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The Man Without a Face

The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

Masha Gessen

The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a small-minded, low-level KGB operative came to control the world's largest country and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress, making Russia once more a threat to her own people and to the world. As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and for The Man Without a Face she has drawn on information and sources no other writer has tapped. Her horrifying and spellbinding account of how this 'faceless' man manoeuvred his way into absolute - and absolutely corrupt - power will stand as a classic of narrative non-fiction.

First published:
March 2012
Published by:
Granta Books
Length:
Hardcover 320 pages

About the author

Masha Gessen is a journalist and the author of several books, most recently Perfect Rigor. She has contributed to Vanity Fair, the New Republic, Granta and Slate, among other publications, and has served as editor of the Russian-language magazine Snob. She lives in Moscow.