Dark Double

<p>Although many observers argue that US-Russia relations are a simple reflection of elites' political and economic preferences in both countries these preferences tend to arise from pre-existing belief systems that are deeply rooted in the public and accentuated by mass media. In <em>Dark Double</em> Andrei P. Tsygankov focuses on the driving power of values and media in addition to political and economic interests in structuring US-Russia relations. By analyzing mainstream US newspapers and other media sources Tsygankov identifies five media narratives involving Russia since the Cold War's end and studies them through a framework of three inter-related factors: historic and cultural differences between the two countries inter-state competition and polarizing domestic politics. He shows how Americans' negative views toward Russia draw from a deep wellspring of suspicion and are further enhanced by a biased media that regularly exploits such negativity Russia's centralization of power and anti-American attitudes. Given the intensity of our current impasse with Russia <em> Dark Double</em> represents an important intervention that forces us to think about the sources of conflict in a new way.</p>