Putin – Short Philip (2024)

Vladimir Putin is a pariah to the West. As the only one among world leaders, he has the power to turn the United States and Europe into nuclear ash, and he threatens to do so. He attacks his neighbors, interferes in Western elections, and orders murders both in Russia and abroad. The regime he leads is autocratic and corrupt, yet the majority of Russians continue to support him. Under Putin's leadership, Russia has once again become a force to be reckoned with. Philip Short's comprehensive biography explores the personality of the mysterious and ruthless Russian leader in unprecedented depth and shatters many of our prejudices about Putin's Russia. Since he became president in 2000, his obsession has been to restore Russia's status as a great power unbound by Western rules. What forces and experiences have shaped him? What led him to confront the world order that has maintained peace since the end of the Cold War? To explain is not to justify. Putin's regime is dark. It relentlessly pursues its goals by any means it deems appropriate. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that much of what we think we know about him rests on half-truths and assumptions. Philip Short spent eight years studying various sources and interviewing nearly two hundred personalities who have encountered the Russian…