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

The book reads much better than the "Pussy Riot" book, it is simply better written. There is no question that many new things happened in Russia between 2012 and 2015 but the book will for many years serve as an excellent introduction. I suspect that Western readers will be shocked by the scale and the magnitude of the problem. Many will refuse to take it seriously. The key to the understanding of the book is being aware that many of the stories are still under investigation. Indeed, they might forever remain in that stage. This is one of these countries where nobody really knows what's going on and nobody is ready (or willing) to face the truth. People have their suspicions and usually keep them to themselves. The book forces Russian and non-Russian people to face reality and that's indeed the book's major accomplishment.

The book was definitely an interesting read! As someone who was growing up in the 90s, I had mostly childish memories of the posy-soviet Russia, and Masha Gessen's book put a lot of things that were happening at that time into place for me While the book unveils many facts about Putin's rise to power and sheds light on his current political style, it fails to draw a strong conclusive line and sort of loses focus on the main figure towards the end. At the same time, the author's anti-Putin position is obviously tangible, which prevents the book from being objective. Granted, one would expect an analytical book on Vladimir Putin written by this author to be somewhat biased, but for my taste the bias was a little bit too strong, sometimes steering away from the main story.In addition, one should keep in mind that the book ends citing some events taking place in 2011, and quite a few changes have occurred since then; and it would be interesting to see a new edition of the book with some commentary about the current affairs.

I didn't want put this exciting book down. I love books which have an amazing story, suspense, drama of a great novel but the added qualities of being faithfully true. The exciting drama continues today and in coming months and years. It's about an important struggle of courage and suffering for freedom and democracy. Some may argue that it's biased -- anti-Putin propaganda with inaccuracies. I don't agree. I have some knowledge about the subject and it checks out regarding the parts that I'm sure of. Gessen is a well-reputed top-notch journalist who writes objective news stories for major internationally respected publications, including a major U.S. newsweekly, etc. As a professional journalist she is meticulous about objectively stating what she knows, and alerts you to what is uncertain -- for example, what some specific source had stated to her but which she feels is lacking in evidence. In other words, this is not conspiracy theory, innuendo, or embellishment to sell a book. This part of history is so interesting that the truth will sell more books than anything one might fabricate -- the detail of her research is amazing. She was there, she has the contacts, and obviously talked with many "inside" people. One may argue that Russia was never a Democracy, so Putin could not have turned a democracy into a more totalitarian country, but if you look at history, you see that Putin very significantly dismantled several key democratic-transparency characteristics of the society and government. The fact that these characteristics had been relatively recently created doesn't diminish the reality or significance of what Putin did. Gessen is also a major author and journalist on the subjects of math and science, which is consistent with a high level of objectivity and intellectual honesty. The book is in perfect English even though she is a native Russian living in Russia. The writing style and composition are first class - she's an important scholar, activist, and literary master. Almost everyone will know a lot more about the recent history of Russia after reading this.

When I was an undergraduate, 50-55 years ago, you learned about the USSR, and then the attention faded, and I thought that lack of attention by government and media was dead wrong. Gessen's book is an essential piece of the puzzle to understanding the current conditions in the world, and in particular with Russia. To this day I still cringe from George W.'s comment about looking into Putin's eyes and seeing his soul. A serious need to visit the eye doctor. I have read Browder's 2 books, and these 3 books are an insight into conditions in Russia, and what we may expect in the future. Seriously, we all need to wake up and get our heads out of our butter. I highly recommend this book as another contribution to the knowledge and understanding of contemporary and ongoing conditions in Russia.

Putin is summarized: "That the person I had described in this book -- shallow, self-involved, not terribly perceptive, and apparently very poorly informed -- was indeed the person running Russia, to the extent Russia was being run" (p. 304). Unanswered questions remain as to Putin's impact upon the overall daily living conditions of the Russian people.

Ignore publication date because this is so well researched and documented, the book stands as verification to this day. Essential to understand the Putin of today and the future.

To be read by upcoming fireballs !

A captivating read about the chilling rise of one of the world's most powerful men. Page-turner.

Absolutely damming account of the life and times of Vladimir Putin. Well researched and well done written.

Interesting book. It gives you some insights of the Russian recent history and it confirms previous publications I have read.