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lenzen 's review for:
The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
by Steven Lee Myers
A good book to get up to speed on Putin and the recent history of Russia.
The book is written quite objectively carefully documenting what is clearly established versus what is speculation. For example
- In the case of Putin's alleged amassing of a fortune as a corrupt bureaucrat in St Petersburg, something which is essentially presented as fact by no less a journalistic luminary than Frontline, the book provides convincing evidence that the speculation is false.
- In the case of the apartment bombings, in which Putin's engineering of it all is taken as fact by Frontline, the book presents the cases both for and against.
- In cases where the evidence is clearer, for example, election rigging in 2012 the author is willing to put his foot down that it clearly did happen.
Although Putin definitely emerges as a bad guy overall for building a kleptocracy and smashing all but token opposition the book also documents positive changes he enacted: For example something of a move toward a market economy and the building of a rainy day fund which the author believes allowed Russia to survive the global financial crisis.
Putin's life before becoming Prime Minister and then President is not glorified. The author points out his recklessness such as street brawling while a KGB agent and his indifference to family life. On the other hand, he is not demonized. The author points out that Putin had gained a reputation as being loyal, even when coming at the cost of personal risk and being seen as above corruption prior to becoming Prime Minister. Indeed the author points out that Yeltsin appointed him precisely for these characteristics. It is remarkable that the book is engaging enough to get you through Putin's rather boring life pre-1998 without giving up on it all!
Although the book presents a decent amount of detail on Putin's personal life and habits, he ultimately remains a rather mysterious figure. I felt this was one weakness of the book. It does discuss Putin's hostility toward the west somewhat: for example his feeling that the west is imperialistic, ultimately intent on crushing Russia, arrogant and corrupting of family and religious value. It seemed that the author had just touched on the tip of the iceberg, however, and, perhaps, with more exposition Putin would seem less mysterious.
Another weakness of the book is its rather brief coverage of the events of 2014 in Ukraine. The events are sketched out but there is not enough detailed investigation to have a good sense as to whose version of events is more likely to be true. For example, to what extent was it far right Ukrainian nationalists behind it all versus a truly populist uprising? Who was responsible for things turning violent?
Like most Russian history, things are rather dreary and after reading the book my main sense was being lucky to live in the west and how important it is to keep corruption out of government.
The book is written quite objectively carefully documenting what is clearly established versus what is speculation. For example
- In the case of Putin's alleged amassing of a fortune as a corrupt bureaucrat in St Petersburg, something which is essentially presented as fact by no less a journalistic luminary than Frontline, the book provides convincing evidence that the speculation is false.
- In the case of the apartment bombings, in which Putin's engineering of it all is taken as fact by Frontline, the book presents the cases both for and against.
- In cases where the evidence is clearer, for example, election rigging in 2012 the author is willing to put his foot down that it clearly did happen.
Although Putin definitely emerges as a bad guy overall for building a kleptocracy and smashing all but token opposition the book also documents positive changes he enacted: For example something of a move toward a market economy and the building of a rainy day fund which the author believes allowed Russia to survive the global financial crisis.
Putin's life before becoming Prime Minister and then President is not glorified. The author points out his recklessness such as street brawling while a KGB agent and his indifference to family life. On the other hand, he is not demonized. The author points out that Putin had gained a reputation as being loyal, even when coming at the cost of personal risk and being seen as above corruption prior to becoming Prime Minister. Indeed the author points out that Yeltsin appointed him precisely for these characteristics. It is remarkable that the book is engaging enough to get you through Putin's rather boring life pre-1998 without giving up on it all!
Although the book presents a decent amount of detail on Putin's personal life and habits, he ultimately remains a rather mysterious figure. I felt this was one weakness of the book. It does discuss Putin's hostility toward the west somewhat: for example his feeling that the west is imperialistic, ultimately intent on crushing Russia, arrogant and corrupting of family and religious value. It seemed that the author had just touched on the tip of the iceberg, however, and, perhaps, with more exposition Putin would seem less mysterious.
Another weakness of the book is its rather brief coverage of the events of 2014 in Ukraine. The events are sketched out but there is not enough detailed investigation to have a good sense as to whose version of events is more likely to be true. For example, to what extent was it far right Ukrainian nationalists behind it all versus a truly populist uprising? Who was responsible for things turning violent?
Like most Russian history, things are rather dreary and after reading the book my main sense was being lucky to live in the west and how important it is to keep corruption out of government.