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The Man Without a Face

the Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin /
Jul 21, 2013zipread rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin --- by Masha Gessen. Without a doubt, Masha can certainly write well and assemble a book about a subject as interesting as he is ominous. Moscow born citizen of both Russia and the United States, she has worked as the director of the Russian service of Radio Liberty as well as being a contributor to a variety of American publications. She has also contributed to a variety of Russsian media outlets. She writes most compellingly in a book that refuses to be put down, something rare in a work of non-fiction. Gessen has spent much timed in Russia, especially during the ascendency of Mister Putin. She pulls no punches letting her readership know exactly where she stands when it comes to this man without a face. Let’s see, where’s my list: thug, corrupt, deliberately intimidating, dictatorial, antidemocratic, coarse, dishonest, double dealing, vain, paranoid, deceitful, resentful, etc. This dictator now runs a country where political opponents can expect substantially abbreviated lives, both political and real. Dissidents can expect to be threatened, assaulted, shot, poisoned or, or most infamously in the case of Alexander Litvinenko, meet their death in exile in London, poisoned, novelly enough, with polonium, an extremely radioactive element that causes an excruciating, slow death. This book is not a biography of VP, the man who would dial Russia back to the good (bad) old days of the Soviet Union. But it does include enough of his personal background to shine light on why this man promises most infamously to “wipe them out in the toilets”. The bottom line in all of this might well be “Would you buy a used Lada from this man?” How about a used U(SS)R? Features an excellent set of notes.