@johnalechner.bsky.social
Writer, journalist, amateur linguist. DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS out with Bloomsbury March 2025. BEGINNER’S CHECHEN out with Hippocrene https://www.johnlechnerauthor.com/
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.
25.06.2025 03:58 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Thank you!
09.06.2025 14:07 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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
26.05.2025 08:18 — 👍 18 🔁 20 💬 2 📌 2
"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."
16.05.2025 00:42 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0"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."
16.05.2025 00:42 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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!
15.05.2025 12:51 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
"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...
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?
04.05.2025 18:13 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Thanks sir!
04.05.2025 00:54 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
@johnalechner.bsky.social looking forward to this
03.05.2025 22:05 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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...
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-...
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...
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...
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.
20.03.2025 14:46 — 👍 445 🔁 89 💬 27 📌 15
🎙️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...
A really big thank you to author @johnalechner.bsky.social & everyone who made it out tonight. A fascinating conversation, not only about the Wagner mercenary group, but also the intricacies of the situation in the Central African Republic, & being an independent journalist in conflict zones.
13.03.2025 00:37 — 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
Thank you, Clarissa!
12.03.2025 12:19 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
🚨🚨NEW Radio @TheWarNerd up — we talk to John Lechner @johnalechner.bsky.social about "Death Is Our Business", his new book on Wagner Group and the incredible rise & fall (like, really fall) of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
www.patreon.com/posts/radio-...
Can't wait to read!
10.03.2025 11:37 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"a great book for both hardcore followers of international conflicts, as well as for the layman interested in military history and current events."
Thank you Carl Peterson for an expert review of DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS!
www.militantwire.com/p/russias-pr...
ah thank you! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
10.03.2025 00:32 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
