Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Henry Holt and Co. (2022), 864 pages
Description
"The first comprehensive, fully up-to-date biography of Vladimir Putin, woven into the tumultuous saga of Russia over the last sixty years. Vladimir Putin is wreaking havoc in Europe, threatening global peace and stability and exposing his fellow citizens to devastating economic countermeasures. Yet puzzlingly many Russians continue to support him. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the many facets of the man behind the mask that Putin wears on the world stage. Drawing on almost two hundred interviews conducted over eight years in Russia, the United States, and Europe and on source material in more than a dozen languages, Putin will be the last word for years to come"--
User reviews
LibraryThing member Shrike58
While there is no denying that this is now the standard accounting of Vladimir Putin's life up to his decision to launch a "final solution" to his Ukrainian problem, the reality is that the continuing war leaves this work in indeterminate place. I would say that Short's coverage of the man's early
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life, up to the fall of the Soviet Union, is probably a must read. However, Short's efforts to depict Putin as a rational statesman, playing for rational gains, are now unconvincing to me. Perhaps Moscow does sustain a stalemate in regards to the current lines of battle. Perhaps Moscow does thread the needle in regards to the economic pit that they have lodged themselves in. Perhaps, and this is the point that Short ends on, Putin does achieve his ambition of breaking the "New World Order" that came to be in the 1990s; whether Moscow is a beneficiary is the live question. Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
English