It is 1998. After twenty-five years as a BBC TV reporter and producer, Michael Delahaye is sent to Russia as part of a UK/US programme to develop independent journalism in the former Soviet Union. With Boris Yeltsin in power, hopes are high of Russia, along with the other one-time Soviet republics, becoming functioning democracies.
Over the next five years, Delahaye and his fellow media missionaries will criss-cross the vast Russian Federation, south through Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan ... and into Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Their brief is to bring enlightenment to countries where the very concept of journalism has been unknown for seven decades; to support - sometimes help create from scratch - television stations that will be independent, impartial and promote human rights.
What they find is the rouble in freefall, state assets being sold off, black BMWs cruising the streets and an ex-KGB officer tipped for promotion in Yeltsin's administration ... Vladimir Putin.
After the Fall, a foot-soldier's story, charts Delahaye's realisation of the challenges, both cultural and political, of transition; how, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, the West has repeatedly over-estimated its power to recast other nations in its own image.
Praise for After the Fall
‘Follow the author as he travels from Georgia into Moldova and Uzbekistan, to introduce something they haven’t seen for seven decades: a free press. Of course it all went badly wrong but what an adventure.’ – Caroline Overington, the Australian
‘Delahaye’s record of the time is not just a very engaging boots-on-the-ground documentation of trying to establish an independent media in Russia, but also a snapshot of the Wild East in transition that rings true … An intriguing portrait of a collapsed empire and the West’s reaction.’– Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald
‘While Delahaye’s memoir is fascinating, his clear-eyed assessment gives a great background to how Putin’s regime has so corrupted Russia.’ – Robyn Douglass, the Advertiser
‘A fascinating read.’ – Suzanne Hill, Nightlife, ABC Radio
‘… utterly delicious and engaging, taking us along to meet fabulous characters, and to observe a world few of us will get to see … After the Fall is a delight from cover-to-cover: informative, engaging, witty, and thought-provoking.’– Tracey Korsten, Glam Adelaide
'… a most readable account … interesting and informative, an object lesson in taking cultural differences for granted.' – Clare Brook, Queensland Reviewers Collective
