PRIME MEMBER EXCLUSIVE | 3 Months Free Trial
Auto-renews at INR 199/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends 15 July, 2026.
The Baton and the Cross
Russia's Church from Pagans to Putin
Failed to add items
Add to cart failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
The Baton and the Cross
Buy Now for ₹833.60
-
Narrated by:
-
Lucy Ash
-
Written by:
-
Lucy Ash
For more than a millennium, the Russian Orthodox Church has shown astonishing survival skills—from the Mongol yoke, to tsarist demagoguery and enlightenment, Soviet atheism, the chaotic 1990s and now two decades of Vladimir Putin.
In this provocative new book, Lucy Ash reveals how, under Putin, religion is being stripped of its spiritual content and used as a weapon to control the population in a way never seen before. Orthodox clerics and their acolytes are trying to drag Russia backwards into a new Middle Ages.
Combining historical research with vivid present-day reportage, The Baton and the Cross explores the impact the Church is having on millions of Russians' lives - from the tower blocks of Moscow and the big cities to far-flung villages in Siberia. Delving into the underbelly of politics, state security and big money, Ash shows how these forces have formed an unholy alliance with Orthodoxy.