Why is history uncontested here? There is no sight of that dispute over words, that battle over versions of stories that marks the inner life of a society...

The answer seems quite evident to me: because in some places, any battle of words tends to immediately become a battle of kalashnikovs.

Funnily enough, James Hadley Chase was immensely popular in Russia in the 90s, and to some extent still is. No coincidence, I think.