Masha Gessen - The Man Without a Face - The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
 
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-man-without-a-face-masha-gessen/1104149483?ean=9781594486517

 96 kbps, Unabridged, Read by Justine Eyre

Overview
A chilling and unflinching portrait of one of the most fearsome figures in world politics.

In 1999, the “Family” surrounding Boris Yeltsin went looking for a successor to the ailing and increasingly unpopular president. Vladimir Putin, with very little governmental or administrative experience—he’d been deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, and briefly, director of the secret police—nevertheless seemed the perfect choice: a “faceless” creature whom Yeltsin and his cronies could mold in their own image. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see in him the progressive leader of their dreams—even as Putin, with ruthless efficiency, dismantled the country’s media, wrested control and wealth from the business class, and destroyed the fragile mechanisms of democracy. Within a few brief years, virtually every obstacle to his unbridled control was removed and every opposing voice silenced, with political rivals and critics driven into exile or to the grave.

Masha Gessen has experienced and reported this history firsthand, and brings it up to its present moment of unrest and uncertainty. Her spellbinding account of Putin’s rise and reign will stand as a classic of narrative nonfiction.

Editorial Reviews
Library Journal
Gessen came to America as a teenager but has since returned to Russia, where she edits the magazine Snob; she's also written a handful of well-received books, mostly on Russian topics. All of which puts her in the perfect position to write rigorously about the rise to power of Vladimir Putin. Despite news reports, Putin doesn't have quite the notoriety he deserves in the West; Gessen should push him to the forefront.