Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Moscow Playbook: How Russia Used, Abused, and Transformed Sports in the Hunt for Power

The Moscow Playbook: How Russia Used, Abused, and Transformed Sports in the Hunt for Power

Berglund, Bruce

Hardcover

Sports GeneralGeneral Political ScienceRussian History

Publisher Price: $30.00

ISBN10: 1637277482
ISBN13: 9781637277485
Publisher: Triumph Books (IL)
Published: Jan 20 2026
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.95
Height: 1.20 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.10
Language: English
An eye-opening account of how Russia's leaders have used sports as a political tool to solidify their global power

Victories in sport do more to cement the nation than a hundred political slogans. This was the pep talk Russian athletes heard in 2000 from their new president, Vladimir Putin. And so, for more than two decades, Putin has used sports like his Soviet predecessors to stoke nationalism at home, boost prestige abroad, and cement his position as leader.

The Moscow Playbook: How Russia Used, Abused, and Transformed Sports in the Hunt for Gold is the first book to fully examine the intersection of Russian sports and geopolitical power, from the dominant Soviet teams of past Olympics to recent doping scandals and international sanctions. With new research from Olympic archives, records of the Soviet bloc and current Russian media, historian Bruce Berglund shows how Moscow's leaders have defied the rules of the game for decades as the world's governing bodies turned a blind eye.

Featuring oligarchs, sportocrats, and famous athletes from Olga Korbut to Alex Ovechkin, this is a timely investigation into the gears of power, nationalism, and money that drive the Russian sports machine.

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