undermined by corruption and a failure to modernise economically.”—Gideon Rachman, Financial Times “Ben Judah, a young freelance writer, paints a more journalistic—and more passionate—picture in Fragile Empire. He shuttles to and fro across Russia’s vast terrain, finding criminals, liars, fascists and crooked politicians, as well as the occasional saintly figure.”—The Economist From Kaliningrad on the Baltic to the Russian Far East, journalist Ben Judah has travelled throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics, conducting extensive interviews with President Vladimir Putin’s friends, foes, and colleagues, government officials, business tycoons, mobsters, and ordinary Russian citizens. Fragile Empire is the fruit of Judah’s thorough research: a probing assessment of Putin’s rise to power and what it has meant for Russia and her people. Despite a propaganda program intent on maintaining the cliché of stability, Putin’s regime was suddenly confronted in December 2011 by a highly public protest movement that told a different side of the story. Judah argues that Putinism has brought economic growth to Russia but also weaker institutions, and this contradiction leads to instability. The author explores both Putin’s successes and his failed promises, taking into account the impact of a new middle class and a new generation, the Internet, social activism, and globalization on the president’s impending leadership crisis. Can Russia avoid the crisis of Putinism? Judah offers original and up-to-the-minute answers.