'Magisterial' - Guardian

'Outstanding' - Ian Kershaw

Vladimir Putin is a pariah to the West.

Alone among world leaders, he has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbours, most recently Ukraine, meddles in western elections and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. The regime he heads is autocratic and corrupt.

Yet many Russians continue to support him. Despite western sanctions, the majority have been living better than at any time in the past. By fair means or foul, 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 its enigmatic and ruthless leader and demolishes many of our preconceptions about Putin's Russia. Since becoming President in 2000, his obsession has been to restore Russia's status as a great power, unbound by western rules. What forces and experiences shaped him? What led him to challenge the American-led world order that has kept the peace since the end of the Cold War?

To explain is not to justify. Putin's regime is dark. He pursues his goals relentlessly by whatever means he thinks fit. 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. It also makes us revise long-held assumptions about the course of global politics since the end of the Cold War.

About the Author
Philip Short is the author of acclaimed biographies of Pol Pot, Mao Zedong and Francois Mitterrand. He worked for ten years as the BBC's Paris correspondent and lives in France.

Reviews
Magisterial... based on access to a Who's Who of senior politicians, diplomats and intelligence sources. * Guardian *
An exhaustive profile * Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year* *
Exceptional... unlikely to be matched as a study of the man... It is readable, judicious, critical but balanced and focused on Putin the person rather than on the Putin regime * The Irish Times *
[A] revealing and compellingly granular biography * Times Literary Supplement *
Anyone wanting to learn more about Putin's personality, ideas, power and the threat he has come to pose to world peace should read this outstanding biography -- Ian Kershaw



Book Information
ISBN 9781847923387
Author Philip Short
Format Paperback
Page Count 864
Imprint The Bodley Head Ltd
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 994g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 153mm * 48mm