What You'll Learn:
Who is Putin? In the early 1990s he was an obscure bureaucrat, but somehow he managed to become the president of one of the largest nations on earth. How did he do it? Russian journalist Masha Gessen was following the post-Soviet democratic developments closely, and tracked down key players who were near to Putin during his unexpected and meteoric ascent to power. In The Man Without a Face, she tells that story.
Key Insights:
- After almost a decade under President Boris Yeltsin’s leadership, Russia was hungry for a new head of state—anyone but the incumbent.
- Putin was an obscure bureaucrat who made a good impression with the right person.
- Putin was unknown and underqualified—but the most powerful people in Russia put him forward as the hoped-for successor.
- Riding waves of national unity against a common enemy, Putin won the nation by showing himself a resolute ruler ready to do what was necessary.
- There were signs of tyranny in Putin’s actions within days of his election in 2000.
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