The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin [Kindle Edition] Author: Masha Gessen | Language: English | ISBN:
B005GSZISA | Format: PDF, EPUB
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Download for free books The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin [Kindle Edition] Free Download from with Mediafire Link Download Link A chilling and unflinching portrait of one of the most fearsome figures in world politics.
In 1999, the “Family” surrounding Boris Yeltsin went looking for a successor to the ailing and increasingly unpopular president. Vladimir Putin, with very little governmental or administrative experience—he’d been deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, and briefly, director of the secret police—nevertheless seemed the perfect choice: a “faceless” creature whom Yeltsin and his cronies could mold in their own image. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see in him the progressive leader of their dreams—even as Putin, with ruthless efficiency, dismantled the country’s media, wrested control and wealth from the business class, and destroyed the fragile mechanisms of democracy. Within a few brief years, virtually every obstacle to his unbridled control was removed and every opposing voice silenced, with political rivals and critics driven into exile or to the grave.
Masha Gessen has experienced and reported this history firsthand, and brings it up to its present moment of unrest and uncertainty. Her spellbinding account of Putin’s rise and reign will stand as a classic of narrative nonfiction.
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- File Size: 440 KB
- Print Length: 322 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1594488428
- Publisher: Riverhead; Reprint edition (March 1, 2012)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B005GSZISA
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,583 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Europe > Former Soviet Republics & Siberia - #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Russia - #7
in Books > History > Asia > Russia
- #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Europe > Former Soviet Republics & Siberia - #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Russia - #7
in Books > History > Asia > Russia
Following the collapse and dissolution of the Soviet Union, political, economic and social chaos ensued across Russia as reactionary and progressive democratic factions attempted to shape the future of Russia. As the economy collapsed and the initial optimism and hope of post-totalitarianism began to fade, a power vacuum existed and the question was who would fill it. The who became Vladmidir Putin and the hope of many around the world for a more democratic, economically and politically open country aligned to the West became dashed.
After hearing an interview of Masha Gessen when this book was published, I immediately downloaded it to my Kindle although never got around to reading until a few weeks ago. Based on the interview with Gessen, I was quite optimistic to read "The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin", but was disappointed with the fruits of Gessen's labor. I recognize some of the fiercest critiques of this book come from Russian individuals who consider this a hack job on Putin. I think much of their criticism is unwarranted as the reality of Putin's methodical and systemic crushing of political opposition, the free press and a growing capitalistic economic infrastructure is without question. To dismiss legitimate and real concerns about the brutal crackdown of Putin and his cronies is to ignore reality and impugn ones own credibility. Gessen is an ardent critic of Putin's and while I expected a book that covered the reality of his impact on Russia, I wasn't expecting the overt polemic that this book really is. Gessen's language is so ruthless and loaded about Putin that the book reads more like a couple hundred page op-ed than an investigative and highly researched biography.
Every once in a while I'm shocked to learn anew that the American news media has missed the mark in its reporting of events around the world. Masha Gessen's recent portrait of third-term Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Man Without a Face, is an excellent case in point.
For example, one year ago, in December 2011, we learned about large demonstrations in Moscow protesting the obviously rigged outcome of the latest Russian elections, which had awarded nearly 50 percent of the vote to the President's party, United Russia. What I didn't learn from the reports I read here in America was that estimates of the crowd in Moscow ran as high as 150,000 and that "[p]rotests were held [the same day] in ninety-nine cities in Russia and in front of Russian consulates and embassies in more than forty cities around the world." Reports in The New York Times and other U.S. news sources gave the impression that the events were the work of Russia's tiny, long-beleaguered liberal minority and meant little. In fact, the demonstrations and marches were far more broad-based than the liberals had ever shown themselves to be capable of organizing. Masha Gessen tells the whole story in The Man Without a Face.
Or consider the experience of the brave souls who put themselves forward as candidates for President to replace Putin. It's possible but unlikely that you came across something awhile back about Garry Kasparov, the world's most famous Russian and the most celebrated chess player of all time, when he announced he was running for President. Kasparov could easily have attracted crowds of thousands anywhere in the vast expanses of Russia, but everywhere he went he found the doors locked at the venues he'd arranged and often found himself speaking to 50 or 100 people out-of-doors.
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