The man without a face : the unlikely rise of Vladimir Putin / Masha Gessen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gessen, M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952-.

Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Presidents--Russia (Federation)--Biography.

Presidents.

Russia (Federation).

Russia (Federation)--Politics and government--1991-.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

314 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : RIVERHEAD BOOKS, 2012.

Summary:

This is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to her own people and to the world. Handpicked by the "family" surrounding an ailing and increasingly unpopular Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin seemed like a perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the shadows was a public figure, and his popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see the progressive leader of their dreams, even as he seized control of media, sent political rivals and critics into exile or to the grave, and smashed the country's fragile electoral system, concentrating power in the hands of his cronies. As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and she has drawn on sources no other writer has tapped.--From publisher description.

Contents:

The accidental president

The election war

The autobiography of a thug

Once a spy

A coup and a crusade

The end of Sobchak

The day the media died

The dismantling of democracy

Rule of terror

Insatiable greed.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [292]-307).

ISBN:

9781594488429

1594488428

OCLC:

741538456