In THIS CURSED BEAUTIFUL LAND, Evan speaks for the first time about his arrest and imprisonment. He details the fateful meeting in March 2023 that would end with him blindfolded and dragged into an unmarked van by agents from the FSB, the long interrogation that followed, and the closed-door trial where he was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison. For 491 days, 23 hours a day, his world was shrunk to a tiny, cement-walled cell: but in that time, he did something remarkable—he continued reporting. 

In riveting prose marked by surprising humor and anchored by a profound understanding of Russian history and culture, Evan shows us the world he documented, a sprawling prison system with its own vocabulary and customs—and surprising pockets of humanity. He reflects back on the events that brought him to Russia in the first place. The son of Soviet émigrés who had moved to the United States in the 1970s, he had come to Moscow to jumpstart his journalism career as a reporter for The Moscow Times, where he reconnected with his roots. His life was taking shape in Russia and amongst his peers, he developed a circle of deep friendships, all of them striving to make their way in perilous times. Western journalists had felt insulated from the dangers their Russian counterparts experienced—but after Russia invaded Ukraine, the rules, it seemed, would change.

Evan brings readers inside his nearly 500 days in Russian prisons and the blockbuster, multi-country prisoner swap that freed him, but what he offers in THIS CURSED BEAUTIFUL LAND is far more than a prison memoir; it’s a glimpse inside the perils and contradictions of a country in the midst of autocracy, a misunderstood land and people, marked at once by stunning beauty and a haunting history.