A dirty war

The first account written by a Russian woman of the Chechen conflict, "A Dirty War" is an edgy and intense study of a country in crisis. Exasperated at the Russian government's attempt to manipulate media coverage of the war in Chechnya, journalist Anna Politkovskaya set off for the front line to report back and keep events in the public eye. In a series of articles from July 1999 to February 2000 she vividly describes the atrocities and abuses of the war, whether it is the corruption at the heart of post-Communist Russia or the equally spurious arguments and abominable behaviour of the Chechens. Very much a woman's view of the conflict, Politkovskaya excorites male stupidity and brutality on both sides.