Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy (Hardcover) by Anna Politkovskaya

from john257hopper

This was a very depressing read. The author was a famous Russian journalist who was assassinated two years after writing this book. She is extremely cynical about Putin's style of rule, and the book is written in a rather unstructured and slightly shrill tone, that is a little reminiscent of Solz...

from webboodah

This is a great book diving into the harsh and cruel side of Putin and Russia. I loved the chapter telling of the mother that threw herself into the river when she learned her son was one of the victims of Nord Ost. I did, however, have to take Anna's hate of Putin with a grain of salt. When ther...

from justine28

Politkovskaya, a well known and unfortunately now-deceased Russian journalist fills her book with tales of sad reality of living in the New Russia of late 1990s and early 2000s. She focuses her attention on the broken elements of the Russian system: the army (including the Navy which is responsib...

from Edith1

This book is essentially one long rant against Putin and the bureaucratic system around him. The first 200 pages could have been shortened by a lot. Although what the author has to say is interesting and important, after a while you get the point, and it is hard to read 200-page rants. After the ...

from ValSmith

A searing, and damning, look at Russia under the rule of Vladimir Putin. Also a powerful indictment of the Russian military's behavior in both the First and Second Chechen Wars.