S5 Ep. 15: ‘Forget What You Know About War’: Scott Anderson on What Russia’s Wars in Chechnya Tell Us About the Invasion of Ukraine

fiction/non/fiction

Veteran war correspondent Scott Anderson joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his time reporting in Chechnya. Anderson compares the First and Second Chechen Wars to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He also reads from his nonfiction book, The Man Who Tried to Save the World, and talks about how he overcame efforts to quash a magazine article he wrote that was critical of Putin, as well as why Chechnya’s conflict was scary enough to leave him with a streak of white hair.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected readings for the episode:

• Scott Anderson
• The Man Who Tried to Save the World
• Midnight Hotel
• Triage
• The Four O’Clock Murders
• Fractured Lands
• The Quiet Americans
• None Dare Call It a Conspiracy
• Lawrence in Arabia

• Others
• A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• “Death of the Tiger,” by Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, Jan. 17, 2011.
• No Innocents Abroad: Scott Anderson and Andrew Altschul on the CIA and U.S. Provocateurs in Foreign Politics, Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 3, Episode 25

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