Join us for an in-person event with television writer Joe Weisberg for the launch of his new book Russia Upside Down: An Exit Strategy for the Second Cold War. Joining Joe in conversation will be his sibling CEO of Pushkin Industries, Jacob Weisberg. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

Can’t make the event? Purchase a signed copy of Russia Upside Down here.

STRAND IN-PERSON EVENT COVID-19 POLICY:

In-person events will be presented to a fully vaccinated audience. All patrons over the age of sixteen will be required to show proof* of having completed the COVID-19 vaccination series at least 14 days prior to the date of the event. New York State has now clarified that a child up to the age of 16 who is unvaccinated and accompanied by a vaccinated adult may, in fact, attend events that otherwise are open only to people who are vaccinated. In such an event, the child will not need to be socially distanced, but they will need to wear masks at all times while attending the event.

*Proof of vaccination will be defined as either an original vaccination card (no photos!) or an Excelsior Pass. We will be checking to ensure compliance with the 14-day waiting period post-vaccination.

For contact tracing purposes, buyers must submit the following information at checkout for each attendee in the attending pod: Full Name, Address, Date of Birth, Email Address, and Phone Number. Registration will be required online. No tickets for entry will be sold at the door.

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A former CIA officer and the creator of the hit TV series The Americans makes the case that America's policy towards Russia is failing–and we'll never fix it until we rethink our relationship.

Coming of age in America in the 1970s and 80s, Joe Weisberg was a Cold Warrior. After briefly studying Russian in Leningrad, he joined the CIA in 1990–just in time to watch the Soviet Union collapse.But less than a decade after the first Cold War ended, a new one broke out. Russia changed in many of the ways that America hoped it might–more capitalist, more religious, more open to Western ideas. But US sanctions have crippled Russia's economy; and Russia's interventions have exacerbated political problems in America. The old paradigm–America, the free capitalist good guys, fighting Russia, the repressive communist bad guys–simply doesn't apply anymore. But we've continued to act as if it does.

In this bold and controversial book, Joe Weisberg interrogates these assumptions, asking hard questions about American policy and attempting to understand what Russia truly wants. Russia Upside Down makes the case against the new Cold War. It suggests that we are fighting an enemy with whom we have few if any serious conflicts of interest. It argues that we are fighting with ineffective and dangerous tools. And most of all, it aims to demonstrate that our approach is not working.

With our own political system in peril and continually buffeted by Russian attacks, we need a new framework, urgently. Russia Upside Down shows the stakes and begins to lay out that new plan, at a time when it is badly needed.

Joe Weisberg is a highly successful, celebrated television writer, based in NY, best known for creating The Americans. He previously wrote a novel (An Ordinary Spy, Bloomsbury, 2007) and a young adult novel (2002). This is his first non-fiction book.

Jacob Weisberg is the co-founder and CEO of the audio production company Pushkin Industries. He was previously CEO of the Slate Group, and the co-founder of Megaphone, a podcast company acquired by Spotify in 2020. He is the former editor-in-chief of Slate Magazine. As a journalist, he has written for publications including the New York Times, New Yorker, Financial Times, and The New York Review of Books. He is the author of several books, including The Bush Tragedy, and Ronald Reagan. Weisberg is vice chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists and a member of the PEN Board, reflecting his longstanding involvement with issues of global press freedom and independent journalism.