The eXile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia
Cover of first edition
AuthorMark Ames and Matt Taibbi
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherGrove Press
Publication date
March 23, 2000[1]
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages256
ISBN978-0-8021-3652-7
OCLC41026579
077/.31
LC ClassPN5276 .A82 2000

The eXile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia is a 2000 memoir by Mark Ames and Matt Taibbi, published by Grove Press. Edward Limonov wrote the foreword.

Summary

The book includes selected articles from the newspaper The eXile, including ones by the editors, from the publication's first year of operation, as well as correspondence involving the publication.[2]

Publication

It was initially slated for a circa 1998 publication, but legal issues meant that the publisher's lawyers delayed the publication.[2]

The authors, within the United States, hosted a book tour.[3]

Reception

Publishers Weekly stated that it is "tasteless", reflecting the source material, but that the book and source material "incisively probe contemporary Russian reality--and the expatriate mindset."[4] Owen Matthews of The Moscow Times criticized the book in particular, rather than the derivative publication, because of a lack of focus on the shocking material and too much focus on mundane management issues.[5] Natalia Antonova, of the same publication, stated in 2017 that she believed the book "gleefully detailed sexual assault and abuse", reflected "nihilism", and fueled "misogynist caricatures".[6]

Controversy

On October 25, 2017, National Public Radio (NPR) journalist Robin Young, while attending an event with Taibbi at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, made an inquiry over some sections of the book allegedly describing behavior that is demeaning or sexual harassment towards women employees at The eXile.[7] In a Facebook post responding to the controversy, Taibbi apologized for the "cruel and misogynistic language" used in the book, but said the work was conceived as a satire of the "reprehensible" behavior of American expatriates in Russia and that the description of events in the chapter was "fictional and not true".[8][9] Although the book includes a note saying that it is a work of non-fiction,[10] emails obtained by Paste in 2017 include a representative of the publisher, Grove Press, saying the "statement on the copyright page is incorrect. This book combines exaggerated, invented satire and nonfiction reporting and was categorized as nonfiction because there is no category for a book that is both."[11] Two women portrayed in the book told Paste magazine that none of the sexual harassment portrayed in the book "[ever] happened" and that it was a "ridiculous passage written by Mark".[11] As a result of the controversy, Taibbi canceled some speaking engagements he had.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "The eXile". Grove Atlantic. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Bayne, Martha (July 13, 2000). "Beast in the East". Chicago Reader. Retrieved July 31, 2019. The book's publication was held up by Grove Press's lawyers for two years.
  3. ↑ Gurley, George (June 19, 2000). "From Russia With Lust". New York Observer. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  4. ↑ "The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia". Publishers Weekly. March 27, 2000. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  5. ↑ Matthews, Owen (June 24, 2000). "The Gonzo Classic That Wasn't ?". The Moscow Times.
  6. ↑ Antonova, Natalia (November 9, 2017). "Don't Romanticize Russia's 'Wild' Years (Op-ed)". The Moscow Times. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  7. ↑ Levitt, Aimee (October 27, 2017). "Twenty years ago, in Moscow, Matt Taibbi was a misogynist asshole—and possibly worse". Chicago Reader. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  8. ↑ Lally, Kathy (December 15, 2017). "The two expat bros who terrorized women correspondents in Moscow". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  9. ↑ Borenstein, Eliot (October 30, 2017). "Matt Taibbi's Not-So-Secret Russian Past". HuffPost. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  10. ↑ Whitcomb, Dan (October 28, 2017). "U.S. journalist faces sexual harassment furor over memoir". Reuters. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  11. 1 2 Bragman, Walker (December 11, 2017). "The Destruction of Matt Taibbi". Paste. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  12. ↑ Gingras, Abbey (November 1, 2017). "Matt Taibbi's Event at Sidwell Has Been Canceled". Washingtonian. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
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