Pussy Riot was one of those things that arrived in the news, and suddenly everyone was behaving like it was thing that naturally, everybody already knew everything about. But I found that whenever I tried to engage anyone in a conversation about them, no one actually knew anything. It seemed like everyone would rather pretend to know about it than actually know about it, which is why I've enjoyed Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen's really in-depth look at the Pussy Riot women and their performative protests. Her exclusive and unparalleled access to the members and their families makes for a very insightful read. Nor does Gessen allow any personal bias to creep in on the narrative, which is somewhat incredible given how much time she spent in interviews and correspondence with her subjects. It reads more like the great long-form journalism we've come to expect from publications like The Atlantic or BuzzFeed.

For those especially interested in Russian culture, Gessen's previous book, The Man Without a Face: the Unlikely Rise of Putin is really, really excellent and utterly chilling.