Review: Steven Lee Myers, ‘The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin’
The meteoric rise of Vladimir Putin from mid-level intelligence apparatchik to president of Russia has been chronicled by numerous biographers. Few have captured the complexities and influencing forces in Putin’s life as well as Steve Lee Myers’s meticulously researched and vividly written portrait of “the new tsar.”
Some political leaders seem destined for their role: the privileged backgrounds of Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt spring to mind. Such was not the case with Putin. Myers recounts how “Volodya” grew up in poor circumstances in St. Petersburg. His father was a war veteran who worked in a train factory and his family shared a small apartment with two other families.
WNU Editor: A copy of the book was given to me before Christmas .... and I am just starting to read it. I am so far not impressed (after 4 chapters). Steven Lee Myers was formerly the New York Times bureau chief in Moscow .... never met him, but I am familiar with his work in the NYT. I will give my opinon on this book in the next few days.
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