The Wagner Group: Inside Putin's Private Army | John Lechner YouTube video by The Next Best with Marcel Dirsus

Episode 3 with @johnalechner.bsky.social is about the Wagner Group, local incentives and mercenaries more generally

youtu.be/AM4AnidcHbw

Sango-English/ English-Sango Dictionary & Phrasebook Amazon.com: Sango-English/ English-Sango Dictionary & Phrasebook: 9780781814645: Diki-Kidiri, Marcel, Lechner, John: Books

Thrilled to announce that Marcel Diki-Kidiri and I have just published a Sango Dictionary & Phrasebook with
Hippocrene Books!

Featuring an in-depth grammar section, we hope this will be of great use to those traveling to the Central African Republic!

www.amazon.com/Sango-Englis...

"The Yugoslav Wars Never Ended, They Just Entered into Global Circulation" (With John Lechner) On the afterlives of the wars of the 1990s

Very interesting one

@lilylynch.bsky.social @johnalechner.bsky.social

www.lilyslynch.com/p/the-yugosl...

A History of Outsourced Violence: The Rise of the Rapid Support Forces, Libyan National Army, and Wagner Group In the war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have relied on external backing and regional partnerships that extend well beyond Sudan’s borders. While these relati...

A History of Outsourced Violence: The Rise of the RSF, LNA, and Wagner Group

My @smallarmssurvey.bsky.social Situation Update on historic mercenary economies in Sudan, Chad, Libya, and CAR, and how they've been connected for decades

www.smallarmssurvey.org/resource/out...

In search of medicine in the Darien Gap

How Putin's Mercenaries Operate | John Lechner YouTube video by The Next Best with Marcel Dirsus

🚨 New podcast: @johnalechner.bsky.social talks to me about the life/death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, local agency in the Central African Republic and the role of mercenaries in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I learned a lot

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM4A...

Jacobin’s Summer Reads Guide We asked our editors and contributors what you should read this summer. They answered with everything from romances set in the former East Germany to thrillers about Russian mercenaries.

Thank you, @lilylynch.bsky.social for recommending DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS in @jacobinmagazin.bsky.social's Summer Guide!

An unusually sensitive piece of war correspondence... Lechner argues Wagner represents a new kind of warfare, one that emerged with mass privatization.
jacobin.com/2025/06/summ...

In São Gabriel da Cachoeira with my friend and Tariana teacher, Jovino. Tariana is an endangered Arawak language spoken along the Vaupés River in the Amazon.

Thank you!

Given the "departure" of Wagner Group from the Sahel, it's opportune moment to recommend @johnalechner.bsky.social's "Death Is Our Business".
Well worth the read by both those who've been watching the group professionally and anyone just curious about the web of organizations of Prigozhin & Co.

🚨 Job alert 🚨Join @emorier.bsky.social, @vincentfoucher.bsky.social, @corinnajentzsch.com and me, and be part of a new exciting research project on jihadism in Africa. Two more positions will follow. Feel free to approach @emorier.bsky.social if you have questions. Please circulate widely

The Wagner Group’s dealings are darker than we thought In Death is our Business, John Lechner offers a rare, vivid portrait of the mercenary group by interviewing ex-members – itself a feat

"Not only has Lechner interviewed around 30 Wagner members, but he has conducted extensive ground reporting on Wagner in Africa. This would be a hazardous assignment even for the major news outlets, let alone a freelancer such as Lechner."

www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fi...

"Lechner blends beautiful first-person writing with granular reporting to show how Wagner became embroiled in foreign wars after the conflict in eastern Ukraine died down."

"Lechner blends beautiful first-person writing with granular reporting to show how Wagner became embroiled in foreign wars after the conflict in eastern Ukraine died down."

6 New Books We Recommend This Week

DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS is one of 6 books critics and editors at @nytimes.com recommend this week!

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/b...

Thank you for reading!

Putin’s Shadow Armies Have Set Their Sights Beyond Ukraine

"Lechner blends beautiful first-person writing with granular reporting. An enviably talented linguist, the author interviewed more than 30 Wagner fighters as well as people who fought with and against them across Europe, Africa and the Middle East."

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/b...

Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New … The disturbing inside story of how the Wagner private m…

Having completed @johnalechner.bsky.social 's "Death is Our Business", I can highly recommend it to connect the dots as it provides a great look between many of the mainstream stories of #WagnerGroup. #Africa, #Syria, #CAR, #Libya, #Sudan, #MaratGabidullin
www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

Any recommendations?

Thanks sir!

@johnalechner.bsky.social looking forward to this

How “Putin’s chef” built the world’s most notorious private army Two books trace the extraordinary rise and rapid fall of Yevgeny Prigozhin

And two recent pieces on the Wagner Group in Africa, starting with my review this week of two great new books on the mercenary outfit - one by @johnalechner.bsky.social, and the other by @jackmargolin.bsky.social

www.economist.com/culture/2025...

Death Is Our Business "Extraordinary."-CHRIS MILLER, author of Chip War"Incredible."-ANNIE JACOBSEN, author of Nuclear War, via XFrom John Lechner, "an amazi…

Great read:
"Death is Our Business" by @johnalechner.bsky.social is one of the best books so far on #Russia's mercenaries and private warfare. And it reads like a thriller.

www.bloomsbury.com/us/death-is-...

Life Inside Wagner Before and After Prigozhin For mercenaries, death is a business.

spoke with @johnalechner.bsky.social about his incredible new book 'Death Is Our Business.' It's everything you ever wanted to know about Russian mercenaries

angryplanetpod.com/p/life-insid...

Death Is Our Business "Extraordinary."-CHRIS MILLER, author of Chip War"Incredible."-ANNIE JACOBSEN, author of Nuclear War, via XFrom John Lechner, "an amazi…

Finally had a chance to read @johnalechner.bsky.social’s fascinating book on Wagner. I highly recommend it. John explains with jaw-dropping details and fine analysis what Prigozhin represented for Russia’s state apparatus and vice versa. About Wagner’s in Africa… 🔽
www.bloomsbury.com/us/death-is-...

"Through dozens of interviews with Wagner members, Lechner delves into the group's murky beginnings...Death Is Our Business is a trenchant assessment of Wagner's ongoing influence and impact around the globe."

Thank you Shelf Awareness for the great review!

www.shelf-awareness.com/sar-issue.ht...

Susan and John Klein Book Series featuring John Lechner

On April 9 I'll be sharing my new book, DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS, as part of The Aspen Institute's Susan and John Klein Book Series. Register for the event below!

www.aspeninstitute.org/events/susan...

Meta pirated 16 of my books/stories to train their AI. Fuck Meta, fuck AI, and fuck everyone stealing our work to call themselves a writer. Anyway, go buy House of Bone and Rain or The Devil Takes You Home.

Could Musk Buy Trump His Own Private Army? - WhoWhatWhy Private armies now threaten democracy. When billionaires can buy their own military force, warfare itself becomes a deadly business venture.

🎙️On this week’s #Whowhatwhy podcast, author @johnalechner.bsky.social joins Jeff Schechtman to discuss the Wagner Group’s secretive origins and its rise to challenge Vladimir Putin.
whowhatwhy.org/podcast/coul...