A review by greglhoward
The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen

3.0

It needs to be noted upfront that Gessen is an anti-Putin activist. So this book is hardly a narrative biography of Putin's life. In fact, if you're interested in his life story, Wikipedia might be a better place to learn about it. Rather this book outlines how horrible he is. Gessen is occasionally speculative about Putin's role in various atrocities, assassinations, or other nefarious dealings, but everything she accuses him of would be in line with his character, and there are plenty of incidents in which she has no need to speculate because it is abundantly clear he was involved. Reading through this book can be reflective as well, since many of these events happened as the Western world was looking at Putin with respect. Obviously, in this decade, views on Putin have changed to be more in line with his actions, but it is striking to note how different the world viewed him when many of these actions were taking place.