Nothing epitomized the everyday experience of the urban Russian 1990s like crime. As this first comprehensive statistical study of the 1990s demonstrates, crime was just as bad as everyone had anecdotally experienced. The numbers also reveal some unexpected trends.

Made by the German Henkel company, Moment-brand glue was a staple of post-Soviet hobbyists. It also became one of the preferred drugs among post-Soviet youth. The brand name alone became synonymous with huffing.

The first post-Soviet Lada model, the VAZ-2110, appeared in 1995 and sold for between $5,000 and $8,000. Targeted at the emerging middle class, the car represented the manufacturer’s hope that Russian production and consumer power could come together to build a domestic market that would advance the economy beyond raw materials extraction and imported consumer goods.

Three large sacks of white granules, wired to a timer set for 5:30 AM, were found in the ground floor of a Ryazan apartment building on 22 September 1999—perhaps preventing yet another apartment bombing in a series that had terrorized Russians all month. FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev later told a TV reporter that these sacks contained nothing but sugar, which were being used in a test of public vigilance.

When it was published in 1990, Alexander Solzhenitsyn's (1918-2008) traditionalist prescription for pulling Russia out of its difficulties was seen as out of touch with the times. Since then, many of the ideas the author expounded have become commonplaces in the culture of Russian revanchism.

In the weeks leading up to the Second Chechen War, Russia’s right wing publications reminded their audiences of the humiliation of the First Chechen War, and called for—nationalist, racist, brutal—revenge.