Putin, Philip Short
Putin, Philip Short
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Putin

Author: Philip Short

Narrator: Jonathan Keeble

Unabridged: 29 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/26/2022


Synopsis

"In a deep, resonant voice, Jonathan Keeble gives a splendid narration of this long and well-researched biography of Vladimir Putin."- AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by award-winning actor Jonathan Keeble.

The first comprehensive, fully up-to-date biography of Vladimir Putin, woven into the tumultuous saga of Russia over the last sixty years

Vladimir Putin is the world’s most dangerous man. Alone among world leaders, he has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbors, most recently Ukraine, meddles in western elections, and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. His regime is autocratic and deeply corrupt. But that is only half the story.

Unflinching, hard-hitting, and objective, Philip Short’s biography gives us the whole tale, up to the present day. To the fullest extent anyone has yet been able, Short cracks open the strongman’s thick carapace to reveal the man underneath those bare-chested horseback rides. In this deeply researched account, listeners meet the Putin who slept in the same room as his parents until he was twenty-five years old, who backed out of his wedding right beforehand, and who learned English in order to be able to talk to George W. Bush.

Vladimir Putin is wreaking havoc in Europe, threatening global peace and stability and exposing his fellow citizens to devastating economic countermeasures. Yet puzzlingly many Russians continue to support him. This audiobook is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the many facets of the man behind the mask that Putin wears on the world stage.

Putin will be the last word for years to come.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company.

About Philip Short

Philip Short has written several definitive biographies including Mao: A Life and Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare. He earlier had a long career as a foreign correspondent in Moscow, Beijing, and Washington, D.C., for the BBC, the Economist, and the Times of London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tim on March 08, 2024

Philip Short demonstrates his integrity by starting with the demolition of a conspiracy theory about Putin. He then gives us a sensitive and intelligent account of the personality of Russia's leader based on in-depth research of his early years and his time in St. Petersburg. A good chunk of the rest......more

Goodreads review by Brett on April 23, 2024

"Asked many years later what had influenced him most and what he would most like to be able to undo, he replied: 'The Soviet Union's collapse.'" pg 409 This was an exceptionally well-researched and well-written account on the 2007 Time Life Magazine Man of the Year Vladimir Putin. Philip Short wrote......more

Goodreads review by Brit on September 18, 2022

Disclaimer: My mom’s side of my family is Ukrainian and there’s a lot of hatred (both on a familial level and obviously, on a global level towards Putin.) It felt slightly gross/wrong to read a biography from the protagonist's (his) POV, but it felt important, even for morbid curiosity, to see all s......more

Goodreads review by Anthony on November 17, 2022

A Strong Leader. Since the 2014 invasion of Crimea and then the 2022 invasion of Ukraine Vladimir Putin has become a cartoon villain in the west. Although one cannot condone an invasion of a sovereign state, is Putin the monster that he is portrayed to be? Philip Short does an excellent job on trying......more

Goodreads review by Mal on October 12, 2022

What do we learn about Vladimir Putin from the news media in the West? He’s a kleptocrat, with a fortune variously estimated at $40 billion or $100 billion. A thug, with a brutal history as a KGB officer. He came to power in 2000 on the strength of a series of FSB operations that cost the lives of h......more

Awards

  • Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year