Why do ordinary people support Putin? Why does Russia act so aggressively abroad? How fragile is the regime?

In Russia Starts Here, Howard Amos paints a fascinating portrait of the lives of ordinary Russians, introducing us to a cast of colourful characters nestled on the fringes of North-Eastern Europe. These include a powerful cleric close to Vladimir Putin; a chameleon-like local politician; a photographer capturing the bleak struggle of everyday Russian life on his iPhone; and a horse riding enthusiast eking out a living in the ruins of a huge aristocratic estate.

Though in many ways their stories are typical of post-Soviet Russia, the locals Howard meets also have much in common with those in America's Rust Belt or parts of Northern England - people who have been marginalised and forgotten. Through these encounters, Amos provides the reader with a unique window on the Russian psyche.

He shows how the twin catastrophes of the Second World War and the collapse of the Soviet Union still loom large in the minds of modern Russians, why they distrust their European neighbours after centuries of invasion and aggression, and the intoxicating appeal of strong leadership amidst a spiralling cycle of rural abandonment, poverty and lack of opportunity. This is a vital depiction of life in this vast and mysterious nation.