Photo, above:  The Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, 37, was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement on 18 July 2013, after a highly controversial trial.

After hearing the sentence he sought to keep up his supporters' morale, with the tweet: "Fine. Don't miss me too much, you guys. And most importantly, don't sit around doing nothing. The toad won't get off the oil pipe by itself." The "toad" was what he called the Russian government in a post on his LiveJournal blog.  That reaction and his use of Twitter to deliver it symbolise his political style - reaching out to predominantly young followers on social media in sharp, punchy language, mocking the establishment loyal to President Vladimir Putin.

• Born 4 June 1976 at Butyn, in the Moscow region
• Graduated in law at Moscow's Friendship of the Peoples University in 1998
• Became a Yale World Fellow in 2010
• Lives in Moscow with his wife and two children

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 1, Block A: A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer by Scott Andrew Selby  (1 of 2)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 1, Block B: A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer by Scott Andrew Selby  (2 of 2)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground by Emily Parker (1 of 2) In China, university students use the Internet to save the life of an attempted murder victim. In Cuba, authorities unsuccessfully try to silence an online critic by sowing seeds of distrust in her marriage. And in Russia, a lone blogger rises to become one of the most prominent opposition figures since the fall of the Soviet Union. Authoritarian governments try to isolate individuals from one another, but in the age of social media this is impossible to do. Online, people discover that they are not alone. As one blogger put it, "Now I know who my comrades are."

In her groundbreaking book, Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground, Emily Parker, formerly a State Department policy advisor, writer at The Wall Street Journal and editor at The New York Times, provides on-the-ground accounts of how the Internet is transforming lives in China, Cuba, and Russia.

It’s a new phenomenon, but . . .

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground by Emily Parker (2 of 2)   . . . one that’s already brought about significant political change. In 2011 ordinary Egyptians, many armed with little more than mobile phones, helped topple a thirty-year-old dictatorship. It was an extraordinary moment in modern history—and Now I Know Who My Comrades Are takes us beyond the Middle East to the next major battles between the Internet and state control.

Star dissidents such as Cuba’s Yoani Sánchez and China's Ai Weiwei are profiled. Here you’ll also find lesser-known bloggers, as well as the back-stories of Internet celebrities. Parker charts the rise of Russia’s Alexey Navalny from ordinary blogger to one of the greatest threats to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

This book introduces us to an army of bloggers and tweeters—generals and foot soldiers alike. They write in code to outsmart censors and launch online campaigns to get their friends out of jail. They refuse to be intimidated by surveillance cameras or citizen informers. Even as they navigate the risks of authoritarian life, they feel free. Now I Know Who My Comrades Are is their story.

Hour Two

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 2, Block A: Dallas 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis (1 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Dallas 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis (2 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Dallas 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis (3 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Dallas 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis (4 of 4)

Hour Three

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 3, Block A: JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President by Thurston Clarke  (1 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 3, Block B: JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President by Thurston Clarke  (2 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 3, Block C: JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President byThurston Clarke  (3 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 3, Block D: JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President byThurston Clarke  (4 of 4)

Hour Four

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 4, Block A: JFK, Conservative by Ira Stoll (1 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 4, Block B: JFK, Conservative by Ira Stoll (2 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 4, Block C: JFK, Conservative by Ira Stoll (3 of 4)

Saturday 29 March  2014 / Hour 4, Block D: JFK, Conservative by Ira Stoll (4 of 4)

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