Product Description
Putin
Author: Philip Short
Format: Paperback
The explosive and extraordinary new biography of Russia’s leader
'A perfect mirror to its subject... should be compulsory reading' — Observer
Vladimir Putin is a pariah to the West.
He has the power to reduce the West to nuclear ashes. He invades his neighbours, meddles in western elections and orders assassinations. His regime is autocratic and corrupt. Yet many Russians continue to support him. Under Putin's leadership, Russia has once again become a force to be reckoned with.
Philip Short's magisterial biography explores in unprecedented depth the personality of Russia's leader and demolishes many of our preconceptions about Putin's Russia.
To explain is not to justify. Putin's regime is dark. But on closer examination, much of what we think we know about him turns out to rest on half-truths. This book is as close as we will come to understanding Russia's ruler.
'Short's pushback against lazy, convenient myth-making is refreshing' — The Times
'Elegantly written and pacy' — Financial Times
'Extensively covers the dark moments of Putin's career.... The Putin of Short's book is not someone you would invite to dinner' — New York Times
About the Author
Philip Short has written authoritative biographies including Mao: A Life and Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare, following a long career as a foreign correspondent for the BBC in Moscow, Washington and other world capitals.
He spent eight years researching and writing this book, working mainly from sources within Russia, but also in Britain, France, the United States and a dozen other countries.
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