The Man Without a Face The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

by Gessen, Masha

• ISBN13: 9781594488429
• ISBN10: 1594488428
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-01
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover

Summary

The Man Without a Faceis the chilling account of how a low- level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to her own people and to the world. Handpicked as a successor by the "family" surrounding an ailing and increasingly unpopular Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin seemed like a perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the shadows, dreaming of ruling the world, was a public figure, and his popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see the progressive leader of their dreams, even as he seized control of media, sent political rivals and critics into exile or to the grave, and smashed the country's fragile electoral system, concentrating power in the hands of his cronies. As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and for The Man Without a Faceshe has drawn on information and sources no other writer has tapped. Her account of how a "faceless" man maneuvered his way into absolute-and absolutely corrupt-power has the makings of a classic of narrative nonfiction.

Author Biography

 Masha Gessen is a journalist and the author of several previous books, most recently Perfect Rigor. Editor of the Russian-language Snob magazine, she has contributed to Vanity Fair, The New Republic, Granta, and Slate, among other publications. 

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. 1
The Accidental President	p. 11
The Election War	p. 23
The Autobiography of a Thug	p. 43
Once a Spy	p. 71
A Coup and a Crusade	p. 101
The End of a Reformer	p. 131
The Day the Media Died	p. 145
The Dismantling of Democracy	p. 177
Rule of Terror	p. 199
Insatiable Greed	p. 227
Back to the Ussr	p. 261
Epilogue: A Week in December	p. 271
Acknowledgments	p. 291
Notes	p. 292
Index	p. 308
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