57 Hours: A Survivor's Account of the Moscow Hostage Drama

Jaroslaw Zurowsky is a translator and editor in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In October 2002, Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theatre and held the
audience and performers captive for 57 hours. Vesselin Nedkov, one of
the hostages who survived the ordeal, and co-author Paul Wilson have
crafted a gripping account of the hostage-taking and its origins in the
Chechen conflict.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many republics and peoples
proclaimed their independence and undertook nation-building. The
struggles of the Chechens to do so have deteriorated into a conflict in
which there are no black-and-white definitions of who is right and who
is wrong. Both sides commit atrocities on a regular basis and yet at the
same time seem to be co-operating with each other. It is a world where
the Russian populace fears the Moscow police just as much as they fear
the terrorists; after the hostages were rescued, we learn, many of their
valuables were stolen by the police while they were unconscious.

This well-written, balanced, and meticulously researched book should be
read by anyone who wants to know more about post-Soviet life and about
the Chechen war and how it relates to the current state of affairs in
Afghanistan and Iraq.