'Magisterial' - Guardian 'Outstanding' - Ian Kershaw Vladimir Putin is a pariah to the West.
Alone among world leaders he has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in
a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbours most recently
Ukraine meddles in western elections and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. The
regime he heads is autocratic and corrupt. Yet many Russians continue to support him. Despite
western sanctions the majority have been living better than at any time in the past. By fair
means or foul under Putin's leadership Russia has once again become a force to be reckoned
with. Philip Short's magisterial biography explores in unprecedented depth the personality of
its enigmatic and ruthless leader and demolishes many of our preconceptions about Putin's
Russia. Since becoming President in 2000 his obsession has been to restore Russia's status as
a great power unbound by western rules. What forces and experiences shaped him? What led him
to challenge the American-led world order that has kept the peace since the end of the Cold
War? To explain is not to justify. Putin's regime is dark. He pursues his goals relentlessly by
whatever means he thinks fit. But on closer examination much of what we think we know about
him turns out to rest on half-truths. This book is as close as we will come to understanding
Russia's ruler. It also makes us revise long-held assumptions about the course of global
politics since the end of the Cold War.
