A review by brendan_moody
Putin by Philip Short

slow-paced

4.0

A thoughtful, highly readable biography, perhaps overly judicious. Recent events were obviously added at short notice to a book already largely complete, and they challenge its assumption that a mixed verdict is always fairer than a guilty verdict. But the contextualization of Putin’s actions within Russian history and against American overreach is helpful even if one feels at times that two wrongs are being strongly implied to make a right.