With the advent of Gorbachev"s glasnost era, Russians have been forced to redefine their society and polity. Journalists, academics and politicians all needed a new language in which to articulate many previously buried "new" concepts and issues. Concepts such as pluralism, democracy, civil society and crises, and issues such as crime, prostitution, drugs, AIDS, rape, child abuse and housing, brought a range of public and media responses. This book aims to show how glasnost provided citizens with an initially intoxicating freedom and glut of information, yet in a context of failed economic reform also brought some extreme reactions. Drawing on material from newspapers and interviews with political figures and representatives from across the spectrum of opinions and beliefs, as well as on jokes, rumours and myths circulating in Moscow and St Petersburg, the book offers a reflection of the complexities of the situation in Russia today.