The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

Author(s): Masha Gessen

Politics

The Man without a Face is 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, making 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 the 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 the 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 Face she 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.


Product Information

Shortlisted for Pushkin House Russian Book Prize 2013.

MASHA GESSEN is a journalist who has written for Slate, the New Republic, the New York Times and other publications. She is the author of several books, including Dead Again, Two Babushkas and Blood Matters: A Journey Along the Genetic Frontier. She lives in Moscow.

General Fields

  • : 9781847084231
  • : Granta Books
  • : Granta Books
  • : December 2012
  • : March 2014
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Masha Gessen
  • : Paperback