The new tsar

"The ... tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president--of his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history. ... This ... narrative elucidates a cool and calculating man with enormous ambition and few scruples. We see Putin, a former KGB agent, come to office in 2000 as a reformer, cutting taxes, expanding property rights, bringing a measure of order and eventual prosperity to millions whose only experience of democracy in the early years following the Soviet collapse was instability, poverty, and criminality. But Myers makes clear how Putin then orchestrated a new authoritarianism, consolidating power, reasserting the country's might, brutally crushing revolts, and swiftly dispatching dissenters, even as he retained--and continues to retain--the support of many"--Provided by publisher.